INTRODUCTION
You are Gomez. A marshmallow like creature living in a Village on a 2D Plane in a 3D Universe, together with all the other Villagers. Every once in a while, one of the Villagers gets the Magical Fez which bestows the Power to fold the universe onto itself and thus changing the perspective of the world, practically enabling the wearer to exist and interact on all 4 2D Planes. Although when Gomez receives the FEZ the universe breaks apart (apparently the universe can only fold in on itself only that much) and only the holy hexahedron can fix it, so Gomez ventures out in the world…
GAMEPLAY
FEZ is a Puzzle Platforming game which means it relies on your wits and on your reflexes.
The ability to switch perspective is used throughout the entire Story and makes up all the puzzles, depending on how clever you get with it Puzzles can become very easy. Difficulty – overall - is ranging from easy to challenging but not unbeatable.
The goal is to collect all 32 golden Cubes (and if you want to go 100%, all 32 Anti-Cubes).
Cubes are divided into bits of 8 pieces which are hidden all over the world but can sometimes be found as a full cube hidden in treasure chests or behind hidden(!) puzzles.
A full cube works somewhat like a Star in Super Mario 64 enabling you to enter certain spaces.
Anti-Cubes are hidden treasures you can get for solving extra special hidden puzzles. This could mean to rotate the perspective in a certain way or (for many of them) to decipher a completely unknown alien hieroglyphic language. See the Anti Cubes as your reward for unraveling the lore. Personally, I think that is a nice way to convey to the player, that there is a deeper side to things and you get rewarded for trying to uncover it. As a little pointer to where you need to go, there is treasure maps which you can find by exploring the worlds!
The World is divided into 4 big sections with their own sub-worlds (sub dimensions) which then divide in several “rooms” (like sub-sub-dimensions… My head hurts!).
Every set “Rooms” has a distinct theme AND function. There is an ocean dimension where you can lower the water level just as one example. Another example would be a forest that relies on time-based puzzles or an industrial world where the perspective changes when you step on rotating tiles or use screw-like elevators. There is also a Gameboy-Themed dimension shifting the color palette to four shades of Gameboy-Display-Grey-Green
Controls are pretty easy and customizable
Standard WASD and Q/E to rotate SPACE to JUMP
A Controller is recommended but not necessary
There is no enemies in the game, the only enemy is your Brain (and I can tell you that my brain wanted me to play this game on super hard :D)
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
I would describe FEZ’s graphics as “cozy” The 8-bit Style brings a lot of nostalgia to the game and the warm colors make you always feel at home. Even the impending doom seems to be very far away.
The day and night cycle with crickets in the evening and the tetromino shaped star constellations makes the game world feel especially homely. Dawn and Dusk have the perfect hue to round it all up.
Certain Puzzle elements like switches/vines/ladders all fit perfectly into the settings and nothing seems out the picture.
The Music of FEZ is a well-made Chiptune Soundtrack and accompanies the worlds perfectly.
Sometimes glitchy, sometimes mysterious it adds another layer to the whole package.
CONCLUSION
FEZ will teach one very important thing. Perspective matters! If first something seems too difficult or even impossible changing one’s perspective might already give a solution!
Its cute 8bit pixel graphics will draw you in and hold you with the cozy colors and the beautiful sceneries.
The approach of solving puzzles by changing the worlds orientation is fun and a breath of fresh air to all Puzzle genres. The Platforming and traveling in between the Puzzles gives the whole game world a sense of direction and entices you to explore every nook and cranny. Working on the secret/hidden puzzles can distract you from your primary task (collecting the golden cubes) for longer amounts of time without you even noticing!
FEZ can be speedrun in about 1 hour but will last you 6 hours if you just want to play through the main Story – up to 12 hours if you want to get the hidden Anti Cubes as well.
For a game released in 2013 FEZ stood the test of time, and still holds up to this day.
Its unique combination of perspective switching mechanics and platforming is a nice twist on puzzle game mechanics and fun for everybody whether you are a puzzle veteran or just started out.
FEZ is another successful Example for the creativity Indie-Developers bring to Gaming, without eating up millions of dollars!
Therefore I’m proud to say: FEZ is most definitely a Gold Standard Title for the Puzzle Genre and a outstanding game worth a spot in your collection!
Comments