“Simply put, Gris is absolutely gorgeous.”

December 15, 2018 8:26 AM

Gris: a stunning animated movie that you can play [The Verge] “Gris opens in a world devoid of color. As a nameless, silent young woman, you traverse the desolate landscape, filled with crumbling ruins and a bleak sky, with an almost balletic sense of movement. You float and glide through the world. Slowly you’re able to bring color and light back, and as the world morphs, so does the main character. Gris starts out simple and stark, but ends as one of the most beautiful games ever made.” [YouTube][Game Trailer]

• Gris - Seeing in Color [Gamespot]

“Though it takes a mere four hours to reach the ending credits, the time spent with Gris is so captivating that it would have felt greedy to stay with it any longer. In Gris, a young woman finds herself alone in a desolate world. Ruined buildings and broken pillars dominate the landscape, remnants from a lost civilization. Without saying a word, the woman exudes loneliness, moving forward only to fulfill the aching sense of longing that is now her only companion. The feeling of loss is palpable. You wander through a palace that could tumble with one strong gust of wind. Cracked statues lay before you, all of women. Some stand in poses of power, others of thoughtfulness, but all are only relics of what used to be. Savor the sight because the statues, the buildings, the pillars could all be turned to dust when you return.”

• Gris Is Beautiful In Every Way [Kotaku]

“... it’s just walking, jumping, the art and the music. I almost didn’t need anything else. As the story, wordless and abstract as it is, unfolds, the world of Gris gains color, light and complexity. It’s a journey of self-discovery and coming of age as Gris learns about herself and her abilities. Crumbling columns in ancient temples are shattered by the weight of her blocky form, which is also capable of resisting harsh red winds that assault her in the game’s earlier moments. The ability to utilize her fluttering cloth composition to perform double jumps, float through the air and shoot into the sky with the assistance of red-winged birds opens up the world further.”

• Gris is a Beautiful Game About Surviving Trauma [IGN]

“Even the most basic “video game” aspects of Gris has these thematic elements woven into them. The dress you wear is a shield against the world, your one last vestige of protection against the encroaching darkness. The new abilities you unlock are only accessed after moments representing intense emotional catharsis - a “breakthrough,” if you will, and the obstacles you face, the dark manifestations of our protagonist’s trauma, can’t be defeated in combat (there is no combat in Gris). Rather, they must be dealt with by learning how to use their tactics to our advantage, to work with them and through them to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.”

• Gris - an evocative, ethereal experience you don't want to miss [Eurogamer]

“What I want to say about Gris isn't coming to me in fully formed sentences; it's just snatches of sentiment coming in dreamy, ethereal wisps, a warm, gloopy mess of incomplete sensations and emotions. There are disparate words I can use - soft, delicate, fragile, beguiling, soothing, melancholic, hypnotising - but strung together like that, I know they're unhelpful. I know I'm not making much sense. Which I guess is kind of fitting because, on paper, Gris doesn't make much sense, either. My god, it's beautiful, though; beautiful to look at, beautiful to listen to, beautiful to play, although in truth, Gris isn't played as much as it's experienced. I know; I don't like it when people say that in reviews, either. But for every hundred words I type here, I can show you a screenshot that'll instantly convey so much more. It's a truly masterful blend of form, flair, and function pinned in place with languid visuals, an evocative journey that sends you spinning through a story that never says a word.”

posted by Fizz (26 comments total)

I do appreciate that games like Gris, Inside, What Remains of Edith Finch, etc... I appreciate that they push that line of game/story/art/play. Sometimes you just want that feeling of living in a painting that lets you move.
posted by Fizz at 8:59 AM on December 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

Took one look at the Youtube video, liked the art style and decided it looks like a game that is better experienced without knowing anything. Purchased. I hope it doesn't dissappoint.
posted by Soi-hah at 9:10 AM on December 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

Soi-hah, I think that only downside (and it is debatable) is that the game is rather short but then again I appreciate that some stories just need to be told and then put to rest without going on and on for hours at a time. Apparently it's about 4 or 5 hours. Hope you I enjoy it, let us know what your first impressions are if you have time later.
posted by Fizz at 9:15 AM on December 15, 2018

I found the Rock Paper Shotgun review from Alice Walker an interesting perspective.

The game might as well be titled Kübler-Ross: Interactive Edition.

It sounds gorgeous but aggravating at the same time.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:29 AM on December 15, 2018 [7 favorites]

This game is 100% on my list. I'm currently playing Forgotten Anne, which does a bang up job emulating an animated film and is similarly systems-light. So might be worth looking at, although it is definitely going for a different tone.
posted by selfnoise at 9:33 AM on December 15, 2018

It reminds me of Journey.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 9:35 AM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

I can't tell if it has a story like Journey, or if it's all aesthetic.
posted by fleacircus at 10:03 AM on December 15, 2018

fleacircus, there is a story but it is a game that is heavy on aesthetics and art-style. From what I've read (and trying to avoid my own spoilers as I want to play this some day) it is a silent game told primarily through its music and atmosphere.
posted by Fizz at 10:41 AM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh, wow. I'm not a gamer at all*, but I think I would love this. Wandering through that aesthetic looks wonderfully peaceful.

*like, I will be making a Steam account if I decide to buy this not a gamer at all.
posted by kalimac at 11:07 AM on December 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

On Switch you say? It's almost Christmas you say? Hmm.
posted by Artw at 12:11 PM on December 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

No PS4. Boo.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:59 PM on December 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

This looks beautiful. Just to save anyone else the trouble of checking and being disappointed, though, it doesn't seem to be available for Linux.
posted by biogeo at 1:21 PM on December 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

Hon. Heter. Gris. 🥴
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:15 PM on December 15, 2018 [2 favorites]

Looks like GOG has DRM-free copies for Mac/PC, for those of you who are allergic to Steam.
posted by ragtag at 4:20 PM on December 15, 2018

GOG is pretty allergy inducing too, no?
posted by wotsac at 4:40 PM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Ooh boy yeah. :-(
posted by Artw at 4:48 PM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'd be curious to know why; this is the first I've heard of bad news regarding them.
posted by ragtag at 4:54 PM on December 15, 2018

Their social media accounts have a habit of posting Gamergate style stuff.
posted by Artw at 5:16 PM on December 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

Ugh. Thanks. (And sorry for the derail!)
posted by ragtag at 5:19 PM on December 15, 2018

ragtag, there's an open thread with people talking about problems with steam you might find interesting.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 5:20 PM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

I just wish they’d chosen a less obvious story or told it in a less obvious way — or just made it about a woman running around a pretty place. Make it about a magic watercolour land that needed saving from greyness! That would have been enough!

Though "the world is all grey and you have to bring color back into it" is also painfully cliche diaphanous-art-game fodder
posted by naju at 8:37 PM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm kinda all Journey-ed out, tbh. The genre has ossified terribly into a small number of affectations. But the game does look absolutely beautiful, no question.
posted by naju at 8:39 PM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Good twitter thread about Gris and games that obscure their narrative with metaphors.
posted by JimBennett at 9:40 PM on December 15, 2018 [6 favorites]

I found the Rock Paper Shotgun review from Alice Walker an interesting perspective.

BELL. Alice Bell. It would be entirely too weird having Alice Walker review video games.
posted by gusandrews at 8:13 AM on December 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

Am downloading it. I'm a slow gamer and I like beauty, so fingers crossed, this will be nice for a few winter evenings!
posted by Savannah at 6:30 PM on December 16, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Twitter thread about metaphor presents a solid point. I found even the loss of Bayek's son in AC origins much more personally than anything in Gris. AC is certainly not an art production.

That said, I'm not sure that agreeing in general means Gris should have done it specifically. A good short story is about creating a single effect in the reader. If Gris is about finding beauty, the specific doesn't add to that... It complicates the narrative unnecessarily. Gris is about the moving past, not the specific event.
posted by bfranklin at 6:04 PM on December 17, 2018 [1 favorite]