Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition Review

Developed by Infuse studio and published by Merge Games, Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition originally released for PlayStation and Steam in November of 2019. The game takes place in Iceland. Being set in the Nordic region, the game follows suit with the font choice and with use of some Nordic folklore. The player controls a red fox who becomes entangled with the Guardian of the Northern Lights, a female spirit. The Guardian is a blue wisp, or spirit, that allows our small red fox to become filled with power and can use special abilities while charged with energy. Most, not all, abilities are a onetime use and must be recharged by blue flowers, Spirit Blooms, scattered around the explorable map. This third person adventure title plays partly as a puzzle platformer and primarily a relaxing journey.

The gameplay for Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition is filled with exploring Iceland on a linear pathway and saving fallen shaman. There are a total of 28 shaman to be saved across the eight chapters with the core amount of gameplay being in Chapter 4 and 5. The gameplay starts out slowly with the red fox exploring the abandoned region and discovering the Guardian Spirit. The guardian helps guide the player and moves ice walls around when our fox barks with the use of ‘B.’ After the first chapter and being introduced to our new friend, the game uses written text on stones to deliver the story of what went wrong in this sickly land. There is a blue form of the guardian and there is another red form, during my initial playthrough I thought the red guardian would be the villain, but I was wrong. The two guardians act as Yin and Yang and both are required to find balance in the world and emit the Northern Lights. With one spirit missing, the world has fallen to some red plague that has spread throughout the land. The sky is filled with this Red plague in streams travelling to the source, a mountain peak. The glorious purpose of our playable red fox is to help the guardian back to the peak and rid the land of the plague that devastated a lost civilization.

The shamans throughout the story require their staff to free their spirits and some are hidden extremely well. The staffs when being held by the fox (in the fox’s mouth) will crackle when nearing the remains. There is chapter select and the game will let you know if you’ve missed one with the tracker popping up when a shaman has been reunited with their staff.  The game also lets you know at the chapter select screen how many shamans the player has saved out of the total and autosaves after each shaman. Knowing all of this will make clean up on the game’s collectibles easier. The number of shamans saved will unlock customization options for our fox so we can pick between different furs. Each fur has a unique spirt pattern that lights up when energized by a flower. The flowers respawn so energy is always available.

There are stones with text throughout the game and can be lit up with the use of ‘Y’ when energized. This is the main tool used to deliver the games story since there is no dialogue between the few characters in the game other than barking. Using ‘B’ will bark which can bloom a recharging flower or pick up a staff. Some other abilities unlocked later on include Dashing, which recharges if we are energized, and exploring in spirit form which last briefly before dissipating. Exploring in spirit form will leave our physical fox behind and may be left on a pressure plate while the spirit uses ‘Y’ to fill a stone. Not all of the stones are used for story. There are some stones that need to be lit with ‘Y’ that will activate a door or a wind gate which propels our character. The path to follow is linear and the puzzle can sometimes be hard to find. For example, the spirit form stones you must fill need to be found in a short time frame and interacted with. Respawning the spirit a few times is expected to find the stone hidden away. When the Dashing ability is added to the game, the player must use wind gates and dashing in combination to reach higher areas. A charged explosion must be used to defeat spores left from the plague; they will also act as progression triggers being required in some areas to advance blocking the path. The game will prompt when close enough to anything that can be interacted with and will show the correct button to use as long as the player is refilling their energy with the spirit blooms.

I enjoyed using the abilities in combination in the game, but the platforming should have been improved upon in this enhanced edition. Jumping from surface to surface can feel clunky at times. Whenever the player is just running around it can look goofy when the fox runs across a small ledge or log and twitches like they’re standing on two legs in an instant. There are a few points in the game where you must jump from a very small ledge to a higher area and these were the hardest to find. Making these platforms larger would have made it more clear for the player to explore higher. There were some changes in between the releases a year ago. Some areas gained an additional puzzle just utilizing more of the abilities earned. Some staffs were also moved around to be more noticeable to find for players.

The audio for this game is solid through and through, but didn’t leave me impressed. An original soundtrack 14 tracks long with the main instrument used being a piano is included, but the quality is lost on some of the sound effects. The foxes make some noises but not much apart from barking, and some of the sound effects recorded sound simple in design. Such as the fox trekking through water and shaking their wet fur when stepping out of water. This will happen a lot on the player’s journey. The music is something that enhances the gameplay at times when not exploring and experiencing the story. The crackling sound the staffs emit when near their shaman sounds like a fire, but is a wonderful tool in aiding the player locating their remains. What makes this game so relaxing to play apart from the lack of combat is the calming music while you run through a field or snow as a small fox.

The visuals for the game aren’t ground breaking, The fur of the fox blows in the wind and loops in animation but still looks acceptable. Most of the time the player won’t be inspecting the close minor details on our fox but rather the gallivanting throughout the environment. The water physics in the game are minor. When swimming around the player doesn’t emit ripples through the water. Rather there are key points that have ripples being emitted and no source can be found. Ice melting dripping into bodies of water also doesn’t cause sound effects nor does it affect the constant ripples being emitted. The designs for the lands are filled with rocks and ice. Most of the land being filled with grass or snow. Moving through the snow isn’t as fluid with chunks of snow disappearing as you move around. The game doesn’t break any visual or sound barriers, but plays as a relaxing journey for the player to enjoy.

The longevity for Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition is not as high as one would hope with its current pricing. The game is on a new game sale for just the first week saving you close to 25%, but the game is only 5 hours long with collecting everything. If you’re looking for an action-packed adventure, this isn’t the title for you. The game plays as a relaxing puzzle platformer with Nordic folklore. The game could have benefitted from more polishing being an “Enhanced Edition,” but I still enjoyed the game for what it was and it is the only version available for Xbox. The game will require one playthrough, if the player desires, they may clean up collectibles via chapter select if any were missed. Beyond that there isn’t a compelling reason to return to the game. The story is delivered in a way that requires close observation with no narrator or writings to help other than the stone markings and is very linear.

I had some minor issues with the main menu not working leaving me with no choice but to relaunch the game. It was only a minor inconvenience after finishing the game and something hopefully Infuse Studio might update. This title is filled with a cute story of a fox helping a lost spirit with clunky platforming yet enjoyable abilities. It’s not an action-packed game and tailored more to casual play. The Soundtrack capitalizes on the serene views of Iceland while soothing the player in their efforts to save a lost Spirit. The sound effects and the visuals aren’t stunning, but certainly aren’t hard to experience either.

Conclusion

Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition is a wonderful game to unwind with and is relatively short, so most will finish it in just a couple sittings. The game isn’t as polished as a re-release should be, but is still a fun adventure to embark on. I would recommend this title on a sale seeing as you won’t be playing it long unless you’re into Nordic folklore, foxes, or a moderate journey.

This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox One console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.