#loveindies Day 10: GRIS (Nomada Studio)
By Rae
I’ve had my eye on GRIS since I first saw art from it – filled with soft pastels and masterful blending, it looked more like a watercolor painting than a game. It’s the first title from Barcelona-based Nomada Studio, who wanted to create an experience more than anything else.
GRIS starts the player off in the middle of an empty, greylandscape. There’s nowhere to go but forward, where you’ll unlock your firstcolour – red. With the unlocking of a colour, more of the world will becomevisible. Where there was emptiness, you might find water. In the dark therewill now be lights. Vines will grow. Pathways will become uncovered. Colourmakes the world both brighter and more full to explore. Along the way, you willbe tasked with finding lights. Find enough, and the way ahead opens.
There are no real enemies in GRIS – at least not that you’llneed to worry about. You can’t die, and it’s not a horribly challenging game.Instead, the focus is on exploring your world and interacting with it. Thegameplay is formed entirely of platforming mechanics and puzzles, with plentyof leniency to retry if you don’t succeed the first time.
The primary goal of GRIS, seemingly, was to bring theartwork of Barcelona-based artist Conrad Roset to life, and it certainly succeeds.GRIS is one of the most gorgeous games I’ve ever seen – even three hours in Istill found myself amazed by the scenes and visuals. It’s a lovely art piecethat never ceases to outdo itself. There’s always something more beautifulcoming up. New colours, new places, new creatures. It’s a never-ending show ofscenes that could belong on any wall. GRIS also boasts a lovely soundtrack,featuring the music of Berlinist – it’s a joy to look at and to listen to. Everylevel felt less like a new challenge and more like a new journey.
I’ve seen a lot of reviews refer to GRIS as too heavy onstyle and too light on substance, but the longer I played, the more I disagreedwith that. The game starts a little slowly – you don’t have much you can do asyou keep pressing forward along the barren landscape. Once you get moremechanics, puzzles and platforming sections become much more clever andoccasionally tricky (the upside down mechanics were actually a really nice twiston otherwise straightforward sections). The gameplay on controller is so smooth– particularly once you reach the water sections. I actually fully enjoyedplaying GRIS.
I do think that you have to know what you’re going into, oryou might be disappointed. GRIS is an artistic experience, with rathercathartic and calm gameplay. You won’t find fast-paced action or difficult bossbattles here. You won’t find voice acting or a heavy story. GRIS is a differenttype of game entirely. It’s certainly more heavy on style than mechanics but Idon’t think that’s a lack of substance – just a different kind. GRIS isabout finding your voice. It’s an interactive art piece, and that’s okay.
If you’re looking for something visually stunning to playthat will draw you into its world and don’t mind the focus on light puzzles,GRIS is definitely a lovely experience worth undertaking.