Spirit of the North does a great job of symbolizing the necessity for companionship through the trials that the red and blue fox encounter. Relying on the blue fox is a regular routine and as time goes on and your powers progress, the challenge is ramped up and the reward is heightened. Companionship is at the core of this game. The player will soon discover that the power to revive a once lost civilization rests within the red and blue fox. As a classic looking red fox, the player will set out on a snow capped mountain following an ethereal blue fox. Spirit of the North is an art based adventure game akin to titles such as Journey and Abzu. Spirit of the North was developed primarily by two men and displays some rough edges that may turn off some players, but there is a good game and an inspiring message underneath this focused adventure. The notes won’t tickle every ear and the overall message may fall flat to many players, but the song is still worth singing even if only a handful will draw true inspiration and meaning from this game. They are subtle and often require human experience to fully extract. The chords that Spirit of the North attempt to strike are not easy to hear. When it doesn’t, it’s frustrating and confusing, and unfortunately, as the game moves on, the puzzles and obstacles to overcome become more and more obtuse and frustrating and therefore drains away much of the joy of the opening chapters of the game.Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. When the game does clearly make it known what and where you have to go to solve a puzzle, it’s glorious and rewarding. How is the player supposed to know they need a new ability, located in a hard to find puzzle, near the beginning of the level when, by design, there is no instruction that’s what you need to do? Why does the game let you wander so far into the level knowing full well you won’t get anywhere as you haven’t solved a puzzle near the start? The issue here is that the game does nothing to explain itself and therefore becomes very frustrating. So back you trudge, bemoaning the fact you’ve just wasted 35 minutes of exploration for nothing. However, the frustration levels build when you eventually realize you can’t, and after consulting a YouTube walkthrough guide, realize you needed to find a cave entrance near the beginning of the level to solve a puzzle and unlock a new ability. It takes you five minutes to walk there, and you can spend 30 minutes trying and failing to progress, as it looks like there are jumps you can make to gain height and move further into the level. Unfortunately, Spirit of the North consistently does neither.Īt one point, midway through the game, you can wander all the way from the beginning of the level to what appears to be castle ruins. The second is letting you know what you need to do to solve it, eg, you need to get past this gate. The first is what and where the puzzle is. What makes a good puzzle is when the game clearly lets the player know two simple aspects. It works well as background noise and the game would feel empty without it. The music in this game is very calm and tranquil. The audio suits the game exceedingly well and adds a lot to the experience. The graphics in the rest of the game live up to the standards of the first area well.Īnother thing I should mention is the audio. Just this minuscule part of the game shows off the glorious artwork and movement. After that, you come across a glistening blue cave of ice. Shortly after, you’re thrown into the game to witness the smooth animation. The first area you start in, a snowy area, is introduced with a cutscene showing off the surroundings, and it is breathtaking. When you first start the game, the thing that will immediately impress you is the graphics. As you journey over the mountains and under red-stained skies you’ll discover more about your companion and a land left in ruin. Play as an ordinary red fox who’s story becomes entwined with the guardian of the Northern Lights, a female spirit fox. Players must breathe in their surroundings to solve various puzzles and speculate the meaning of a lost ancient civilization. The game is unique in that it purposefully has no dialog or narrative. The story takes root from various pieces of Nordic folklore. Spirit of the North is a single-player, 3rd-person adventure game inspired by the breathtaking and mysterious landscapes of Iceland.
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