Quick Review: GRIS

That’s “grey” in French… and in Spanish, the origin of the studio that made this game.

No artistic game is complete without a dose of symbolism.

GRIS, developed by Nomada Studios, published by Devolver Digital and released on December 13th, 2018, is about a girl in her own “mental world” as she deals with personal trauma, and it manifesting around her in that world. Everything starts out grey and lifeless. Shattered buildings, broken places. As she explores, Gris will be forced to meet with elements of her life, elements of her traumatic experience, and learn to accept them. And as she explores, she will restore the colors of her world, one by one. Depression is always watching, however, and may strike when she least expects it, in any form that this grand mass of darkness may choose to manifest itself as…

This rock looks... eerily familiar.

Even early on, when it's all black and white
and grey, the setpieces are jaw-dropping.

The gameplay here is nothing we haven’t seen before: As a puzzle platformer, Gris explores the levels and finds her way around. WASD to move, Space to jump, with other features added as she regains her will and colors return to her world. She will eventually gain abilities: The first lets her turn into a solid block, which can be used to ground pound, and is heavy enough to prevent her from being blown away by strong winds. The second is a double jump which she can glide from. Later, she learns to go underwater. The last ability… is a spoiler.

But really, the best reason to play this game is for the visuals. This game has all the marks of a game that tries to be an artistic experience first, a game second. But I don’t mean this to call GRIS pretentious, as it isn’t. There is great thought put into every puzzle, every sector, and the whole marries itself to its beautiful imagery. There is as much attention put into the exploration than into the spectacle. And that spectacle is breathtaking.

The camera also zooms in and out depending on
what needs to be shown on the screen, like this
gigantic walking rock. (Gris is here, climbing
the first set of stairs within the rock.)

There’s little here that can be considered “new”; the puzzles and power-ups, while interesting, are things I recall seeing before. They also don’t tend to be very difficult; the game is, overall, on the easy side. Although, the large worlds Gris explores may be confusing at times and this may make exploration trickier than expected - but, again, everything works and the combination of good gameplay and gorgeous visuals remains constant throughout.

"This form is anything but flattering to my
figure, but it's either that or the wind blows
me away. Again."

The return of the color green to the world.

Speaking of, the visual style of the game even includes the “montage”, per se; the game gives the impression that it is one uninterrupted sequence of events (also known as a Oner, for film enthusiasts) through a clever use of transitions and loading screens. It feels like a single, humongous world that is visited, even if it changes over time and gains color as Gris’ mental state improves. It is, as a result, impossible to go back and revisit older areas during a first playthrough, making it difficult if not impossible to gather all the Mementos (pieces of Gris’ memory, hidden throughout) that can be gathered. After beating the game once, it does become possible to replay the game’s chapters to pick up any skipped Mementos. Picking them all up expands on the story and clarifies some details, by the way.

Things are starting to look better...
But Depression, that monster, is still lurking...

It’s really a game to try out, if you like games that go for an impressive visual style without ditching substance as a result. GRIS discusses rather heavy topics, but presents them in a gorgeous art style through an adventure through a metaphorical world. It’s worth playing.

GRIS can be purchased on Steam for 16.99$ USD.