Gris

GRIS, an artsy 2D platformer with light puzzle elements, is a peacock disguised as a black sheep, hiding among a flock of indie games that aim to be works of art and nebulous “experiences” at the expense of being fun to play: unlike most of them, it actually succeeds in all it attempts, and no aspect’s strength comes from another’s weakness—all its feathers are equally brilliant once revealed.
GRIS initially presents as a blank canvas, rather unremarkable and deceptively bland, until it gradually paints a visual and aural masterpiece as you explore its dreamlike world, unlocking colors which alter the environment and the means needed to traverse it. Although there is no traditional combat or risk of death, you will have to weather harsh conditions and brave the unconventional methods used to make you feel threatened as you battle and escape nightmarish figures.
The soundtrack is breathtakingly beautiful and impeccably timed to evoke feelings of peace, wonder and danger when appropriate. The sound effect design is equally impressive: attention has been given to the smallest of details like the songs of tiny birds as they fly away, the roar of the wind at high altitudes, the sound your footsteps make on different surfaces, and the faint grinding of gears in machinery; even objects which would simply be background decoration in most games produce the appropriate sounds when you pass and cause them to shift—nothing has been overlooked.
Progression comes from gathering wisps of light which unlock constellation platforms and traditional power-ups like double jump, ground slam, swimming and dolphin leaping; occasionally, you’ll have to work with inverted gravity, painting platforms into existence with light, and freeing or befriending creatures to aid you. The ratio of familiar platforming mechanics to ones GRIS lends a unique flair feels perfectly balanced.
Roughly halfway into the game is one of the most intense and memorable sequences I’ve played in a lifetime of gaming; even if GRIS wasn’t otherwise extraordinary, I’d be glad I played it for those five minutes alone.
While I can’t claim there is some profound philosophical meaning to be gleaned from playing it, or even guarantee any one person they would enjoy it due to the subjective nature of art, like all great art, it transcends any linguistic or cultural barriers and can be universally appreciated by anyone.
If you’ve managed to remain stoic and unmoved by any form of art until now—or don’t believe games can be art in the first place—GRIS isn’t likely to restart your heart; if you need action, adrenaline and/or difficulty to enjoy games, you won’t be pumped or challenged; and if you’ve already decided from the screenshots it’s another pretentious artistic endeavor and a waste of time and are here looking for confirmation, you’ll have the uphill battle of breaking away from personal biases and preconceived notions to enjoy it.
But, if you’ve ever been moved by something and couldn’t quite put your finger on why or identify what all the resulting emotions were, other than the sudden realization you were glad to be alive and human in that moment, GRIS deserves a few hours of your time for the mere possibility of making you feel that way again.

This game makes me press F12 in every moment.
스샷ㄱ

I have never played a game quite like GRIS before.

GRIS is a visually stunning platformer that is punctuated with some light puzzle elements later on in the game. You play as Gris, a young woman struggling to recuperate after a deeply traumatic experience. The game opens with Gris atop the palm of a large statue. She sings to keep the statue intact, but as her singing begins to falter, the statue begins to crumble, and soon she is robbed of her voice entirely. This causes the statue to collapse, and Gris plummets into the colourless barren landscape below, and into the depths of despair.

What follows is a journey about healing, coming to terms with trauma, rediscovering your voice, and trying to find beauty in the world once more after all hope and meaning have been lost. As Gris journeys through the various dream-like environments, she will gain new abilities that aid her in solving puzzles and navigating difficult terrain, returning colour to the monochromatic world as she travels through it.

In terms of gameplay and mechanics, GRIS is very light on its feet. There is no fail state and there are no enemies to overcome; this is a game to be experienced rather than one that is to be beaten into submission. The game deftly handles themes of grief, depression, and ultimately acceptance with a level of maturity and emotional depth that is both rare and tangible, and it does so without ever uttering a single word of dialogue.

GRIS is brought to life by painstakingly hand-drawn animations and a dynamic musical score that swells with pivotal gameplay and story moments, which culminates in a game that is often profoundly moving, achingly beautiful, and starkly relatable to anyone who has suffered any form of life-altering emotional trauma. GRIS is an experience that will likely stick with you long after the credits roll, and serves as a benchmark for visual and emotional storytelling.

Its short and beautiful ride. IT MADE MY DAY. I would say its a "must play" game.
~ DIFFICULTY ~
✅ My 90 year old grandma could play it
🔲 Easy
🔲 Normal
🔲 Hard
🔲 Dark Souls
~ GRAPHICS ~
🔲 MS Paint
🔲 Bad
🔲 Meh
🔲 Graphics dont matter in this game
🔲 Good
🔲 Beautiful
✅ Masterpiece
~ MUSIC ~
🔲 Bad
🔲 Not special
🔲 Good
✅ Beautiful
~ STORY ~
🔲 This game has no story
🔲 Like playing Temple Runners for the story
🔲 It's there for the people who want it
✅ Well written
🔲 Epic story
🔲 Imagine Kingdom Hearts but on crack
~ PRICE ~
🔲 Free
🔲 Underpriced
✅ Perfect Price
🔲 Could be cheaper
🔲 Overpriced
🔲 Complete waste of money
~ REQUIREMENTS ~
🔲 You can run it on a microwave
✅ Average
🔲 High end
🔲 NASA computer
~ LENGTH ~
✅ Very Short (0 - 3 hours)
🔲 Short (3 - 15 hours)
🔲 Average (15-50 hours)
🔲 Long (50-90 hours)
🔲 Extremely long (90-110 hours)
🔲 No ending
~ FUN ~
🔲 I'd rather watch paint dry
🔲 Hard to enjoy
🔲 Repetitive
✅ Actually pretty amusing
🔲 Ride of your life
~ REPLAYABILITY~
🔲 It's a one-time experience
🔲 Only for achievements
🔲 If you wait a few months/years
✅ Definitely
🔲 Infinitely replayable
~ WORTH BUYING ~
🔲 No
🔲 Wait for sale
✅ Yes

📝About GRIS
GRIS is a 2D platformer with a very eye-catching art style, developed by an exceptionally talented group of people over at Nomada Studio. This was their debut game, and it packs a big punch for a game from a small up and coming studio.
Story
The main character is Gris, a young girl who after experiencing a traumatic event is left without her "voice". Pain and sorrow have taken over her world, leaving it bleak and in ruins, devoid of life and color. Throughout her journey, she will encounter multiple obstacles in her attempt to surmount her emotions and confront her fears. The beauty of GRIS, are the tiny details you find throughout your playthrough, giving new context and meaning to the overall story. Each element of the game has a certain part to play in the overall narrative. Its frankly astounding how the developers succeeded in telling a heartwarming story about loss, grief, and perseverance, using three firmly connected, fundamental game elements - environment, music, and gameplay.
Gameplay
This is first and foremost a narrative-driven game, thus the gameplay is here to compliment it, not present itself as a hurdle to overcome. Its smooth, precise, and without any real danger or failure. The gameplay here does a good job of mixing exploration with puzzle-solving and doesn't detract from the story. Each ability you unlock has a distinct meaning that lends itself wonderfully to the overall narrative. Gris is weak at the beginning and at the mercy of the environments around her, perfectly symbolizing one's state after experiencing something soo traumatic. As you advance, Gris becomes more powerful, now being able to subdue the environment and in doing so, take back control of her world.
Graphics
Right of the bat, you feel like you are playing an interactive painting. Nomada Studio collaborated with Conrad Roset, who has a very unique and gorgeous art style. Taking a look at the artwork for GRIS, we can see many different concepts of the main character herself, going from more complex, with each color occupying different rows on the cape, all the way to the fairly simple design that was in the final product. This shows the challenge in adapting his style, it needed to mesh with the game design, and some things needed to be compromised on, providing us the best of both worlds. Color plays an immense part in bringing the world to life, not only visually but narratively. The world is bleak and devoid of color and life at the start, representing the current state Gris finds herself in. As she grows more powerful and learns to master the environment with different abilities, the world around her also reacts, with distinct colors painting the world, implying the link between the environment and her regaining control.
One of the most beautiful games to date, amazing work has been done here by the art team. It complements the story in a great way, utilizing specific colors that are associated with certain emotions. Small peek into the environment design of GRIS
● Optimization:
It's great. Like many other indie games that have "simple" hand-drawn styles, it can be played on ancient hardware by today's standard, without any performance concerns. The minimum requirements allow 13-year-old Dual Core CPUs and 10-year-old 1 GB GDDR3 GPUs, so it shouldn't task your PC too much, if at all. During my two playthroughs, there were no bugs, no abnormal artifacts on the screen, stuttering or frame drops, everything was smooth and polished. The only gripe I have and can see some people perhaps having is, no native Ultrawide support. A shame for such a beautiful game, but it does have an unofficial fix for that. It fixes 99.9% of the problems you would encounter with an Ultrawide monitor, except the sandstorms, these effects are rendered in 16:9 and won't cover the whole screen. This is present only for about 10min of the game so it won't be a significant eyesore.
Sound and Music
The music, as stated before, is one of the essential elements in the way GRIS tells its story. Every single track is of the highest quality, adding additional context to what's happening on the screen, exploration is impacted by it, and it almost effortlessly achieves its goal of evoking powerful emotions from players. In one word, it's majestic. The Berlinist deserves huge praise for his work here. Unagi is by far the most beautiful track I heard in a long while, going from hopelessness to hopefulness in an instant, where tears of joy were shed. Music is a fascinating medium, it has the ability to not only convey, but also envoke powerful emotions from people listening to it.
💬Final Thoughts
What you get when you put a bunch of artists together to make a game, well you get GRIS. This is definitely an essential✅ game if you love gaming as a medium for storytelling. While simple in gameplay, its heartwarming story about loss, grief, and overcoming one's fears alongside the exceptional environment art and amazing music are what make GRIS special.

I just finished the game a few minutes ago. I am in awe. This game did not say or make me read a single word yet I cried at the end. The visuals are absolutely stunning and the soundtrack matches perfectly. I was so entranced by the visuals it took me 10 hours to finish because I got caught in looking and forgot to play. This game is by far the absolute best I have ever played. The levels were just challenging enough to not be frustrating but interesting. But the best part of this game was the whole experience of playing it. Beautiful

GRIS is a story about grief.
From the very beginning, you can feel the atmosphere of the game as the first cutscene plays. The soundtrack of the game sets the mood throughout as you bring color to the world, unlock more abilities and explore your surroundings. Your motive feels vague at the beginning but as you progress you will begin to understand the story that unfolds.
All without a single line of dialogue.
Not a single word was uttered throughout the entire game, yet it felt like you went through a whole book of emotions. The way the game was crafted was to use the soundtrack and the visuals to let you figure the story out yourself, and it worked tremendously well. The further you delve into the game, the more you felt. Meeting a friendly npc and having it as your ally, albeit for a short while, provided a sense of companionship in this lonely world. Completing stages colors the surroundings around you, providing you joy as you appreciate it after taking colors for granted.
The art of the game requires no words to describe, or rather more accurately, it left me speechless. The game feels like a hand painted painting and is works well to convey the beauty of the game. Shadows play a part of the story while colors give you a feeling of the surrounding atmosphere, whether you are underwater, in the forest or even in a desert, the surroundings are perfectly represented by their respective colors. Throughout the entire game, no matter which frame you take a photo of, is wallpaper worthy. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. You can literally take a screenshot of anywhere in the game and it will come out beautifully and perfect. Games don't need realistic graphics or complex renders to be good, and this one proves it.
The soundtrack, as with the art direction, left me speechless too. It plays so well with the game and you can feel the sorrow or joy as the sound shifts, setting the atmosphere for the particular level. It doesn't get repetitive which really helps you feel relaxed as you enjoy the surroundings. Violins and pianos make up the majority of the soundtracks which really helps to set the mood of grief, or even at parts joy. Vocals are also amazing as you find yourself entranced by the first soundtrack (Gris, Part 1) along with the ending soundtrack (Gris, Part 2) which hits you with emotion harder than a nuke exploding in front of your face. Sound design in particular, is also equally amazing as you feel the weight of every step you take, or the splashes you make and adds to the liveliness of the empty world. And in terms of dialogue, well, for a game with no dialogue at all, this game speaks a lot.
Progressing through the game, while slowly picking up the overarching story from the various hints scattered around and finally reaching the finale, you learn that GRIS is not correctly described as a game of grief, but rather,
GRIS is a story about acceptance.