Gris

Gris is an indie game that came out on Steam not too long ago. The description on the home page defines the game as a "serene and evocative experience" "with delicate art, detailed animation, and an elegant original score." I can attest to the fact that the game definitely gives you a unique experience with a bountiful supply of nice artwork to awe at for roughly 7 hours, but I have a very hard time defining it as a nice and interesting video game for such a short amount of time. It is most definitely a difficult platformer when it wants to be, especially when trying to reach certain secret areas. There are enough abilities to keep you engaged and wanting to know how it ends. The one problem I had with the game is how vague the story can be at times. That's not good when the game is $16.99. The lowest I've ever seen it was $12.74 (25% off) through some twitter update last month. I think it was just recently released on the Nintendo Store for like $14.44 (15% off).

The game relies too heavily on an emotional attachment from the user. In fact, you will probably find lots of posts from people trying to explain what Gris was all about. Not having a clue what the game was trying to tell me, I actively searched out whatever types of symbolism the game presented to me. There are five different chapters each with their own color. They represent the five stages of grief. You develop new abilities to transverse each stage of the world, or what personifies as your inner self.

To actually know what the game is about, you have to watch the secret "Childhoood" cutscene. This requires you to obtain every momento in the game. It is possible to revisit certain checkpoints in search for these secret areas. Yet once I was done with the game, I was done with the game. Most of the time I was too paranoid of thinking there was something to the far edge of the screen only to wind up backtracking my last five minutes of progress. I didn't really feel like attempting to get any of the achievements for a minute video that should have been included in the game from the start.

Many of the negative reviews I've read tell a tale of a most boring and slow experience. This would be true... mostly. There is very little available story-wise. I believe the first couple hours are monotonous and irritating by design. The game becomes depressing when your only action is to wait out a storm that constantly bombards you every 20 seconds. This isn't the only gaming mechanic that is troublesome. Later on, your encounters with the darkness lose all suspense once you realize they are entirely scripted. It is hard to invest in a chase sequence when you can actually put down the controller and watch what unfolds. I don't even know of a way to physically "die" in the game.

There was a bit of controversy behind the game as well. There was an issue where Facebook blocked Gris trailer due to being sexual suggestive. The clothless girl statues were essential to the overall theme of the game but they were far from being "sexy" (from what I could tell). There was a brief moment in development where the statues did have nipples but they were taken out (smoothed out more like it).

I will admit that the music, played by Berlinist, is nice to listen (especially "Gris") but I find certain parts (like the song "Circles") to be eerily similar to songs I've heard before in Minecraft. The artwork is gorgeous. Nearly every positive review has someone referring to how much they used their F12 button to make all their the wonderful screenshots for their new background photos. I also found that the pre-order figure (additional $28 over game price) is actually pretty cute too.

Summary: The game is too short and not engaging enough to justify the price tag. However, the artwork and atmosphere does give the "game" enough substance to be worth trying. It is definitely one I will remember playing for quite some time.

 

5-7-2019