Story Interpretation *SPOILERS*

[toltus]

My interpretation is that the character you play is an inner part (hope? persistence?) of a person who experienced trauma. The actual person who experienced the trauma is symbolized by giant statues. This is particularly important during the ending, where the statue's song banishes the darkness. This means the person has heard and decided to believe in hope, and chose to fight the darkness.

Further, this person appears to suffer from something other than this one traumatic event, likely suffering from depression, anxiety, or something similar. The statue starts the game "broken", a term often used by people suffering from mental illnesses regarding how they feel as a person.

Of course, the darkness is the mental illness, likely worsened by a tragic event, where the person "falls apart" at the beginning of the game.

Your goal in the game is to persist and bring hope to the person, attempting to overcome depression / anxiety. To "put the person back together". Singing is an important attribute of someone who is happy, who has overcome their mental illness. I know two people who only sing when they are happy after overcoming their mental illness (usually for a short time, unfortunately, unless that inner hope is sustained).

What do you think? What is your interpretation?

[3rdeyecat]

My thoughts to a T....

I felt the journey was similar to that of depression and anxiety. A teeter totter game of happiness then sadness while learning and growing through the experiences.

Each addition felt like a super power, which I imagine in real life a bit of hope can make one feel such way.

The end was a bit more hidden for me where you run up the stars into white. If this was hope, where is she going?

[Tigercml]

I felt the game was about a young girl coming to terms with the death of her mother. The girl was the one going through the stages of grief. The "Childhood" achievement confirmed this for me after seeing the secret cutscene.

[toltus]

Originally posted by Tigercml:

I felt the game was about a young girl coming to terms with the death of her mother. The girl was the one going through the stages of grief. The "Childhood" achievement confirmed this for me after seeing the secret cutscene.

I thought this might be the other way around given the hidden scene: the player character is in the mother's mind taking the form of a lost child. But I think you're right, the player character is in the form of the childhood self.

[toltus]

Originally posted by manemor:

The end was a bit more hidden for me where you run up the stars into white. If this was hope, where is she going?

Yes, I found that rather vague too. In Journey, the character is reborn, but in Gris, what happens? Is hope merged with the whole self? Is it enlightenment or transcendence? I'm not sure either.

[The Zohan]

Originally posted by Tigercml:

I felt the game was about a young girl coming to terms with the death of her mother. The girl was the one going through the stages of grief. The "Childhood" achievement confirmed this for me after seeing the secret cutscene.

Quite true, that is what the story is about :)

[Malkav0]

Originally posted by Tigercml:

I felt the game was about a young girl coming to terms with the death of her mother. The girl was the one going through the stages of grief. The "Childhood" achievement confirmed this for me after seeing the secret cutscene.

Precisely. It's a world of her mind. Everything lost color to her, and she's getting back on her feet one color at a time. The darkness is the pain choking her. In the end, she puts together the pieces of who her mother was to her, what she'll always be, and both their voices are heard again. The world regain full color and she leaves her prison of grief following the constellation. Makes me cry each time and it's been a while already.

[toltus]

So who is who? My interpretation is that the character is a part of the woman who experienced loss, like hope or inner child, and the statue is the actual person. To me that's why the darkness is banished at the end, because the person finally listens to their inner part (the player character).

Another, darker interpretation is that the person /statue is the mother coming to terms with the loss of a child. At the end, she "lets go" of the child... And the child ascends... to the afterlife?

[Cloud]

I interpreted this game as overcoming depression.

It starts off grey and bland- as you progress, color starts to come back into your life. I didn't see each individual color representing seperate emotions, but rather liveliness. As the colors return to what is a physical manifestation of someone's wellbeing, the world thrives progressively more and more as they become aware of the beauties of life. Unfortunately, their depression latches on, and the only thing you can really do is run, until you find your song.

I saw the character as like, the last sliver of what was left of her.

Reading the comments above, toltus has an interesting idea I didn't think of. This is definetly one of those very interpretable games, and it's interesting reading how different people actually took the story since it seemed pretty straight forward to me.

[acedebase]

Given the stages of trauma achievements, I do believe this is a journey of healing and recovery. We see Gris as a little girl with a woman that looks like the statue in the game, probably her mother, a tender moment the two share under the moonlight in a meadow. Gris is clearly free and happy. At the end of the game, we see a tomb to her mother that marks "Acceptance". Everything points to this being story of a person who is overcoming the grief of the loss of her mother - everything, EXCEPT, Gris's "Accent to Heaven" that marks the end of the game. Gris is enabled to ascend with the statute's intervention as the "Sea of Despair" almost swallows Gris up. If the statute represents GRIS's mother, and it is Gris that is finally able to ascend to heaven (the stars), then the loss or trauma would be completely internal and the mother/statue may represent something other than Gris's mother, perhaps the adult version of herself. If this is the case, then perhaps Gris has faced her demons, her sadness, despair and depression, but must let go of the ghost of her childhood - clinging onto the precious moments of her past as part of her "acceptance". In letting go, she heals. What do you think?