When I first started playing ‘GRIS’ I absolutely loved it. It reminded me how much of an amazing platform video games are for art and storytelling. While this is still my opinion after completing the game however it did bore me halfway through.
The platforming aspect of the game is fun but can require some abstract problem solving to achieve some of the puzzles. You will either feel really smart for solving a puzzle yourself or really dumb after finding out the solution when you look it up online. As the game progresses, the player gradually acquires new mechanics, including jumping, transforming into a heavy block, swimming, and singing. They are all fun to use however some of them get a bit tiresome when you’ve had to use it for the hundredth time. Red butterflies can only boost me into the air so many times before I lose all excitement for it.
The art style in this game is absolutely stunning, it is probably the game after ‘Sea of Stars’ which I have taken the most screenshots of. As you progress you unveil more and more colours so the game itself becomes more and more colourful.
The game is pretty short, around 4 hours, I got pretty fed up halfway through but I persisted and kept playing. The game does have its moments throughout where you find something new and exciting but then 15 minutes later after using the mechanic multiple times you may get bored again.
Gris is available on all current and previous generation consoles as well as mobile. You can also find it on Xbox Game Pass at the time of writing.
