Gris’ Portrayal of Grief and Mental Health Through Her Dress
GRIS is a puzzle-platformer that revolves around the themes of mental health and grief as players take control of the protagonist of the same name, who must explore her own world that is forged by her emotions so that she can learn to grow from a traumatic event that kickstarted her journey. The game not only conveys this message beautifully through its visuals and music, but also mechanically through the protagonist’s own dress, which grants her various abilities that allow her to complete the game’s puzzles and explore new areas. Her dress is significant in portraying the game’s message because whenever Gris obtains a new ability, it represents her emotional growth as she explores new sections of her world and sees everything from a different perspective, meaning that each powerup equates to her getting one step closer to coming to terms with her emotions and ultimately, overcoming her grief. The scenes that portray the game’s message are the early segments where players are unable to jump, which is intended to convey to players that Gris is undergoing some form of turmoil and it is having an impact on her, both physically and mentally. Later on after that, Gris gains additional abilities such as double jumping and pushing large blocks, each of which have a profound affect on both the character and the world around her as the landscapes feature warm color palettes to signal Gris’ happiness to cooler, more subdued colors whenever she expresses sorrow through her animations.
What these plot-crucial moments showcase is Nomada Studio’s use of the Values at Play (VAP) Approach, coined by Helen Nissenbaum and Mary Flanagan, where three iterative activities are applied by designers to project certain values: Discovery, Translation, and Verification. Discovery is where “designers ‘discover’ and identify values relevant to their project”, Translation is where “designers ‘translate’ value considerations into architecture and features into game iterations”, and Verification is where “designers verify that the values outcomes they sought have been realized in the game” (Flanagan and Nissenbaum, 183) In other words, the designers at Nomada Studios identified the themes of depression and deemed them as crucial for the game’s plot, translated those values into gameplay through Gris’ dress and the powerups it contains, and ensured that these values are fully realized in gameplay. The developers succeeded in communicating their message by tying these values to gameplay and showcasing how the protagonist adapts to these changes, whether through mechanics or animations that express her emotions. It demonstrates how the medium of video games is capable of tackling various themes and concepts in ways that no other forms of media such as film and literature can replicate, because players are actively taking control over a character’s journey towards self-improvement and happiness.
Source:
Flanagan, Mary, and Helen Nissenbaum. A Game Design Methodology to Incorporate Social Activist Themes. San Jose, 2007.
