So I played Gris (or "*Batista voice* METAPHOR!")

[spindizzy]

Okay, I played Gris, which is a weird little platformer about recovering from grief that is very pretty! It's got swirly watercolour backgrounds and a very dreamy soundtrack, and playing it felt weirdly like a guided meditation but with jumping puzzles and occasionally a giant bird that hates you. It sort of feeds you mechanics and new abilities in a way that suggests that your little character is recovering and learning to cope with her ever-changing emotional state/environment. (Like, I got to the first proper level, where there are buffeting winds that throw your character across the map and I was just like "Oh, it's a metaphor!" The game makes much more sense once you realise it's a metaphor.) And I liked the way that the colours come back and mix and change as you go through! ... Although I'm a little wigged out by the protagonist having a proper face, but tiny stick figure arms. I understand why that design choice was made, but.

It's cool, and I liked it, but I need to sit down with people and discuss what we think is actually happening because I didn't realise that my reading was universal until I read this Sidequest article about it and became three confusion gifs in a trenchcoat. (Spoilers, obviously.)

See, what I assumed was happening was that the statues that are collapsing around you are... Well, you. The character is you, the statues are you, the screaming monster that's chasing you is you. And the girl, the one who is doing all of the running around and trying to stay alive, is the kernel of self that clings on when everything is terrible, and the goal is to rebuild yourself around her, because that's what you do when you're grieving? You carry on and carry on and eventually you find a way back to a self that you can recognise and be kind to? Like, I assumed that that was what the singing and harmonising together was about, anyway. The author is dead, all interpretations are valid as long as you show your working, it just never occurred to me that the statues weren't the external part of the main character. WHO ELSE HAS PLAYED IT, SOMEONE PLEASE COME AND BE SMARTER THAN ME ABOUT THIS GAME.

... Also while I've got you here and we're talking endgame: PLATFORMING UPSIDE DOWN IS NONSENSE OF THE HIGHEST DEGREE AND WE ALL KNOW IT.

Comments

[rionaleonhart]

Oh, huh, it seems my interpretation differs both from yours and from that article's! I did think the statue was someone Gris had lost, but I thought the statue reforming at the end and being used to progress was a metaphor for reaching a point where your memories of someone can help you move forward, becoming a source of strength rather than a painful burden. I didn't read it as the person Gris had lost literally coming back.

'The statue is Gris herself' hadn't occurred to me, but that would actually make a lot of sense, particularly in relation to the ending.

[(Anonymous)]

Have you heard about "My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!"? It's really really funny.

"I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level". This one is funny and relaxed, kind of a found family thing.

[spindizzy]

Ah, I hadn't thought of that, I really like that interpretation! That makes a lot of sense in the context of the rest of the game, and that there are so many statues of her on so many levels, and they're all in different states of repair!

Your interpretation hadn't occurred to me either – I love how everyone seems to have a completely different interpretation of what's going on, that's really nice (and then we extend the metaphor into "and this is everyone's personal journey" and just take it too far...)