If that’s not an obvious metaphor for emotional catharsis, I don’t know what is. Then of course, near the end of the game, the hitherto voiceless protagonist gains the ability to sing again, and using that ability brings previously withered plants back to lush life. It’s a true pleasure to wander these levels and marvel at the watercolored, pastel artistry that suffuses every nook and cranny of the game with a kind of surreal splendor.Īs the protagonist progresses through the various levels, she starts to come back to herself, gaining abilities that I see as metaphors for emotional recovery – the ability to turn herself into a stoic rock to withstand the periodic gales of grief, or conversely, to leap, as if weightless, unencumbered by chains of longing. And finally, an illusory city in the sky, where if one goes high enough, one enters a mirror image where the music is played backwards. There’s a strikingly beautiful underwater level teeming with all manner of marine life and the drowned ruins of a once-resplendent city. There’s a lush arboreal landscape filled with trees that open and close like giant mimosas, reacting to the protagonist’s actions. There’s a dusty red wasteland reminiscent of Arabian nights, plagued by periodic gale-force winds and giant moving stone creatures. And amidst this, a strange, black creature that is the embodiment of despair chases her around, trying to consume her.Įach level is beautiful and stark in its own way, brimming with interesting concepts and gameplay elements. The titular protagonist wanders what I can only think of as a vast, beautiful memory palace, collecting mementoes and restarting long-derelict structures, all to get to a place in her heart where she can inject the color back into the stone edifice that represents what must be her lost loved one, to make bloom new life amidst the lifeless. Gris, to me, seems to depict a wordless journey through the stages of grief. That kind of thing also encourages leeway in narrative interpretation. Gris, developed by the Spanish indie studio Nomada Games, is a testament to how narrative and game mechanics can be designed to be intuitive and incremental, to foster both quick understanding of how to play, coupled with the satisfaction of having surpassed a challenge, with a minimum of cultural and linguistic baggage so as to make it as inclusive as possible. Games are a uniquely wonderful medium for storytelling one that is well-suited for surpassing cultural and linguistic boundaries through good design. Gris is a beautiful and resplendent experience that just about qualifies to be called a platform video game.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |