Directed by Conrad Roset

From Nomada Studio

The arty, indie side-scroller has taken on a life of its own over the past decade. Arnt Jensen and Playdead reached critical acclaim with Limbo and Inside. Little Nightmares continued the tradition. You’ve got hits like Journey from thatgamecompany, and Abzu coming out of that, though both games are less 2D side-scrollers. Still, they function pretty similarly. This style has also been used for more educational games, like the beautiful and touching World War I game Valiant Hearts: The Great War, or the indigenous Alaskan game Never Alone.

Gris continues this tradition, using many of the same techniques and design elements from the genre. It excels in its gorgeous, water color aesthetic, with new shades being introduced when players complete sections of the game. The animation is a visual delight; improved with an equally stunning score.

With an emphasis on minimal design, it leaves a lot up to the player, including interpretation. Following a girl waking up in this gray world unable to sing out, players solve puzzles and engage in some basic platforming to get through stretches of the game that introduce more color into it. I interpreted this for a while to be a game about people finding their voices or artists struggling with “writer’s block.” Or perhaps it’s about overcoming trauma given the sheer emotionality of the game; a woman working to make a more vibrant life while being chased by demons. Perhaps there’s not really too much more to it, but it’s always fun when a game leaves it up to you as the player to determine what it means or is about (I once wrote a lengthy post about why I thought Inside was about birth, which I’m pretty sure it’s not but once I saw it, I couldn’t stop seeing it!)

Even more, it does that wonderful thing of letting players figure things out on their own. Every once in a while, there is a prompt to press or hold a button in order to introduce you to a mechanic, but there’s ultimately just three mechanics besides basic movement. And the context for which to use each ability is relatively self-explanatory or intuitive – itself a testament to the great design.

Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of the game is its level design. Though a simple 2D side-scroller, there are good stretches where it appears you can go off in multiple different directions. At times, you wind up hitting a wall that clearly marks the edge of the level. More often, though, the game just sort of dumps you onto the right track. I can’t count on my hands how many times I felt “lost,” but always wound up accomplishing the objective. Typically, this genre doesn’t lend itself well to level design. When you play an Arnt Jensen game from Playdead, you might notice the puzzles or the background, but levels more or less just feel like you’re moving left to right. Same thing with Little Nightmares or something like Jonathan Blow’s brilliant Braid. If you notice the level design, it’s only in relation to the puzzles, obstacles, or background. With Gris, it truly feels like a substantially larger world than it is. It’s a credit to the level and world designers that they made such a mechanically simplistic game feel so open.

Yes, there are some puzzles and platforming portions. While you can’t “die,” it isn’t always super easy to see what the next step is. These aren’t really the draw of the game, though they are well designed in their own right. Still, there are places where it might take a moment to realize what you’re supposed to do. Mostly this is due to the minimalist design that chooses to not really tell anything directly to the player. And gives those moments a level of gratification.

Some might deride this genre as being glorified “walking simulators,” but Gris does so many things well that it’s absolutely worth checking out; especially if interested in game design. It’s a beautiful, relaxing, fun, and engaging game that really is an impressive little experience worth picking up.

Reductive Rating: It’s good!

Available On: Android, iOS, MacOS, Windows, PS4, Switch