Gamer’s Guide - Spirit of the North

You are an adorable fox leaping through the drifts of snow. Where are you going? Not even you know!

Spirit of the North aka Spirit is an intriguing indie game where you, as a normal fox, are attempting to fix a plague which descends from the sky. Where did the plague come from? Why are you, a fox, even doing this? How are you doing this? It’s never too clear since there is no character dialogue during the game. However, this only makes the murals you discover and interactions with the fox spirit you awaken that much more important. Most of your gameplay is fueled by a singular question: Why?

*Please be aware that the following review contains game play spoilers*

Spirit of the North

Likes:

Fox – Let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want to be an adorable little fox solving puzzles? I love the way the little fox looks with his big, fluffy tail and ruff. Even the way he jumps is adorably fox-like. Kudos to the development team that seduced me into playing this game from just a few short clips of this adorable creature!

Puzzles – I enjoy a good puzzle. I don’t enjoy puzzles that make you want to pull out all your teeth (looking at you, Zelda dungeons). I believe Spirit puzzles fell squarely in that happy medium range. Not too easy but not too difficult either. These puzzles involve manipulating either yourself, such as leaping across obstacles and balancing on boulders, or the environment around you by utilizing druidic magic to remove obstacles such as large stones or plague nodes. There is little to no instruction over each puzzle you encounter, but the player is still able to intuit the correct course of action after a little (or occasionally a lot) of trial and error.

There’s also the minor side quest of returning staffs to what I can only assume were druid elders. Your fox picks up a discovered staff and runs around until it starts glowing. Following that glow, you can determine where the skeletal remains of the druid have been hidden. Then, your fox must find away to open or access the hidden area. Finding these druids are not required for the main storyline, but do reward you with different fox skin toggles.

Indie Game – This little game was created by a small indie developer. One that, up until this game entry in 2020, made UE4 asset packs (aka little pieces of world building for the Unreal Engine). I will always happily hop onto the bandwagon of drumming up support and financial support for indie game developers any day!

Magic – The game developers made a very particular choice in not anthropomorphizing your fox character. As such, your fox can only do what foxes do. Jump. Run. Carry things in their mouths. This is a bit too limited to accomplish much as a player, even for a deceptively simple game like Spirit. That’s where magic comes in. Druidic-like magic was used by the deceased human population of the game to traverse large distances and, presumably, to fight against the plague. It did not succeed in stopping the plague in the end, but thanks to your spirit fox companion, your fox can utilize the magic structures left behind.

The developers start you out on low stakes, teaching you how to physically control your fox character by jumping and running. From there you learn to imbue stones and special structures with magic which you can gather and store inside your fox. Once you imbue a stone with magic power, you can either physically move it or use it to activate another section of the environment. It’s up to you to figure out how your actions will successfully lead you to progress down the correct path.

In addition to using magic to manipulate the surrounding environment, your fox can also gain spiritual gifts from shrines dedicated to the fox spirit which guides you. Eventually, your fox will be able to purify plague nodes, slip into your own fox spirit form, and dash across large distances. Each new fox gift adds a new layer of difficulty to the puzzles that the developers have crafted in the environment.

Storyline – I quite enjoyed the unique storyline of Spirit. Did I always understand it? No. Did that very lack of understanding propel me forward into finishing the game? Absolutely yes.

As such, it is a unique game that not everyone will enjoy. Some online reviews call the game ‘boring’. This simply tells me it was not their digital cup of tea. I appreciate the depth of detail the developers had to put into this game just to make the original concept work. The fact that nobody speaks, that your character is a regular fox, means that every story-telling decision has incalculable weight. That is a very fine line to tread, and, for the most part, I think the developers did an excellent job treading it.

Skins – That sounds a little dark given that this story is all about a fox, but I simply refer to the different types of fox fur colors you can toggle through once you’ve defeated the game. Of course, the more you explore and retrieve druid staffs, the more adorable skins you receive!

Dislikes:

Lack of Voice Acting – I’ll be honest, I missed not hearing any sort of character or human voice the entire time. The closest we get here is the little barks my fox and the spirit exchange as well as some ‘help I’ve been hit!’ noises. Still, I understand this was a stylistic choice so I don’t rate it too poorly as a result.

Character Handling – The fox controller handling is a bit iffy. Not anywhere as buggy as Fable III, mind you, but I felt like the gameplay could have excelled more if the character handling was a bit tighter. It wasn’t bad once you achieved fox dash, which can help you course correct in any direction, but the beginning sections really suffered as a result. So much so that it led to my next issue.

Reply Value – I had really hoped the fox powers would carry over to earlier levels once the game has been completed (recall my fox dash), but unfortunately that was not the case. If you replay any section of Spirit, you still have to fight to get those power ups. I do understand the developer’s choice. Some of the early sections probably wouldn’t be enjoyable/easily sustainable if you had all your fox powers. But still, the first level is pretty brutal when you’re trotting through endless snow, not even being able to run until you make it to the requisite section.

Ending Comments:

Would recommend to anyone who loves puzzle games or trying anything out of the ordinary. Hardcore hack-n’-slashers need not apply.

*Special Note: Spirit of the North 2 is supposed to drop “soon” as of January 2024. Looking forward to more puzzling with a cutie fox and a new crow companion!