Fez has got to be one of the most clever games I have played. It is hard to pin down exactly what sort of game this wants to be. It has platforming, yes; but it shows no signs of of wanting to challenge the player with checkpoints, lives or long levels. "Death" in this game serves more to convenience the player than to punish them. "Oh you missed a jump? Go on, try again, you'll get it this time!" it seems to say as it places you right back where you fell from. It has puzzles, but the only mechanical consistency between them is that there are no two which can be solved the same way. "So you decoded the Tetris Block code? Good job! We're not going to be using that from now on though..."
This might come off like I am sarcastically mocking the game, but these are actually the reasons why Fez is so phenomenal. The game has no interest in something as primitive as mechanics, story or level design. It wants to give you a perspective, make you consider problems, information and images in different ways and it achieves this everywhere it tries. No puzzles can be solved in the same way because you must adopt a new line of thinking for each one. The game does not give you a narrative motivation because if you booted it up, you should want to play for the sake of playing. The platforming is forgiving because the game does not care about how well you can press buttons, but how well you can shift your perspective to traverse an area.
Of course, that does not meant the game is always easy to play. There are some problems, such as the awkwardness of moving around the world, the warp gates not really feeling like they help you all that much, the minor visual and mechanical clunkiness you experience and how, although a compelling choice which speaks to the mentality of the creator, the puzzles can be so obscure and abstract that they can become frustrating. However, ultimately, I think I can overlook these grievances given how impressively the game achieves its main objective.
The visuals are fantastic. The 2D pixel graphics are cute and inviting, but seeing the level move from 2D to 3D and back again never gets old. The fact that this mechanic has not been more widely utilised, as the pixel-art style has, speaks to the idea that what Fez has achieved here is not so easily replicated. It is not only visually pleasing, but a technical marvel.
The game concludes with no less of a spectacle. I have not 100% completed this game, but the ending I received was no disappointment. The graphics, colours and vectors it presents boils the interactive medium down to its basic building blocks in order to remind you what actually makes it up. I really think it is a pretty stunning thing to behold, and works so well because of how successfully the game has communicated its "raison d'être" up to this point.
The fact that Fez has no secret achievements is a great way to highlight the game's philosophy. This is exactly the type of game that you would expect that from, but this game has no intentions of hiding anything from you. Its puzzles are not about obfuscation, they are about enlightenment. Every facet of the design of this game is meant to have you think outside the box (some call it a cube). Scanning a QR code was not as prevalent a means to receive information as it is now, over a decade later, but finding some items rely simply on scanning one, it is up to you to know how to do that.
Even if times have changed, Fez holds up, and I would now consider this game a must play. Not only is it a delight in its presentation, but it is a masterpiece in its conception and art in its execution. I strongly recommend this to anyone who wants to see something different.
This might come off like I am sarcastically mocking the game, but these are actually the reasons why Fez is so phenomenal. The game has no interest in something as primitive as mechanics, story or level design. It wants to give you a perspective, make you consider problems, information and images in different ways and it achieves this everywhere it tries. No puzzles can be solved in the same way because you must adopt a new line of thinking for each one. The game does not give you a narrative motivation because if you booted it up, you should want to play for the sake of playing. The platforming is forgiving because the game does not care about how well you can press buttons, but how well you can shift your perspective to traverse an area.
Of course, that does not meant the game is always easy to play. There are some problems, such as the awkwardness of moving around the world, the warp gates not really feeling like they help you all that much, the minor visual and mechanical clunkiness you experience and how, although a compelling choice which speaks to the mentality of the creator, the puzzles can be so obscure and abstract that they can become frustrating. However, ultimately, I think I can overlook these grievances given how impressively the game achieves its main objective.
The visuals are fantastic. The 2D pixel graphics are cute and inviting, but seeing the level move from 2D to 3D and back again never gets old. The fact that this mechanic has not been more widely utilised, as the pixel-art style has, speaks to the idea that what Fez has achieved here is not so easily replicated. It is not only visually pleasing, but a technical marvel.
The game concludes with no less of a spectacle. I have not 100% completed this game, but the ending I received was no disappointment. The graphics, colours and vectors it presents boils the interactive medium down to its basic building blocks in order to remind you what actually makes it up. I really think it is a pretty stunning thing to behold, and works so well because of how successfully the game has communicated its "raison d'être" up to this point.
The fact that Fez has no secret achievements is a great way to highlight the game's philosophy. This is exactly the type of game that you would expect that from, but this game has no intentions of hiding anything from you. Its puzzles are not about obfuscation, they are about enlightenment. Every facet of the design of this game is meant to have you think outside the box (some call it a cube). Scanning a QR code was not as prevalent a means to receive information as it is now, over a decade later, but finding some items rely simply on scanning one, it is up to you to know how to do that.
Even if times have changed, Fez holds up, and I would now consider this game a must play. Not only is it a delight in its presentation, but it is a masterpiece in its conception and art in its execution. I strongly recommend this to anyone who wants to see something different.