The more frustrating element is the hitboxes of the platforms and of your fox. Technically, the game runs generally well, with only an occasional hitch in the framerate. "With the peace and beauty of its environments as the game’s greatest aspect, then, the final chapters become somewhat of a letdown because they lose focus from what makes the game stand out." It does an incredible job of amplifying the emotional aspects of the game and making seemingly minor moments touching and memorable. However, the game’s music is arguably its strongest aspect, rounding out the beautiful environments with an emotional and resonating score that rivals scores of others masterpieces in the genre. It’s easy to see the specific texture edges, and some animations seem pretty framey. Up close, though, the environments can be rougher around the edges. When seen from afar, the environments are gorgeous, especially under the red sky or under feet of snow. In these chapters, it’s a relaxing experience that lets you reflect on the world and companionship you experience. Walking around the varying environments is consistently stunning, especially as they change from one season or color to another. The first few chapters of the game flaunt the game’s strengths, which are contained entirely in its presentation. Overall, though, the story is obtuse enough that it’s easy to overlook it as you complete the rest of the game, but on a second playthrough, it gets more interesting and begins to clear up what really happened to this world. Reconnecting a Shaman Master acts as the game’s only real collectible within the game, though it is a valuable addition to the civilization’s past. There are also numerous Shaman Masters scattered throughout the world, whose staffs lay elsewhere in an environment. As you get to the latter stages of the game, there are more murals and hints as to what happened in the past that give more of an idea of the context of the world. As it tells you exceptionally little, it takes effort to begin to have an understanding of what is really going on in this civilization and with your spirit companion. In doing all of these puzzles, the game’s narrative starts to take a bit of a back seat. This is emphasized especially because every time you come up to an object at any point in the game, regardless of how many abilities you have, the correct contextual button prompt pops up, which made it less of an activity in discovering where I should be acting than an activity in wandering and hoping a button prompt would appear. These are hardly puzzles in the early going, as they appear more like fetch quests to bring the Spirit Blooms to the desired locations than anything that requires much thought, and the actions to do what you need are relatively constant, with very little in the way of difficulty in wondering what you have to do. In doing this, you have a few options for your spirits actions. Usually, this happens by collecting Spirit Blooms, patches of blue flowers that give you a special glow and allow your companion spirit to have these contextual interactions with the environment, primarily with decaying tablets that can be lit. Spicing up the walking simulator aspects of the gameplay, though, are objects throughout the world with which you have to interact to affect parts of the environment that will allow you to proceed. "The first few chapters of the game flaunt the game’s strengths, which are contained entirely in its presentation." With no dialogue and very little text, you are given vague direction and minimal explanation as to what you are meant to be doing throughout the game, and your only course of action is to follow the guide that leads you and assists you along the way. It takes very clear inspiration from the likes of Journey and Rime in its presentation and gameplay. You guide the fox you control along paths with very little to do except admire the environments and attempt to piece together what you think has happened to the fallen civilization you’re exploring. While its general puzzle gameplay is passable, its real strengths lie in the peace and beauty of its presentation and explorative gameplay, making the latter chapters inconsistent and disappointing.įrom the beginning, Spirit of the North is a walking simulator in its truest form. However, it fails to maintain its strengths as its gets to the late stages of the game, losing focus on what makes it special. Its presentation is stunning in almost every environment it presents, and its gameplay provides a usually mellow way of exploring companionship and deciphering a fallen civilization. Spirit of the North is a fantastic example of a gorgeous experience that struggles to maintain its momentum throughout.
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