GRIS is certainly quite beautiful, but its insistence on prioritising aesthetics over substance by any means necessary - as well as a painfully banal artistic interpretation of mental illness - does very little to hide what a profoundly shallow experience it is.
4 / 10
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This is one of those times where I find myself at pretty firm odds with the majority consensus. I certainly can’t deny that the art style in this game is amazing. The world feels very vibrant, the music is beautiful and serene. The animations are clean and elegant.
So why do I feel so indifferent about it?
Why did this leave me with such an empty feeling upon completion? Why can I barely remember anything from this game, even though it’s been only like 3 weeks or so at the point of me writing this review? Are good graphics and music really all it takes to convince people they’re playing a good video game?
Maybe it’s because I’m just thoroughly disenchanted with these type of “nothing” games, where the actual gameplay takes an indefinite backseat in favour of presentation and ””storytelling””. You know, Limbo, Inside, Little Nightmares, more recently Stray, etc. There are exceptions, like Abzu which utilises a satisfying movement scheme and presents itself as an interactive ocean life documentary. Even Inside and Limbo at least have a semi-interesting story to uncover. I guess, what I’m asking is: What sets GRIS apart? What’s the draw here?
The art direction is almost certainly the main draw for a lot of people, and while I personally think it should never outweigh the actual gameplay, I can’t fault the game for looking as beautiful as it does. The aquarelle aesthetic and usage of colour feel very deliberate and unique to this game. The animations, be it the player character’s movement or the world at large, are close to flawless and communicate their purpose to the player incredibly well. The music is beautiful, with moods ranging from uplifting to deeply melancholic. In general, this game looks and sounds fantastic, and is unquestionably one of the best in the medium in that regard. Again, this isn’t too unusual for this genre of game where “story and art are more important than gameplay”.
My question will always remain the same when it comes to this topic though:
Why is this even a game? Why is this not just a movie? What unique experience does this piece of electronic entertainment offer within the confines of the interactive medium which I couldn’t simply get from a film or video instead?
I’m asking this because, when it comes to actual gameplay, there really isn’t all that much here. The game initially presents itself as something like Metroidvania-style puzzle platformer, which at first made me think that maybe the game would come up with interesting abilities based on colour theory or something like that. Instead, GRIS gives you a whopping 3 unique abilities: Becoming heavy, a double jump and singing. This wouldn’t be so bad if it ever did anything interesting with it, but the devs’ absolute refusal to put anything even remotely resembling a challenging gameplay section into their game seriously takes its toll by the end, when it becomes painfully clear that none of this will go anywhere, and the unbearably boring slog that 90% of the game boil down to is all in service to the story.
That itself would have been fine if they story was actually any interesting, which I am sad to say it really isn’t. I’ve been told that this game was one of the best games to tackle depression and mental illness beforehand, so I went into this game with that in mind. All I can say is that: If THIS pop-psychology laden surface level interpretation of mental illness is supposed to be one of the better ones in the interactive medium, we have a long way to go.
GRIS manages an interesting, albeit unintentional, balancing act by both painting depression literally manifesting itself as a dark, black bird clouding the sky, taking away all the colour in life, while also leaving the rest so abstract and bereft of any actual substance that it may as well be anything you want it to be. It feels like what the collective conscious of circa 2015-era Tumblr would come up with when prompted to conceptualise a manifestation of mental illness. It’s so trite and obnoxious in its non-descriptiveness that it sometimes feels like it’s taking the piss out of itself. It tries so hard to be deep and profound but doesn’t really end up saying anything at all. I’d say the best attempts at trying to represent abstract concepts in art - especially when it comes to mental illness - work something like an interactive poem, where all the individual pieces can be constructed into different meanings. GRIS just announces that it’s about depression without really exploring the subject beyond the most bare of surfaces.
You want a game with a great art style that addresses concepts like depression and loss of self in a way that is both textually AND meta-textually interesting AND comes with amazing gameplay? Try Dark Souls. Perhaps you want something more light hearted and with a more creative spin on the subject? Psychonauts 1 and 2 are both readily available. How about something more abstract? Majora’s Mask has been out for 20 years at this point. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Disco Elysium, Silent Hill, The Beginner’s Guide, Celeste, etc.. all of these games not only address mental illness and overcoming adversity within yourself in a much more tangible and meaningful way than GRIS, they also don’t skimp out on gameplay to achieve their vision.
Ultimately all of this is to say that, despite its stellar art direction and animation, GRIS is unbearably BORING. There is no reason to ever replay this, unless you want to watch this ca. 4 hour interactive movie again.
Even if you’re a big fan of this genre of game, there are better examples than this. I am convinced that, if this game didn’t look and sound as good as it does, people wouldn’t even give it a second glance.
4 / 10
4 / 10
.
.
.
.
This is one of those times where I find myself at pretty firm odds with the majority consensus. I certainly can’t deny that the art style in this game is amazing. The world feels very vibrant, the music is beautiful and serene. The animations are clean and elegant.
So why do I feel so indifferent about it?
Why did this leave me with such an empty feeling upon completion? Why can I barely remember anything from this game, even though it’s been only like 3 weeks or so at the point of me writing this review? Are good graphics and music really all it takes to convince people they’re playing a good video game?
Maybe it’s because I’m just thoroughly disenchanted with these type of “nothing” games, where the actual gameplay takes an indefinite backseat in favour of presentation and ””storytelling””. You know, Limbo, Inside, Little Nightmares, more recently Stray, etc. There are exceptions, like Abzu which utilises a satisfying movement scheme and presents itself as an interactive ocean life documentary. Even Inside and Limbo at least have a semi-interesting story to uncover. I guess, what I’m asking is: What sets GRIS apart? What’s the draw here?
The art direction is almost certainly the main draw for a lot of people, and while I personally think it should never outweigh the actual gameplay, I can’t fault the game for looking as beautiful as it does. The aquarelle aesthetic and usage of colour feel very deliberate and unique to this game. The animations, be it the player character’s movement or the world at large, are close to flawless and communicate their purpose to the player incredibly well. The music is beautiful, with moods ranging from uplifting to deeply melancholic. In general, this game looks and sounds fantastic, and is unquestionably one of the best in the medium in that regard. Again, this isn’t too unusual for this genre of game where “story and art are more important than gameplay”.
My question will always remain the same when it comes to this topic though:
Why is this even a game? Why is this not just a movie? What unique experience does this piece of electronic entertainment offer within the confines of the interactive medium which I couldn’t simply get from a film or video instead?
I’m asking this because, when it comes to actual gameplay, there really isn’t all that much here. The game initially presents itself as something like Metroidvania-style puzzle platformer, which at first made me think that maybe the game would come up with interesting abilities based on colour theory or something like that. Instead, GRIS gives you a whopping 3 unique abilities: Becoming heavy, a double jump and singing. This wouldn’t be so bad if it ever did anything interesting with it, but the devs’ absolute refusal to put anything even remotely resembling a challenging gameplay section into their game seriously takes its toll by the end, when it becomes painfully clear that none of this will go anywhere, and the unbearably boring slog that 90% of the game boil down to is all in service to the story.
That itself would have been fine if they story was actually any interesting, which I am sad to say it really isn’t. I’ve been told that this game was one of the best games to tackle depression and mental illness beforehand, so I went into this game with that in mind. All I can say is that: If THIS pop-psychology laden surface level interpretation of mental illness is supposed to be one of the better ones in the interactive medium, we have a long way to go.
GRIS manages an interesting, albeit unintentional, balancing act by both painting depression literally manifesting itself as a dark, black bird clouding the sky, taking away all the colour in life, while also leaving the rest so abstract and bereft of any actual substance that it may as well be anything you want it to be. It feels like what the collective conscious of circa 2015-era Tumblr would come up with when prompted to conceptualise a manifestation of mental illness. It’s so trite and obnoxious in its non-descriptiveness that it sometimes feels like it’s taking the piss out of itself. It tries so hard to be deep and profound but doesn’t really end up saying anything at all. I’d say the best attempts at trying to represent abstract concepts in art - especially when it comes to mental illness - work something like an interactive poem, where all the individual pieces can be constructed into different meanings. GRIS just announces that it’s about depression without really exploring the subject beyond the most bare of surfaces.
You want a game with a great art style that addresses concepts like depression and loss of self in a way that is both textually AND meta-textually interesting AND comes with amazing gameplay? Try Dark Souls. Perhaps you want something more light hearted and with a more creative spin on the subject? Psychonauts 1 and 2 are both readily available. How about something more abstract? Majora’s Mask has been out for 20 years at this point. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Disco Elysium, Silent Hill, The Beginner’s Guide, Celeste, etc.. all of these games not only address mental illness and overcoming adversity within yourself in a much more tangible and meaningful way than GRIS, they also don’t skimp out on gameplay to achieve their vision.
Ultimately all of this is to say that, despite its stellar art direction and animation, GRIS is unbearably BORING. There is no reason to ever replay this, unless you want to watch this ca. 4 hour interactive movie again.
Even if you’re a big fan of this genre of game, there are better examples than this. I am convinced that, if this game didn’t look and sound as good as it does, people wouldn’t even give it a second glance.
4 / 10
2 Comments
@FallenGrace I'm glad you agree, in my experience a lot of people are really protective of this game and won't accept any criticism of it. For most people the fact that this game is very pretty and attempts to tell a story about mental illness is enough to not allow much in the way of meaningful discussion about how it actually plays and how, imo, this tendency of removing the process of optimisation in gameplay in an attempt at making games more "art-like" is actually a pretty regressive and conservative approach that effectively curtails what the medium is even capable of, simply so the fancy art folks and Roger Ebert's of the world will give them a second glance
FallenGrace
3 months ago