Fez Review (Merry Pringles)
Who knew I'd find some Outer Wilds in a game from 2012?
I first played Fez 11 years ago for 38 minutes before putting it down, but as the years went by I became more aware of the fact I hadn't forgotten it. I've played some games for 50 hours that I couldn't tell you much about, but something about Fez stuck with me.
Well this week I booted it up again, after looking through my library, and all I can say is that I'm glad I stopped playing it in 2013. Had I not, I wouldn't have been able to experience it now, and I certainly wouldn't have appreciated it fully back then.
In a way, Fez is as close to an impossible game to beat as you can get. No one has yet solved all of its mysteries despite many collective hours spent pondering them. Solutions are known through being brute forced, but the understanding of them, for certain, is absent.
What exactly Fez is changes a number of times throughout the playthrough. You spend a great deal of time exploring by platforming, and one of my complaints is that, despite being entirely essential, the backtracking can be quite cumbersome.
As the game unfolds, you will realise there are threads to pull on, which you weren't aware of before. You'll discover things you don't understand early on, only for you to be reminded of them later when those threads start to unravel and you question what lies beneath the Fez iceberg?
Though I found myself frustrated many times playing Fez, there was clearly so much care and dedication in the making of it that I persevered, and I'm so very glad that I did.
Riddles, history, philosophy, cryptography, stereometry and some stylish accessories await a budding Gomez on his journey into the mysteries of his reality.
It's one of those games I'll be thinking about forever.
After all, Fezzes are cool.