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Gris

For the painter, see Juan Gris. For other uses, see Gris (disambiguation).

Gris
Cover art, showing the game's protagonist
Developer(s)Nomada Studio
Publisher(s)Devolver Digital
Director(s)Conrad Roset
Producer(s)Roger Mendoza
Designer(s)
  • Óscar Crego
  • Daniel Cuadrado González
Programmer(s)Adrián Cuevas
Artist(s)Conrad Roset
Composer(s)Berlinist
EngineUnity
Platform(s)
Release
  • macOS, Nintendo Switch, Windows
  • 13 December 2018
  • iOS
  • 21 August 2019[1]
  • PlayStation 4
  • 26 November 2019[2]
  • Android
  • 1 April 2020
  • PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
  • 13 December 2022
Genre(s)Platform-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gris is a platform-adventure game by Spanish developer Nomada Studio and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released for macOS, Nintendo Switch, and Windows in December 2018, for iOS in August 2019, for PlayStation 4 in November 2019, for Android in April 2020, for Amazon Luna in November 2021, and for PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in December 2022. The game has sold over 3 million copies.

Synopsis

The game follows a girl named Gris,[3] who wakes up in the palm of a crumbling statue of a woman. She attempts to sing out, but quickly becomes choked up, and the statue's hands crumble, dropping her to the colourless earth below. After landing, she continues walking forward and discovers a number of strange structures that seem to be powered by mysterious points of light resembling stars. Gris can collect these lights to gain new abilities, such as turning into a heavy block of stone and creating new pathways made of constellations.

After reaching a central tower, Gris can travel to four new locations to collect lights and restore colour back to her world at statues resembling the broken one from the beginning of the story. These areas include a desert filled with windmills, a lush forest, underwater caverns, and a world with buildings made of light. Along the way she encounters various living beings, some of which help her on her journey, as well as an inky black monster which manifests as large creatures that threaten to consume her. The final power Gris obtains is the ability to sing again, which brings life to various plants and mechanical animals. In addition, hints throughout the story via other statues similar to the first reveal that the woman that Gris constantly grieves in front of is her late mother.

Gris eventually collects enough stars to form a constellation path to the heavens, but the final pathway is blocked by the creature, who morphs into a monstrous form of herself and swallows her whole. She wakes up in an ocean of toxic black sludge and swims to the surface. As she climbs a tower rising out of the ocean, the creature tries to pull her back. However, Gris begins singing, and her mother's statue begins to reform itself through the power of her voice. Just as she is completely consumed by the black oil, the statue of Gris's mother comes alive and begins singing as well, banishing the creature and the sea of despair. Encouraged by her mother's song, Gris continues to sing and the duet fully restores the world back to its beauty and colour. Gris and her mother tearfully embrace, with Gris giving a farewell kiss and she climbs the final constellation path into the light and the unknown, having accepted her mother's death and moving forward with the knowledge of her mother's love still being with her.

If all mementos are collected, Gris's childhood is revealed in a secret room. It is nighttime. A child Gris is in the meadows with her mother. Gris's mother encloses a firefly between her hands, then releases it to fly around child Gris. Then under the bright full moon child Gris and her mother embrace.

Development

Adrián Cuevas, the programmer for Gris, in 2019

Gris was developed by Nomada Studio, a Barcelona-based company which was formed after a chance meeting between two Ubisoft employees, Roger Mendoza and Adrián Cuevas, and artist Conrad Roset. The two met Roset while attending a going away party held for Cuevas who was temporarily moving to Ubisoft Montreal to work on Rainbow Six Siege. Roset noted to Mendoza and Cuevas that he was interested in working on video games, at the time the two were interested in creating an independent game but lacked the artistic skills, so the three decided to form Nomada Studios.[4]

Intending the game to be "a mix of Journey and Ori and the Blind Forest", the game was designed with accessibility in mind.[4] As such there are no fail states, a decision that proved to be challenging.[5] Mendoza has described their approach as "If there's a puzzle you can probably finish it at the second or third try. When the puzzle is more complicated, we give the player options." Partway through development the team consulted with a psychologist about the game's narrative themes of grief (especially the five stages of grief) and depression, resulting in gameplay decisions to echo the turmoil of the main character. An example of this is how at the beginning of the game the player is unable to jump which helps reinforce the notion that "something is wrong with this girl".[6][5]

The art style created some unique problems for the developers. Since the game becomes more lively as players progress designing the early areas in an appealing way proved challenging. The team eventually solved this problem by taking inspiration from Iwagumi style aquariums.[7] Another challenging issue was readability, which resulted in several level design and camera angle tweaks during development. Initially the main character's dress was going to change as more colors became unlocked, however this eventually proved impractical due partly to the camera angles.[7] The game's title refers to the name of the protagonist, as well as the Spanish word for the colour grey.[3]

Reception

Gris received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[8][9]

EGMNow wrote that "with an arresting art style and admirable commitment to minimalist game design, Gris manages to turn a straightforward, often derivative platformer into something that feels far more special and important."[12]

GameSpot stated "Gris understands intrinsically how magical video games can be and continually pushes your imagination until you're almost bursting with joy. The ways in which it reinvents itself as you gain powers and dive ever deeper into this world is truly special, and just as it knows exactly when to pull back the camera or introduce a new song, it's keenly aware of when it's time to say goodbye. Like a comet streaking across the sky, Gris is full of wonder and beauty and leaves you with a warm glow in your heart."[15]

Apple stated "This spectacularly satisfying puzzle-platformer is a soul-stirring work of digital art—one that explores hope, grief and the triumph of piecing a life back together after tragic loss" and awarded it Mac Game of the Year in 2019.[21]

Sales

Gris's sales exceeded 300,000 units by March 2019,[22] one million by April 2020,[23] and three million by September 2024.[24]

Accolades

Year Award Category Result Ref
2019 New York Game Awards Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game Nominated [25]
46th Annie Awards Character Animation in a Video Game Won [26]
22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement in Animation Nominated [27]
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction Nominated
National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards Animation, Artistic Nominated [28][29]
Art Direction, Contemporary Won
Original Light Mix Score, New IP Nominated
SXSW Gaming Awards Excellence in Art Nominated [30]
Excellence in Visual Achievement Nominated
Excellence in Musical Score Nominated
Most Promising New Intellectual Property Nominated
19th Game Developers Choice Awards Best Debut (Nomada Studio) Nominated [31][32]
Best Visual Art Won
15th British Academy Games Awards Artistic Achievement Nominated [33]
Debut Game Nominated
Music Nominated
Italian Video Game Awards Best Art Direction Nominated [34]
Best Indie Game Won
Game Beyond Entertainment Nominated
2019 Webby Awards Best Visual Design Won [35]
Games for Change Awards Best Gameplay Won [36][37]
Golden Joystick Awards Best Visual Design Nominated [38]
Titanium Awards Best Art Won [39][40]
Best Spanish Development Nominated
The Game Awards 2019 Best Art Direction Nominated [41][42]
Games for Impact Won
Fresh Indie Game (Nomada Studio) Nominated

Legacy

In 2021, GQ España named Gris one of the best Spanish-made games ever.[43]

See also

References

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  2. ^ Romano, Sal (22 November 2019). "GRIS coming to PS4 on November 26". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 23 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  3. ^ a b Caballero, David (4 December 2018). "What does GRIS mean? We talk to Nomada Studio". Gamereactor. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  4. ^ a b Handrahan, Matthew (15 January 2019). "Balancing beauty and meaning in Gris". Ganesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  5. ^ a b Pickard, James. "Here's why Gris is the best-looking narrative adventure game of 2018". Red Bull. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  6. ^ Sanchez, Antonio (5 August 2019). "Recovering Hearts: The Games Challenging Mental Health Stigmas". EGMNOW. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  7. ^ a b Webster, Andrew (20 December 2018). "THE ART BEHIND THE GORGEOUS INDIE GAME GRIS". The Verge. Archived from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  8. ^ a b "GRIS for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  9. ^ a b "GRIS for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  10. ^ "GRIS for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  11. ^ Moyse, Chris (13 December 2018). "Review: GRIS". Destructoid. Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  12. ^ a b Harmon, Josh (13 December 2018). "Gris review". EGMNow. EGM Media, LLC. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  13. ^ Blake, Vikki (13 December 2018). "Gris review - an evocative, ethereal experience you don't want to miss". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 13 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  14. ^ Kato, Matthew (13 December 2018). "Gris Review - Not All Who Wander Are Lost". Game Informer. GameStop. Archived from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  15. ^ a b Mc Shea, Tom (13 December 2018). "Gris Review - Seeing In Color". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
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  21. ^ "Apple celebrates the best apps and games of 2019". Apple Newsroom. Archived from the original on 13 May 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  22. ^ Sucasas, Ángel Luis (14 March 2019). "Gris, el gran éxito del videojuego español, nominado a tres Bafta". El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 April 2019.
  23. ^ Macgregor, Jody (19 April 2020). "Beautiful sadcore platformer Gris has sold over a million copies". PC Gamer. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  24. ^ Garrido, Alberto (26 September 2024). "Two weeks before the release of Neva, Nomada Studio celebrates three million units sold of GRIS". Gamereactor. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  25. ^ Keyes, Rob (3 January 2019). "2018 New York Game Awards Nominees Revealed". Screen Rant. Valnet, Inc. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  26. ^ Pedersen, Erik (2 February 2019). "Annie Awards: 'Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse' Snares Best Animated Feature & Six Others – Winners List". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  27. ^ Makuch, Eddie (10 January 2019). "God Of War, Spider-Man Lead DICE Awards; Here's All The Nominees". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  28. ^ "Nominee List for 2018". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 11 February 2019. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  29. ^ "Winner list for 2018: God of War breaks record". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 13 March 2019. Archived from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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  37. ^ Kerr, Chris (19 June 2019). "Nintendo and Ubisoft honored at the 2019 Games for Change Awards". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  38. ^ Tailby, Stephen (20 September 2019). "Days Gone Rides Off with Three Nominations in This Year's Golden Joystick Awards". Push Square. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  39. ^ "Titanium Awards 2019". Fun & Serious Game Festival. 9 March 2017. Archived from the original on 21 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  40. ^ "Ganadores de los premios Titanium del Fun & Serious 2019". Generación Xbox (in Spanish). 10 December 2019. Archived from the original on 22 February 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  41. ^ Winslow, Jeremy (19 November 2019). "The Game Awards 2019 Nominees Full List". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 23 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  42. ^ Makuch, Eddie (13 December 2019). "The Game Awards 2019 Winners: Sekiro Takes Game Of The Year". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  43. ^ Abadíe, Borja (29 July 2021). "Los mejores videojuegos españoles de la historia". GQ España. Archived from the original on 6 August 2021.
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