There is a lot of, admittedly fanboy level, chatter about people who have Gamepass just don’t buy games… that they pay their service fee every month and only play what is offered to them on that service.
It’s all bull of course, but as some orange buffoon in the US has proven, if you repeat a lie often enough there will be sheep out there who accept it as gospel.
Gris is available on Gamepass and would have been free… yet here I am about to play it on PlayStation 5 where I had to pay for it… granted it was in a sale, but I still paid real money for this thing… all on the basis that I liked the graphical look of the game and felt the urge to play a platformer… the second game of Indie Fest is now is progress.
Now it's rare that I see a game with a guide video that lasts more than an hour where I don't break it down into smaller chunks... for example, the guide for Jusant clocks in at just shy of 3 hours and, mainly because the game is so dull, it's being worked on in 15-20 minute chunks... the video for Gris clocks in at 2 hours and 8 minutes.
I finished the game in a single session.
Gris will be one of the most attractive looking games I'll play this year... a wonderful water-colour art style with some wonderful imagery, backed up with some superb use of colour itself (which is not a surprise given that the aim of the game is to add colour to your world) all of which is backed up with an utterly brilliant musical score... I may only be two games in, but this will take some beating score wise this year.
Gris is one of my least favourite game types, a platformer with puzzle elements... oh dear... but... it's fun, I was transfixed as I jumped, sprung, swan, surged and slid around the world collecting mementoes of my life, feeding small forest creatures square apples, singing to make peacocks display their plummage... avoided the attacks of an evil eel.
I used the attacks of an unhappy bird to reach far off platforms for collectibles, smashed through walls and walked upside down to unearth treasures and finally walked a star bridge created by my love to reach the stars themselves.
The abilities come slowly, and work well whether it be the double jump, swimming and surging through the water, the powerful crushing mechanic to break through floors or smash items… they work well, and don’t get abandoned as soon as a new one is granted… by the end you’re combing all of these to reach your eventual destination.
It's not a game where you can talk someone through it, for much of the time you're just tottering down an obvious route because there's only 1 way to go... and it doesn't matter... it's fun.
Summary & Score
The developers hit a real home run here, difficulty is perfect, there's no difficulty spike to speak of and your various abilities are handed to you at a gentle, but well judged, pace and you never feel over-whelmed by them. That I spent over 5 hours straight playing through it all in one sitting speaks volumes.
Indie Fest Score - 85%