GRIS

GRIS is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful games ever released, but it doesn’t have much going for it otherwise. There’s the occasional esoteric puzzle that evokes memories of Braid and FEZ, but much of the gameplay is merely about finding a path through the elaborate level design. Though you’ll accumulate new powers as you progress, they’re all extremely ordinary – double jump, ground pound, swimming, etc. Additionally, while the audio is magnificent, neither it nor the movement controls are suited to a sense of urgency, so the game falls flat when it tries to invoke such a reaction. The lack of a failure state doesn’t help there, either. Most disappointingly, the narrative’s stunning imagery belies an overly simplistic tale that seems inconsistently conveyed.