It doesn’t really make much use of the DualSense controller either, save for some light changes and a brief bit of haptic feedback. The pacing of the game really misses a beat, to be honest, and as lovely as it is to admire the world and look around, you’ll soon find yourself becoming quite restless and wanting to move on. There’s also occasions where the game slows you down even more to look at certain scenes and wall paintings, dragging you through a scene that gave me flashbacks to Metal Gear Solid 4’s ending, only right at the beginning of a game. I was constantly re-treading old ground accidentally before I knew how to run – something the game doesn’t tell you how to do until after you’ve gone through a long, tedious walk through the snow. That said, you’ll often find yourself quite aimless while playing. It smartly introduces new mechanics into its beautifully realised world, and it provides just enough messaging for the player to interpret their own meaning in its messaging – though never quite to the same degree as you’ll find in games like Journey. None of this is meant to undersell the quality of the game itself – though Spirit of the North is an extremely slow-starter for a game that only runs about five hours. At least, then, you’re getting something new and tangible for it, like an art book and OST. Which is why it makes most sense to pick up the physical signature edition of the game. If you look at other re-releases on next gen, like Observer and Overcooked, both games are not just offering improved graphics, but they’re also giving us new content, which helps justify the new price tag.Īs lovely as Spirit of the North is, with it’s peaceful, relaxing puzzle solving, and it’s deeply moving and enchanting musical score, we are essentially replaying the same game again a full year later and paying for the privilege. Congratulations to them, I guess.īecause of that, it makes it even more disappointing that the game isn’t available as a free digital upgrade for existing owners. The only new content is some platform-exclusive skins.Īs lovely as the game is and as nice as it is to re-release a product that a lot of people may have missed the first time around, you can’t help feeling that this has all been done so that Merge Games can get that Signature Edition out the door and have the rights to say they had the first collectable indie physical PS5 release. It’s the one time where the visual aesthetic of a game is so good that it kept tricking me into thinking the game itself could keep up.Īnd that’s the key thing to remember, that just because this is dubbed Enhanced Edition, the game itself is exactly the same, save of course for the improved textures, smoother 60FPS and 4K Resolution. The detail in the rocky outcrops is so featuresome I kept thinking I could latch onto them to make my up the mountains. The water flows more naturally and is clearer than it’s ever been. You can see even more detail in the foxes fur as it blows in the wind, and wince your eyes looking at the dazzling Northern Lights. In 4K, this already beautiful world becomes truly mesmerising. Merge Games have published this next-gen upgrade, fully restoring the game to make it more breathtaking than ever. Which is where this new Enhanced Edition – currently only on PS5 – comes into the fray. When the game first launched, it was still quite a sight to behold, though the colour palette was a bit on the dull side and seemed quite washed out. You start the game as a red fox, intrepidly pawing its way through deeply entrenched snow along gorgeous, high-peaked mountains, but your journey soon sees you encounter a spiritual blue fox, believed to be the guardian of the Northern Lights.Īs your journey continues, you eventually infuse the powers of the guardian fox into yourself and soon find you can achieve amazing feats like soaring through the skies, and restoring lost spirits to their owners. As it’s also one that kind of slipped under the radar just a little bit, perhaps that explains it’s re-emergence. Of all the re-releases at the launch of next-gen, this is one game I never would have expected to see.Īppearing this time last year, Spirit of the North is a beautiful adventure of exploration across mysterious and stunning landscapes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |