Originally a Xbox 360 in 2012, Fez was ported to PC in 2013. Fez had previously received critical acclaim for it's challenging puzzles, charming 16 bit graphics, and it's use of mechanics not previously seen in many puzzle games. Those mechanics involve black holes, QR codes, and first person perspective in a 2-D game. Those mechanics, along with incredibly solid platforming, make Fez a charming puzzle game.
Isn't he adorable?
The story of Fez begins with Gomez, a resident of a seaside village. One day, Gomez receives a letter from the village chief, stating that he has something important to tell Gomez. When Gomez reaches the top of the village, the chief summons the Hexahedron, which imbues Gomez with the power to rotate his 2-D plane to another one through a fez that is placed upon Gomez's head.While Gomez is rotating his perspective, enjoying his new power, something goes wrong with the cube. It fragments into 64 pieces, causes glitches on your screen, and restarts the game. When you load, you are back in your house with the fez on. You meat an amorphous cube called Dot, who will guide you on your adventure to gather the fragments of the Hexahedron.
The great Hexahedron
The puzzles are focused around gathering the cubes to repair the Hexahedron. There are 32 regular cubes, some of which might have been split into bits, 29 anti-cubes, and 3 red cubes, which are the hardest puzzles in the game. When you collect eight bits, it forms a regular cube. The anti-cubes are mostly from putting into use the codes that you find around the world into specific areas.
The graphics, like a lot of other indie games, are 16-bit. This works well, because I can't imagine Gomez in 1080p, or rotating fully realized worlds rotating during every puzzle. The low bit level doesn't hinder the game in any way, and helps you realize how to do the puzzles in some way. The secret code created by the game wouldn't be as easy to understand in a higher resolution, because it looks like a lot of braille letters.
Graphics might be a nostalgia boost, but if the game isn't good, then graphics don't matter at all. While shifting is the main mechanic in Fez, perspective is hat the puzzles are based on. For example: There might be a platform that you can't reach, like this:
Gomez can't jump that far, so you could flip your perspective so that the ledge looks like this:
And now you can jump to the ledge! Most of the puzzles go like this, except there are elements thrown in like things that shift along with you, things that move on their own, or black holes that stay exactly where they are when you shift. Puzzles go beyond simple rotations like that. If you want to get all of the cubes, you will have to scan QR codes found in people's houses. This is a problem for a person like me, who doesn't own a phone that they can scan QR codes with. If it weren't for the internet, part of the game would be locked out to me. The QR codes reveal parts of the code that is used constantly through Fez, mostly for anti-cubes.
Fez combines the puzzles with platforming as seen above. Most of the bits are gotten through platforming, which isn't always easy. Having to judge where your momentum will take you when you shift mid jump takes getting used to, but it's used often enough that it's not a big deal. Dying isn't a problem, as when you do die, you go back to the same platform and perspective you had before your death.
With how many puzzles Fez has creates an extensive world. One problem I had with Fez is the lack of fast travel for most of the game. It's not broadly advertised on how you fast travel, and with how big of a world Fez has, it's annoying to have to backtrack all the way to where you want to be if you don't want to be where you were. It's also hard to figure out where to go if you've been to lots of places, as the branches off of each map don't show where the door goes, so to get yourself on track you have to go through a lot of doors that you don't want to go in to regain your sense of direction.
There is a soundtrack in Fez, but not one that really makes a difference. It's a really calming soundtrack, with soothing 16-bit sounds playing constantly. It's not a soundtrack that you're going to be humming while you walk down the street, but it does serve a purpose.
Fez is a unique, charming puzzle game. While we will probably never see Fez 2, we at least have the stellar original with it's great platforming and puzzle balance. I also really like the ending, both the true and regular ending. Fez gets a 9/10.
See you tomorrow!