The general gist of the story is that the world has been taken over by a disease, which manifests itself in suitably disgusting red boils attached to the landscape and spores floating in the air, and itвЂ™s apparently your role to cure it, which you can do thanks to your spirit buddy. Unfortunately, itвЂ™s all downhill after the opening twenty minutes, with most of the next five or six hours feeling more like a chore that I was looking forward to being done with. I was happily anticipating what was to come. The orchestral music is excellent too, shifting between ethereal singing and slow piano. I was intrigued by this mysterious opening: watching the fox plough through the deep snow is satisfying and the cold blue cavern, surrounded by bright ice walls as water pours down from above, is visually impressive. This mystical creature guides you along for a while before suddenly turning into an orb of light to accompany you the rest of the way, always floating nearby. ItвЂ™s not long before you encounter another fox, except this one is blue and translucent. As you trot along toward it, youвЂ™ll enter an ice cavern and find some peace and quiet. In the distance is a giant red swirl of energy, rising somewhere from the ground and enveloping the sky. Spirit of the North puts you in control of a cute red fox, who in the gameвЂ™s opening is roaming a snow-covered land, the wind loudly whipping around. It feels empty, stirring no emotions despite the soaring music, which makes for a disappointing time. It looks and sounds great, and it offers the intriguing hook of being able to control a fox, but this is a game that lacks much of anything interesting to see, let alone do. Infuse StudioвЂ™s Spirit of the North is a similar style of adventure, but sadly falls far short in terms of quality. Playing those games is almost like a tightly choreographed dance, where everything moves with rhythm and feels perfectly paced. Both are wordless, but they manage to immerse and amaze with incredibly beautiful worlds that are a joy to explore. For my money, Journey and ABZГ› are two of the best video game experiences ever made.

Spirit of the north fanart