I do love a good arty game where I’m not entirely sure if I know what is happening, or even if I’m having a very good time, but it sure does look pretty.
I have no idea what the story of GRIS is about; I’m sure it’s some melancholic metaphor for difficult feelings or an ode to the writer’s dead dog, or, you know, something actually less flippant. I did mean to look into the deeper meaning of the whole thing after playing it, but as I’m on a mission to demolish my backlog, I got sucked into my next game instead.
My review of GRIS will instead attempt to summarise the game based on my vague recollection of occurrences in incredibly glib layman’s terms. Be warned, very vague spoilers ahead I guess.
GRIS is about a beautiful woman who I assume is called Gris, who has incredibly spindly spider-esque limbs, and who, right from the off, forgets how to sing, which makes a large statue of a woman crumple to bits.
After this calamity, Gris has a bit of a mope and then sets off to collect dots, which are sometimes utilised as bridges and sometimes utilised for power-up unlocks, until you arrive at a certain area which turns said dots into what I can only assume is a constellation.
This more shows that I am an incredibly stupid man who does not get the deeper meaning of art.
The first power-up allows Gris’s dress to become a big square block that can pound the ground, and at some point, this power is utilised to really aggravate some moths who then become a very big, very angry void-bird. Said void-bird seems ok at first but at some point decides to shout at Gris until some bells chase him off after he’s shouted too loudly at them.
Gris eventually finds her way to a big stone hand from the previously broken woman statue and creates the colour blue in the world (oh, if I forgot to mention, the world went black and white at some point). This unlocks new areas where Gris unlocks further power-ups, further colours, and has more fights with the void-bird (who also becomes void-eel (and void-eels!)) at certain points. Gris also relearns how to sing, which allows flowers to grow! It’s all legitimately very lovely, really. I’m not being sarcastic here either, it is beautiful.
After some very enjoyable underwater puzzles, Gris is finally eaten by the void, which is now a blob; however, she manages to swim back out and has a moment with the now rebuilt giant-woman statue before ascending into the sky on the bridge made from the aforementioned dot constellations.
Now this might all sound like I’m facetiously shitting on the game, but in fact, I really very much enjoyed it. This more shows that I am an incredibly stupid man who does not get the deeper meaning of art. GRIS is just a game that is far too high-brow for me. It does look lovely, though!
Format / Steam Deck
Release Date / 13 Dec 2018
Played / 30 Jun 2024 – 30 Jun 2024
Played Time / 3.1 hours
Achievements / 8 of 17
