Written by Patrick Orquia
Title: Spirit of the North
Developer: Infuse Studio
Publisher: Merge Games
Genre: Adventure, Platformer, Puzzle
Number of Players: 1
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: May 07, 2020
Price: $24.99
Spirit of the North is an adventure game where you play as a red fox following the titular Spirt of the North in a big adventure that will have you solving puzzles in order for you to traverse a land and solve its mysteries. It has beautiful visuals in its backdrop and overall aesthetics and has a hauntingly relaxing musical score. The game has been released on other platforms already and this port on Switch is not the best-looking and not smoothest in terms of performance, as expected, but it still is a worthwhile game to play.
The game doesn't use any form of voiced narration; the storytelling presented mostly in symbols and hints in the environment. The game is also very linear, but with the lack of signposting, could be a bit confusing and will make you get lost, but you will surely find your way again if you know where to look at and what to look for. The game is divided into 8 chapters, and each of them can be selected on the main menu and replayed once you have completed them.
At the start of the game, you meet the Spirit of the North which encourages you to go through a journey across the land that is probably inspired by some old Scandinavian country with its glaciers and mountains and rivers with a few broken down stone fortresses scattered throughout. Your goal is to reach a faraway mountain top that emits a red fume that slowly poisons the land. You start on a wide open snow field and soon transition to other types of environment, like caverns, grasslands, rivers, etc. On the way to the mountain, you will have to solve area puzzles for you to be able to progress from one area to the next. You can run and jump and bark, and as you progress further into the game, you get to acquire new abilities, like ability to carry and transfer light, rid certain areas of corruption, ability to conjure ice spirits, dash, and ride the wind. The light transferring mechanic is the main ability that you will learn early in the game. You carry and transfer light to pillars, murals, switches, and doors that comprise the area puzzles. The chapter gets completed when you have solved all the puzzles within it, and you transition to the next chapter right away.
The main gameplay is very similar to that of the Zelda games but with a big caveat: there is no combat in the game. Despite that, solving the puzzles can be quite fun and could be a bit challenging at times, especially in the latter chapters. The puzzles are not too difficult to figure out in general, despite the lack instructions and narration. You just have to be very observant of your environment and let your deductive reasoning skills work overtime. Aside from the puzzles, you can also try to unite staffs found on your journey with their dead shaman owners scattered across the land, most of them hidden. There are 28 in total, and you get unlockable skins for the fox. The skins are purely cosmetic, but this is the only collectible in the game and it could give you a respite from the puzzles, since they can get really tricky due to the lack of handholding in the game.
Overall, Spirit of the North is a beautiful game, with its breath-taking visuals and hauntingly beautiful musical score. I felt happy and relaxed upon finishing the game. I didn't really get what the story is about, but I guess it is the journey and not the destination that matters. This game is quite an experience for me, and it is easy to recommend to others. Well, maybe wait for a sale, as it is quite expensive for its length (the game can be completed in about 5 hours) and this version on Switch has quite a few technical issues here and there and is not as good-looking as the versions on other platforms. But regardless of how you get it and where you play it on, I hope that you have a wonderful time playing the game like I did. Let the fox in you roam free!
REPLAY VALUE: Medium
PROS
- Beautiful, sublime visuals
- Hauntingly relaxing musical score
- Challenging puzzles
- Short in length but well-paced
- Unusual yet engaging storytelling
- Button prompts are presented to assist the player in interacting with the environment
CONS
- Frequent pop-ins
- Frequent frame rate drops
- Quite expensive for its length
- Floaty controls
- The animation look rough at times (at least on the Switch version)
- Frustrating platforming sections
- Wide open spaces are wasted since the game is very linear
RATING: 3.5/5 Foxes in ice and fire
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