Spirit Of The North is a third-person - or fox in this case - platforming walking simulator that posits a world where foxes are a religious symbol, capable of warding off the evil that's poisoning the land. While these creatures are often considering one of the more crafty and clever members of the animal kingdom, one might not expect them to be so adept at communing with the spirit world, yet that seems to be the case here. Playing as this enlightened fox takes you on a beautiful ride through a mountainous landscape, although much like the mammal you play, it's hard to say exactly how emotionally invested you'll be in this journey.
No Humans? No Problem!
There's no narration or dialogue in Spirit Of The North. Everything is taken from the perspective of the unnamed red fox that you'll control for most of the game. At the start, your foxy avatar is running across a snowy plain with an ominous-looking red streak flowing across the sky. You eventually come across another fellow fox, only this one turns out to be a spirit, the titular Spirit Of The North in fact. After a rough fall, you and your new spirit friend become one, and you begin your trek across a corrupted environment, that you ওmust heal with your new spiritual companion.
The tale told here is mostly inferred from the expanses you'll travel through. It's obvious that a great plague spread across these lands, which is why there's no sign of human life other than skeletal remains and stone structures from a long-departed civilization. Spirit Of The North does a good job of making you want to know what happened here, and as you continue through the game you'll get hints about the great calamity that occurred.
Sly Like A Fox
The gameplay is pretty simple, as its mostly about moving your fox towards the next zone while occasionally doing some light platforming or puzzle-solving. Your spirit buddy gives you special abilities by granting you spirit energy from blue flowers. You can then use that energy to solve some rudimentary puzzles such as infusing stone tablets with energy to open pathways or sp👍irit-barking loudly enough to destroy giant clusters of corruption. The whole game is all about figuring out where to go next, and as it goes on you gain more and more new skills to help you move forward and rid the world of this icky, red bl♊ight.
There's also the previously mentioned corpses of Shamen scattered about. As morbid as it sounds, these are essentially the game's collectible items. You can find various staffs around the levels, and by bringing them to the Shaman's remains you can allow their souls to rest easy. I didn't find all the Shaman staffs so I'm not sure if there's some kind of reward for getting each one. Hopefully, you get some kind of jaunty hat to adorn your fox with.
There's a lot of walking to do in Spirit Of The North, so thankfully it gives you some lovely scenery to take in. The graphics have an almost watercolor-esque look at times as if things have been painted over. The red streak across the sky actually looks like an artist just took their paintbrush and made one giant stroke across the entire world. You'll head over snowy tundras, frozen-over caves, lush green fields, plague-ridden settlements abandoned under a scarlet sky, and other scenes well worth discovering.
Walking to the next locale would feel rather empty if it wasn't for the game's incredible soundtrack. The music is utterly beautiful and emotionally stirring with piano notes and swelling violins making everything feel majestic and epic, like the fate of the entire planet was left up to this oblivious fox. There are only so many songs within the game, but I thoroughly enjoyed the score throughout the entire adventure
Less Of A Fox Trot, More Of Fox Stumble
Spirit Of The North mostly had me wanting to see what was next, but while it might have a deep meaning in terms of spiritual beliefs and nature, gameplay-wise it's a little shallow. Most puzzles are solved by just gathering up energy and inserting it into stone slabs. While later puzzles do amp up the difficulty a bit, it never gets all that challenging. It's mostly all about getting your spirit pal to pump you full of energy, using your abilities until you're fresh out of spirit juice, and then going to the nearest collection of blue flowers to refuel.
Unfortunately, this fox is also surprisingly out of shape for a wild animal because sprinting for a relatively short amount of time can leave him gasping for breath. Seeing as how you have to continually replenish your energy, this can make traveling acr🦂oss the more open ꦉareas feel tedious as you keep moving back and forth between flowers and stone tablets at the speed of a tired fox.
The platforming can also get kind of wonky. Often when I was landing a jump my fox would be awkwardly positioned on the structure, sometimes even floating in the air. There would be spots that looked like they should be accessible but were blocked by an invisible wall or would require some unorthodox maneuvering to climb, like trying to get up a mountain using a horse in Skyrim. It's not broken necessarily, but it just felt like the environments weren't always as solid or reliable as they should have been.
A Spirited Effort
Spirit Of The North is an often wonderful, relaxing game that had me intrigued from the start. The art style, the locations, the beautiful music, the ambiguous story, it's all incredibly captivating and kept me going. However, while it starts strong, as I approached the end I did feel like things were starting to drag. The puzzles never get especially complex, and some of the platforming feels cumbersome. Spirit Of The North is a lovely hike through the wilderness. I just wish it offered m♊ore 🐼to see.
A copy of Spirit Of The North was purchased by TheGamer for this review. Spirit Of The North is now available on the PlayStation 4.
Spirit of the North
- Released
- May 7, 2020
