FEZ Review

I really don’t even know how to start this video. FEZ took everything I know about video games and refined it with such grace and elegance that it absolutely floored me. FEZ is oddly unique in that way: its influences are clearly shown throughout the game and are quite easy to notice; yet when you actually sit down and play the game, it feels entirely like its own thing. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into the game. I’ve seen Indie Game: The Movie just like everyone else, but when it came down to it, I really didn’t know what I’d be getting myself into. What I ended up playing was one of the most enthralling, lovingly put together games I’ve played in quite some time.

FEZ is quite simple in its concept: You play as Gomez, who receives a fez that allows him to rotate the once two-dimensional world and access new areas. And… that’s about it. There’s no bosses, lives, or anything that you would find in a conventional platformer. Instead, the point of the game is to explore the world and collect 64 cubes that will restore the universe. Designer Phil Fish described FEZ as a “‘stop and smell the flowers’ kind of game,” and, at least in my experience playing the game, that’s exactly how it felt like. The world in the game is just so vast and detailed that it would be a crime to not take in every sight you see. And trust me when I say that there’s plenty of sights to take in: among the locales you’ll be exploring are forests, sewers, and cities, to name a few. You’ll even meet some weird-ass gibberish speaking dudes in hidden towns along the way. FEZ is a very ambient game. The incredible soundtrack and environmental noises like birds chirping and ocean waves add to the atmosphere in the game, and really back up the “wake up and smell the flowers” philosophy that Phil Fish had when designing the game.

FEZ is a game about exploration. More specifically, it’s about this nifty little thing called spatial awareness. Essentially, the game is about understanding how its world is designed. Most of the screens in the game are basically hubs that branch out into more and more screens that lead you to all kinds of things, like cube bits and secrets. It’s easy to see FEZ’s inspirations in the Metroid-vania sub-genre, which is probably why I like it so much. Along the way you’ll find locked doors, whose keys are scattered all throughout the map in treasure chests. Once you get these keys, it’s up to you to remember where that pesky locked door was, and more importantly, how to backtrack to it. But not all of these chests can be accessed right away; some, like this one, are technically possible to access immediately, but are easier to get to when you find the appropriate treasure map, which adds another layer of complexity to truly figuring out how the game’s world is laid out. Even the maps are difficult; they simply show a picture of a room you may or may not have already visited. They don’t explain what they’re showing you or how you’re supposed to utilize them. The game rewards you for not only being observant enough to recognize when you’re in these rooms, but also for having the aptitude to figure out how to utilize your treasure maps. A great example of this in action is the chest I was talking about earlier; its corresponding map simply shows the room, and a platform on either side of the map itself. If you’re observant enough, you’ll notice when you encounter this room that in order to access the chest, you have to jump onto an invisible platform, jump from it, and rotate the screen until you land on it again, only this time it’s closer to the chest. And that’s something you have to figure out entirely on your own. Even the map, which would seemingly explain to you this puzzle, simply gives you the bare minimum you need to solve it yourself. This is probably one of my favorite parts of the entire game. In my opinion, it’s honestly genius. It challenges the player to use the skills they’ve accrued by simply playing the game, and, tying back to what I was saying earlier, tests their level of spatial, FUCKING, awareness. THAT is good game design. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s brilliant.

But don’t let FEZ’s simple appearance fool you; it’s actually surprisingly difficult if you choose to play it that way. Over the course of the game you’ll find many cryptic puzzles that will make absolutely no sense to you at all at first glance. There’s stuff like QR codes plastered on walls that you can’t actually scan (Author's note: Upon receiving a comment telling me I can indeed scan this code, I went back and tried it, and... yeah. You can. I guess that's what I get for using the 3DS's QR scanner.), strange Tetris-like blocks that have to be put together a certain way, among other things. You’ll find them pretty quickly, too; if you check the world map just as you leave the village for the first time, you’ll immediately see that a bunch of rooms from the village have secrets in them that you definitely didn’t notice at first! You’ll quickly begin to question every room you enter. Sometimes some of them exist only to have a cube or a bit inside, while others have secrets that you have to uncover yourself. Without the game ever prompting you to do so, you’ll start to naturally check every nook and cranny of every screen you enter, simply because doing so is so much fun in and of itself. To be perfectly honest, though, I left most of the extremely bizarre and cryptic puzzles unsolved, simply because they’re not necessary to do at all. Let me explain: In the beginning of the game, you witness the hexahedron shatter. This hexahedron essentially holds the universe and space-time together. The whole point of the game is to restore it by collecting cubes, which you’re initially told you need to collect 32 of. Eventually throughout your adventure, you’ll come across anti-cubes, which double the amount of cubes you need to collect to 64. This affects the entire game in a few ways: First, it gives the game two different endings, depending on how many cubes you collected. Finishing with at least 32 cubes will give one ending, while finishing with all 64 cubes gives another one. Secondly, it gives the player an interesting choice. You don’t have to get all the cubes to beat the game. But doing so is incredibly difficult, and this goes back to the super cryptic puzzles I was talking about before. You can collect 32 cubes completely avoiding them and you’ll be fine. The game does a great job in rewarding the player based on the way they prefer to play the game: Do you like exploring, but not solving really weird puzzles? That’s fine, you just won’t get the true ending. If you do like solving puzzles, though, you are in for a treat, because there’s an entire other half of the game you’ve yet to experience.

I think one of my favorite things about FEZ is simply the insane amount of personality it has. From the very start, the game oozes with charm unlike anything I’ve ever seen. You can really tell how much of his heart and soul Phil Fish poured into this game. The game was in development for over five years, and you can tell that time was put to good use. There’s an unbelievable amount of polish in the game. Nothing feels like it was unfinished or like it could have benefited from having more time put into it. Everything from the menus to the crazy world map to even these non-consequential rooms were made with absurd detail. The game looks, sounds, and plays beautifully, boasting gorgeous pixel art and a peaceful soundtrack. Honestly, FEZ’s level of polish outshines some triple A games. I think that’s what’s so great about indie games; games made by triple A studios would NEVER have a) taken so long to develop without cutting things (most of the time) and b) wouldn’t have so much polish. But when it’s just a one or two man development team making a game without corporate pressuring you to shit out this year’s Call of Duty, there’s a lot more room to make something truly unique, and something that truly is something of your own. Obviously I’m not shitting on mainstream games or anything – I mean, I’ll buy anything that has the names Zelda or Pokemon on it – but indie games are special in their own way that triple A games really can’t compare to. I know it sounds like I’m going on a huge tangent, but I think it’s important that I talk about this here.

Video games are special because they offer experiences that no other forms of media can. That comes from the interactive aspect of of games. When there’s an interaction between the user and the medium, it forms a certain connection that a movie or a book couldn’t provide. You yourself become a part of the game. You put something of yourself into every game you play, and that’s what makes your own experiences with the games you play unique from any other. And when a game like FEZ comes around and offers you a world filled to the brim with personality and the freedom to explore it as you please, that’s your gateway into making a personal connection with the game. You become Gomez, essentially. You have to wonder if he was designed the way he was – just a little bipedal white blob – as like – oh man, this is corny as hell – a canvas from which you paint your experiences on. God, what is this, a children’s show or a show about video games? I dunno, maybe I’m just senselessly blabbing now, but that’s what it seems like to me; after all, that’s ultimately how FEZ captivated me, and that’s why I think it’s a game worth your time. / It’s an experience that reminds you why you fell in love with video games in the first place. Go ahead and give this game a try; I’d be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t find something to like about it. And maybe you, too, will realize why this game stands out among the rest.