GRIS is a rich, emotional experience that’ll stay with you long after you’ve finished playing—which is partly why we named it our 2019 Mac Game of the Year.
If you’re new to its beautiful universe—or if you’d just like a little help navigating its challenges, puzzles, and twists—use these tips as a guide. (Warning: minor spoilers ahead.)
Seize the mementos
One of your goals in GRIS is to find points of light called mementos. The game doesn’t make them easy to locate (naturally), but it does tell you how many are hiding in each level.
When you begin each level, the temple displays a symbol surrounded by dots representing the mementos. Even better, when you locate a memento, the corresponding dot lights up—in the order it occurs in the level—so you’ll notice right away if you missed one. It’s like your own personal memento journal.
Pro tip: Collect all the mementos in GRIS to unlock a secret room in the main temple. (You can also brag to all your friends about your memento-collecting prowess.)
Listen to the music
The red level’s blustery sandstorm presents a major challenge, but there’s an elegant way to avoid being knocked around by its chaotic winds: The sandstorm is perfectly timed with the game’s music; listen carefully and you’ll hear audio cues that warn you when it’s time to find shelter.
Take it slow
On the level after the sandstorm, patience is rewarded: Instead of smashing through the floor of the temple to go down, head to the right to find a memento hidden on a platform. (Use the wind to reach it.)
Then smash through to the bottom of the temple and find the spot where the girl is reflected on the floor. Search for statues—they’re the ones that clatter when you jump on them. Break all three and you’ll earn the “Anger” achievement.
Get help from a friend
Once you’ve reached the level with green trees, knock apples out of the branches to make friends with a little robot. Lead the robot to all the fallen apples to earn an achievement. Sounds simple, right?
Of course it’s not that easy. One of the apples is hidden inside a tree tunnel—more accurately, in a ditch at the end of the tunnel. To reach it, you’ll have to trick your little buddy into falling into the ditch.
Do this by playing a game of follow-the-leader: When you jump up the tree roots to get aboveground, the robot will jump behind you. Time your jumps just right while walking to the left and he’ll drop into the ditch.
Once he collects the apple, walk to the right to get him safely behind you again.
Sing a birdsong
The last level is all about peacocks. Regain the ability to sing (by collecting stars) and you’ll use that skill to awaken peacocks throughout the level. Find them all and you earn another achievement.
But when to sing isn’t obvious. Keep an eye out for birds that are a little bigger than the rest; when you spot one, start to sing and it will spread its feathers.
Find your acceptance
Beat the last level and you’ll unlock an end sequence in which you escape an ocean of black goo and climb a statue of a broken giant.
While making the climb, be on the lookout for a smaller statue lying on a slab, surrounded by closed flowers. Sing to this statue to achieve final acceptance in GRIS.