GRIS

Gris is an interactive piece of kinetic art. There are stunningly beautiful scenes that resemble watercolor paintings and a moving score. Everything ties into communicating an emotional journey starting with a major loss and goes into how the protagonist is handling it. This is meant for you to look at the scenery, take your time exploring, and feeling the emotions.

This game has no difficulties. You cannot die. There is just one enemy that can't hurt you (or better: it can't hurt you in the usual ways someone hurts you in games). But this is not a problem. For pro gamers there are a lot of suitable games out there. This is something different. This is a journey (yeah... it reminds a lot Journey), from the abysses of one's soul. You have to rebuilt your inner temple in a symbolic travel, regain trust an colours to your world. And that's all. If you're searching for challenge, this is not your game. If you're searching for a moving deep experience, this is one of the best.

The graphics are great: there is no pretention to look real, but a will to create a powerful ambiance - and it works! I couldn't get through Celeste because of the pixelated look, here you will only find sharp and colorfoul drawing. The music is the second pillar of the ambiance. It changes through the game, and conveys the right feelings at the right time. I recommend having the volume quite up to help immerse yourself in the atmosphere. And the overall "wow" feeling I got was nailed by the cutscenes. Short, uncomplicated and powerful, they went right through me. The gameplay felt good, not stressful, only a few repetitions needed here or there to get it right. It's nothing revolutionnary, but it's clean and doesn't get in the way. I had to use a guide to get 100% of the optionnal stuff, but it was not tedious because once you've finished the game you can load the checkpoint you want in the chapter you want (on average there is 5-10 minutes between two checkpoints). If you feel like playing, please stop reading here and launch the game - I went in cold, and I'm really happy that I did. Discovering everything little by little is part of what makes the game great, I hope you'lle have that chance.

There's almost a sub-genre of beautiful, hand-painted indie platformer about depression, grief, etc. This is one of those, and it's one of the best examples of it. If you like that sort of thing (and I do), you'll love it. If you find it pretentious, eh, okay, you can give it a miss. It's not setting the world on fire with its tightly defined platform gameplay or innovative genre defining mechanics. But that's not why you buy a game like this. You buy it to experience its soulful beauty.

This is without a doubt one of the most beatiful games I have ever played. The platforming is enjoyable and the sounddesign as well as the soundtrack itself add an important layer to the whole atmosphere. Although the gameplay is not revolutionary, it is a stunning piece of art and definitely one of the best games of 2018.