Hello everyone and welcome back to Kralizec Gaming.Today we are going to take a look at Gris. This adventure platformer promises stunning graphics, an amazing soundtrack, great story and great gameplay. Whether it can deliver on this promise is the question we will try to answer today. Gris is available on Steam for 16 Euros and 99 cents or your regional equivalent.

With this review you have a choice of either reading it here in text form or listening to the video review. They both contain the same content.

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Video Review

Text Review

When I first saw this game in the Steam list for upcoming games I immediate knew I have to play this. I mean, just take a look at the visuals. That is some serious art that could easily be displayed in any museum. But the question is, is the game all pomp and no substance? Or does it actually have substance to offer as well?

Gameplay

And to discover whether that is the case, we will have to talk about the thing that makes games truly stand out or fade into insignificance. The gameplay.

And I won’t beat around the bush. The game is truly great and the gameplay is really fun. You are a Gris – a young girl lost in a world that she has to traverse. And to do so, you will get to overcome many different kinds of obstacles ranging from just the need for precise platforming to puzzles that you’ll need to solve to progress further.

The game does a very good job of introducing the mechanics it provides you with to traverse the world. You start with just the ability to walk and jump. But over the different “chapters” of Gris you’ll acquire the ability to transform her dress into a heavy square (to break things), the ability to double jump, the ability to swim, and the ability to bring life to the world by singing. And obviously, as you progress further and further into the game you’ll be forced to combine these abilities to successfully pass the obstacles.

Your skills at using all of these abilities will be tested by many different things. These will include platforms that change shape, the need to solve some… well honestly pretty easy puzzles or a combination of both. The combinations are honestly the only thing that could somewhat impair your ability to progress through the game as the game is pretty easy.

But if you are a player who dislikes easy games, don’t just instantly dismiss Gris. It has something in store for you as well. Throughout the world you’ll find little challenges hidden These - while not super hard – certainly provide you with a much larger challenge compared to the rest of the game which was very obviously carefully designed to actually be somewhat of an easy game so everybody could get the chance to experience it.

And honestly, that’s pretty much all there is to the gameplay of Gris. Well… maybe one more thing should be mentioned as that is the one thing that could make Gris not as enjoyable to a certain type of a gamer. The game is slow. Deliberately slow – that should be stressed out. Gris isn’t a game that you should try to rush through, it’s more of an experience that you should take in slowly and contemplate at times to truly understand the message Gris is trying to send out to the world. But, understanding the modern gamer, this might not be fully appreciated by some.

Story

Okay, since the gameplay part of the review is finished, lets now take a look at the story.

The story of Gris is about a young girl named Gris. After a traumatic experience she gets lost inside her own world where her emotions are shown by her dress. And her journey is one of introspection, where she must discover her own inner strength.

Gris uses tools available to all of us to tell a story. Illustrations and music. It completely forgoes written and spoken storytelling as that would only serve to limit it. More specifically, it would limit the potential audience of Gris because not everybody can speak or read a specific languages and translations are always limited. And the way the storytelling is done is truly marvelous. I can only wish that more games get inspired and do the same and do it as well.

Graphics

And then we have the graphics. Holy hell this game is beautiful. Seriously. Just take a look. Every single frame of this game could be printed out and put on a wall. And plenty of them could easily get into museums. I personally especially loved how the game used colors to convey emotions but seriously, this game’s graphics are an art piece.

Music

And last but not least, the music. Oh God the music. It’s very close to the end of the year thus I feel confident in saying that this game has the best music from any game I’ve played this year. By a HUGE margin.

The music is in the classic orchestral style and it works with the game so well. Every time there is something happening on screen the music score changes to accommodate those events. Each chapter, with it’s different aesthetics, has a different score. And all, seriously all of them are just epic. And I don’t mean epic in “great” I mean epic as in heroic, grand and impressive.

I’ve already taken some of the songs and put them into my regular listening playlist and they sound as great on their own as they do when playing the game.

Performance

And before we bring the review to an end we have to have a quick look at the performance. And it’s gonna be really quick as everything works perfectly.

Conclusion

So… in conclucion: Gris is the game you show to your friends that still call gaming a childish futile exercise with no meaning because Gris truly is an art piece. On a gameplay level it is a bit simple, but you won’t mind that at all. You’ll just be flabbergasted by the sheer amount of artistic talent that was put into it. My only true problem with it is its price. While 17 bucks is not something you would cry about at night, it is also not the cheapest for what it is. Though, it’s still cheaper than going to the movies.
With that being said, if you have even the slightest inclination to liking beautiful artwork or great music – Gris is a must have for your gaming library.

So, that’s it for today guys. Hope you like the review and if you did, please consider upvoting the review and following my blog. And comment, if you have something you would like to add. See you guys later with more gaming content.

Disclaimer: All the images have been taken directly from the Steam game page