Free Game Friday: Grief

Grief is a puzzle platformer by Magnesium Ninja Studios that puts you in control of a small girl with a wide range of emotions that you must use to get through the levels. The developers call it optimism and pessimism and I suppose this is an accurate description, but there are also other emotions at play that can alter the world, such as confusion.

The game plays similar to a 2D Portal in that you walk into an orange glowing area to enter the optimistic side of the level, where the main character can jump higher and step on golden platforms, but is unable to crawl. Likewise, entering the pessimistic bluish purple portal will wisk you away to the land of dreary blues and shorter jumps, but with the ability to crawl.

The whole game is 20 levels long and features an ingrained tutorial that will teach you how to play as you start. Controls are typical WASD plus K to activate portals and doors. To turn off the music and sound effects, you can use M and N respectively. The entire game is a Game Maker project and is thoroughly polished. It should take even a seasoned puzzle solver at least an hour to trek through the levels, and you’ll want to finish it in one sitting, since there’s currently no save function. You can download Grief here.