Reviews

Gris Review

Darryl McNeil

03 Sep 2026 • 6 min read

Screenshot from Gris' opening cutscene

Introduction

Gris is a puzzle platformer game, released by Nomada Studio & Devolver Digital in late 2018. You follow the story of the eponymous girl, Gris, as she travels a greyscale world and battles through her grief while restoring the colors around her. As you journey through different stages and overcome obstacles, you'll bring life back to your surroundings and unlock new ways to traverse.

I'll attempt to break down the aspects of the game into individual categories and assign a score out of 100 based on certain entirely subjective criteria. The criteria I'll base my score on can be found here.

Spoiler warning

While I try my best not to spoil puzzle solutions or other major parts of the story/gameplay loop, it is hard to write an in-depth review without doing so to some extent. If you have not played the game and do not wish to have aspects of the game revealed to you ahead of time, do not read this review.

Gameplay

Gris is a predominantly linear platformer that evolves over the course of the game by granting the player a swath of new abilities as they progress throughout. The gameplay is relatively simple, consisting of traversing an area and unlocking a new ability (movement or otherwise) that allows you to overcome the specific obstacles of that area. These abilities are all fairly distinct from each other, making each section feel quite unique as new tools are added to your kit.

Gris using the dive/swim ability unlocked in one of the later game sections

While simple at a glance, this slow progression of your characters' abilities allows for the thorough enjoyment and exploration of the incredibly well-designed locales the game takes you to. In order to progress, you'll have to use a combination of the prior abilities you've unlocked in tandem with any new one you happen to unlock within the section itself.

Gameplay Score: 20/20

Design

Gris' design is done in such a beautiful way that I genuinely cannot find a negative thing to say. As far as visuals go, the game is presented in a watercolor style, becoming more vibrant as you continue through the game. The visuals do not feel cluttered or overblown but remain present enough to contribute heavily to the overall theme of the game.

The early game of Gris, devoid of all color — The early game of *Gris,* devoid of all color

When it comes to the layout of the different sections of the game, there exists a perfect blend of simplicity and complexity. The early areas you'll explore remain very linear in how you are meant to explore them, allowing you to more easily grasp the tools you have at your disposal to traverse them, whereas the later game sections allow for branching paths in exploration as you've become more familiar with the abilities you unlock throughout the course of the game.

The stage design in Gris, once several colors have been returned, featuring the main hub area — The stage design in *Gris,* once several colors have been returned

Ultimately, the combination of these two elements allows the general design of the game to be its most attractive element as far as player enjoyment and engagement go. Gris sets an incredibly high bar for visual and stage design in indie games; words simply do not do it justice.

Design Score: 20/20

Music

The music in Gris, composed by the incredibly talented band Berlinist, consists of an impressive score spanning 27 different tracks and totaling over an hour of incredible music. The music in this game complements the story so unbelievably well in so many ways, such as how more instruments are progressively introduced into the soundtrack as more color is restored throughout the story (just compare this track from the start of the game with this track from the end of the game!). Overall, the music does a wonderful job at elevating the entire experience; seriously, it's some of the best music I've heard playing a video game.

Music Score: 10/10

Lore

Gris tells a story of a grief so poignant that it removes all color from the world. Without so much as a single written or spoken word, you follow the progression of Gris, the character, through her stages of grief, which are beautifully displayed throughout the various stages of the game.

One of the earlier sections in Gris featuring predominantly red coloring — One of the earlier sections in *Gris* featuring predominantly red coloring

To take such a sensitive core topic and tell a story in such an unfiltered and beautiful way is a task that very few games have been able to do in such a successful and meaningful way. The story of Gris is one that I feel nearly everyone who plays it can relate to in their own personal way, which I find to be a truly remarkable testament to the game as a whole.

Lore Score: 10/10

Controls

_{NOTE: I played this game with controller controls; this is the developer's intended control scheme.}

The controls in Gris are incredibly simple in nature, requiring no complex inputs. Navigating around the game never makes you feel as if you're fighting with the controls to any extent. Fortunately (or unfortunately), there is not a lot to get into regarding this section.

Control Score: 10/10

Difficulty

Gris is not a difficult game by any means. While there are some platforming puzzles, there is nothing that requires a particularly high level of concentration to be able to complete. Despite the lack of difficulty, Gris does avoid feeling like a simple walking simulator, avoiding the pitfalls of both being too frustrating and too boring and falling right in the Goldilocks zone of difficulty for a title such as this.

Difficulty Score: 10/10

Overall Quality

While in general, Gris is an incredibly well-polished and put-together experience, when I had replayed the game to refresh myself for this review, I experienced inexplicable stuttering and animation issues in one section of the game, though I was still able to progress through the game despite these issues. After some further research, this was not a problem unique to me or my system, though after trying for a while to troubleshoot, I was unable to resolve it. Part of this can likely be chalked up to the fact that the game was created for hardware that is 8 years out of date as of today. However, in keeping this review as a reflection of the game's current state, I'll have to knock off a point here. As far as the rest of the game goes, I did not encounter any other major issues in my playthrough.

One of the later game sections in Gris, showing a colorful scene with red starry sky — One of the later, more colorful, sections in *Gris*

Despite this game's shorter runtime, there is no shortage of entertainment. Of course, you could simply follow the direct path to complete the game, ignoring anything that isn't explicitly required, but there are additional side challenges in each of the various locations, called mementos, that, if all are completed, unlock a secret ending/cutscene for the player. Gris does a phenomenal job at creating enough to do outside the main objective to entice players to explore more of the impressive world the game takes place in.

OQ Score: 19/20

Final Thoughts

As of this review, I can count on one hand the number of times that a game has actually brought me to tears while playing. Gris stands firmly at the top of that list. Every single element of the game weaves together in such a cohesive and beautiful fashion that the end product can be described as nothing short of a masterpiece. While tastes in games can vary from player to player, I genuinely believe that anyone who appreciates games as an art form would be doing themselves an incredible disservice by not purchasing and experiencing Gris for themselves. At a price point of $14.99 USD and a runtime of about 4-6 hours, this is a purchase I would recommend to anyone with a pulse.

Overall Score: 99/100

_{All images used in this article were sourced either from the Steam Store, press kits, or personal screenshots taken from the game.}

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