Gris developers: "FEEL SOMETHING!"
Player: "Why?"
Gris developers: "I DON'T KNOW, DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST FEEL THE EMOTIONS!!!!1!"
What a load of utter wank Gris is. The game wants to be Journey meets a cinematic platformer a la Inside or Another World. The trouble is that it lacks the meaningful resonance of the former and the inventive puzzles of the latter. So what you're left with is a hollow and paper thin allegory on... well actually I don't know, because the game never bothers to explain what it's specifically about. It's deliberately vague you see, so that the story and themes can be left up to the player's interpretation; a device that indie developers often rely on when they can't be bothered to commit to some solid, tangible storytelling. After a cursory bit of research on the internet while the end credits started scrolling, I discovered that the game is an exploration of grief, apparently. Given what Gris was willing to divulge to the player during cutscenes, it might as well have been a hard-hitting chronicle of the time Steven Seagal shit his pants when being choked unconscious by Gene LeBell. What a load of absolute arsebiscuits.
Two stars because it looks nice and was mercifully short.
Player: "Why?"
Gris developers: "I DON'T KNOW, DON'T ASK QUESTIONS, JUST FEEL THE EMOTIONS!!!!1!"
What a load of utter wank Gris is. The game wants to be Journey meets a cinematic platformer a la Inside or Another World. The trouble is that it lacks the meaningful resonance of the former and the inventive puzzles of the latter. So what you're left with is a hollow and paper thin allegory on... well actually I don't know, because the game never bothers to explain what it's specifically about. It's deliberately vague you see, so that the story and themes can be left up to the player's interpretation; a device that indie developers often rely on when they can't be bothered to commit to some solid, tangible storytelling. After a cursory bit of research on the internet while the end credits started scrolling, I discovered that the game is an exploration of grief, apparently. Given what Gris was willing to divulge to the player during cutscenes, it might as well have been a hard-hitting chronicle of the time Steven Seagal shit his pants when being choked unconscious by Gene LeBell. What a load of absolute arsebiscuits.
Two stars because it looks nice and was mercifully short.