In need of a relatively inexpensive distraction from current events? Steam, an online game service, almost always has interesting games on sale for under $20. I’ll be reviewing some of those games in this series.
Recent events have caused me to need a bit of a breather from everyday life. I needed to immerse myself in a new place where I could make a positive impact on my environment and escape for a few hours. That desire led me to “Gris”, a 2D platformer published in 2018. It received the Outstanding Visual Style Award from Steam in 2019 and has received “overwhelmingly positive” reviews by Steam users — and I can see why.
Creative director Conrad Roset gifted “Gris” with a gorgeous setting of watercolor washes, simple line art and subtle details. Shapeshifting trees, lumbering boulder creatures and gentle waterfalls dot a landscape inhabited by a silent, skittish wildlife. It feels like a painting brought to life.
In “Gris”, the player navigates a lost girl through a broken world. At first, her surroundings exist only in black, white and shades of gray. As the player progresses by finding hidden stars, the girl gains new abilities and the world fills with color.
The game’s color palette and concept art point toward “Gris” serving as a metaphor for the five stages of grief. The game is littered with metaphors for past death and trauma. However, by continuing to inhabit and move through the world, the girl eventually heals every dull place, filling it with color and life. By the end, the girl finds her voice and heals the brokenness around her so much that the setting is nearly unrecognizable from how it starts.
The player starts the game with no more understanding of how to begin than the girl. All she can do is choose a direction and move forward in a vast expanse of nothing. Each new skill introduced in the game is easy to learn and utilize, requiring nothing more than a keyboard and a good eye for timing and puzzle solving to figure out.
The game’s lack of instructions — or many words at all, for that matter — could stand in the way for beginning gamers. “Gris” is best suited for people with a good understanding of the visual language games use to communicate instructions, but I think anyone with a willingness to learn can enjoy it.
That same lack of words causes “Gris” to rely heavily on sound to tell its story. Berlinist, a three-member band based out of Barcelona, is responsible for that magic. The ambient music throughout the game feels soft and soothing but shifts easily into more complex pieces as the girl encounters conflict.
When she does encounter conflict, however, the girl can’t die. “Gris” focuses on puzzles not combat, which means the most stressful moments in the game come only when the inky representation of darkness catches up with the girl and tries to capture her.
“Gris” blew me away. I came in with high expectations after viewing the trailer, but every second of this game was enjoyable. Even when I struggled to complete a puzzle, the experience enjoyable and interesting. It takes about four hours to play through the game in one sitting and I highly recommend doing so to get the full experience.
“Gris” is on sale for $8.49 until the end of April 20 and is available afterward for $16.99. You can purchase the game here if you would like to give it a try.
Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]