Gris is a stunning visual adventure.
What Is It? Gris is a 2018 game from Nomada Studio, a name you might recognize from their follow-up; Neva. You are a girl named Gris who finds herself in the hands of a crumbling statue and your adventure begins.
The first thing you will notice about Gris is the stunning art style. The 2D game features a unique, almost watercolor-like look that jumps off of the screen from the start and never lets up throughout the three hour playtime.
As for gameplay, it is a puzzle-platformer that does not go too hard in either of those two directions. The core gameplay loop is finding yourself in a new area, needing to collect a few orbs to proceed further. Head off in either direction and you will eventually find yourself with a small puzzle to solve to collect an orb.
The puzzles are typically a mix of platforming and some small “trick” to discover. As an example, early on you will get the ability to turn into a stone block. There will then be puzzles which leverage this by making you turn into a block to break a floor, lower a piece of a contraception, etc… This allows you to progress where you will find more platforming and maybe more puzzles before reaching the orb and returning to the hub area to find the others.
The game controls like a dream. Gris is light and floaty and abilities learned in the game will keep you moving briskly.
There is virtually zero text in the game, which only adds to the atmosphere the art style creates. The game is, as the kids might say, a total vibe.
There isn’t much more to this game and that’s not a complaint. This is a straightforward mix of platforming and puzzling that looks and controls great and provides a fun, unique experience that can be finished in a few hours.
The Best Part: The visuals. These are simply stunning. I can barely write competently about video games, so I’m not going to bother trying to write about art in any meaningful detail, but I will say that my finger was glued to the screenshot button the entire time I was playing. So many “wow” moments in the short runtime. Colors are used sparingly, but are impactful when they are on screen. Gris often appears incredibly small in a zoomed out view, and the sense of scale this projects is a sight to behold.
The Worst Part: There isn’t a ton of “game” here, so to say. I would classify Gris as more of an experience than a game. That’s not to say there isn’t anything. The controls are perfect, it legitimately feels great to guide Gris through the game. However, outside of nice controls, there was not a whole lot memorable in terms of gameplay moments. The parts that do stand out most for me are due to the visuals and not due to any particularly exciting gameplay moments.
The Verdict: Gris is a wonderful experience. Having played Neva first, and loving it, I was a bit hesitant to try Gris. The two games have similar sparse-but-striking visual aesthetics so I made the poor assumption that Gris would not offer much that wasn’t improved upon in the studio’s follow-up. Sometimes, it’s fun to be very, very wrong.
Gris is a unique, relaxed experience. You follow Gris on a seemingly personal journey to overcome something. Pretty much everything here is left up to interpretation, but I think it’s a story of loss of some sort.
Anybody who could have a good time playing a light game while taking in a striking, unique art style should absolutely give Gris a look.
How to Play: PlayStation 4/5*, Xbox One/Series, Switch, PC, macOS, mobile
*console played on for this review
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