GRIS Reviews

Gris is a 2D side scrolling puzzle platform with a beautiful visual art style developed by a few Ubisoft veterans who created a small indie development company and published by Devolver Digital. The publisher is known for releasing indie games of high quality and that also applies to this game.

In the role of a girl named Gris the game explores the "5 stages of grief" split into 5 chapters. The first chapter starts with "denial" then goes on with "anger", "bargaining", "depression" and finally "acceptance". Like with many popular indie games the themes are presented in a metaphorical way rather than a direct presentation. Each chapter introduces a new ability like turning to a stone block, double jumping, diving in water, etc. The game was designed with accessibility in mind. As such there are no fail states. If there's a puzzle you can probably finish it at the second or third try, though some of the later stages are somewhat more complex and more difficult to navigate and solve puzzles.

Visually the game looks beautiful. The 2D art style looks like pencil drawing with strong lines combined with watercolors. The game starts out grey and introduces a new color with each new chapter. One chapter has strong red colours painting the desert and the ruins in a deep red. Another chapter has dark caves filled with blue water and yellow lights guiding the way. The only negative point I have is that it's not quite consistent with surfaces which are solid or not solid. Sometimes pillars look solid but you can pass through them other times stairs look like dim background decorations but they are solid an can be climbed. The music is also a highlight. Both the visuals design and the soundtrack were nominated for several awards in 2019.

The game can be finished in 6-8 hours. Achievement hunters will need to find some well hidden collectibles and do some secret tasks in order to unlock all the achievements. Luckily there's a chapter select after finishing the game to mop up missed achievements and there is a decent achievement guide on Steam with screenshots: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=15908...

In summary this is a great 2D indie puzzle platforming game with a beautiful art design visualizing the 5 stages of grief.

Synopsis:

-GRIS is an adventure platformer with an abstract story and fantastic artwork. You play as a young girl who has experienced the trauma of losing a loved one. As you work through it, you gain new abilities and progress through the environment.
-It’s a simple premise. There are 5 different stages of the game, all relating to one of the 5 stages of grief. The connections, parallels, and symbolism all come together beautifully.
-There are several things to collect as well: mementos throughout the game, as well as an individual collectible tied to an achievement for every level.

Pros:

-The artwork. I think this game is beautiful, and the simplistic design made platforming unambiguous. It’s a little thing, but as you progress through the game, and gain more abilities, you also begin to see more color. I like that.
-Platforming was very predictable. Precision is very much appreciated by me in an indie platformer, and Nomada nailed it with GRIS.
-The last stage of the game includes some gravity switching, but thankfully it doesn’t mirror controls. Left is still left upside down. I really appreciate that, because I am awful on inverted controls.

Cons:

-I don’t have many bad things to say about this game. It is a clean 2-D puzzle platformer that doesn’t take too long and is beautifully animated.

Analysis:

-Storyline is introspective
-Gameplay is good
-Mechanics are crisp
-Graphics are artistic
-It isn’t difficult

Is it worth it?

-Is the game worth the price? I’d buy it on sale.
-Is the game on game pass? Yes.
-Is the grind worth the gamerscore? Yes.
-Easy completion? Yeah, I’d say so. The collectible achievement might take a bit of time and exploration without a guide though.
-Would I play this game if it had no achievements? Maybe.

TBD Score: 6.01

GRIS is a 2D platformer that feels like a Metroidvania in that you have to unlock powers to accomplish more. It's a very pretty game that evolves over time. With a guide, the achievements are pretty straightforward. Granted, you may still need to go back and mop something up if you missed something along the way.
That being said, you can see where I stopped playing. By the time I got the Blue achievement, I was just not interested in playing the game more. I did continue, but got to a point where I needed to time being frozen or copied or whatever and just stopped. Obviously these are doable tasks, but I could not find a reason to keep going and I never will.
I'm not saying that to tell you to not play the game. You may like it. It controls well, it's pretty, the music is nice and the sound design, while at times kind of annoying in that water dripping in a hotel room while you are trying to sleep, isn't bad. I think that it is worth trying out because you may enjoy yourself.
Me, I didn't enjoy myself.