Fez

There was a time when, at best, I thought Fez wasn’t coming out. I assumed it had fallen apart, especially when comparing it to other similar developments. To wit, Super Meat Boy only took two years; Braid--a bit more complex than the average 2D jump fest--took three. But now I’ve played Phil Fish’s long struggle, and everything makes sense. The big showcase of the game is 2D to 3D perspective shifting, and while that is pretty interesting on the surface, so much more subtle, obscure, and cryptographic puzzles hide within Fez, creating more interesting puzzles and challenges than anyone besides creator Phil Fish could have predicted.

To be honest, I’m not sure how the Canadian auteur even managed to put this out in the time he did. Sure, Fez gives you the lowdown pretty quickly: As the little marshmallow man Gomez, you must find 32 golden cubes, 32 anti-cubes, and cube bits (eight to a whole) to open new areas to explore. But much of Fez is blocked by devious puzzles and near paradoxes. The big twist, a little red fez with the power to shift the 2D world three dimensionally, is quickly bestowed upon Gomez and its possibilities aren’t explicitly laid out. Unlike other puzzlers like Portal, where puzzle complexity ramps up in a uniform, comforting line, Fez’s aren’t always telegraphed to the player directly and can be incredibly difficult to solve. Indirect cryptograms, hidden platforms, and riffs on the glitches of the 8-bit era create sometimes maddening enigmas that reward the player just enough for small amounts of triumph to eke out, given that he/she is willing to put forth a great amount of effort to see them.

With a press of either trigger, the 2D view shifts, revealing that the platforms and landmasses you stand on are actually 3D geometry. Each is square, so you never have more than four surfaces to deal with, though that alone makes each area incredibly dense. Visually, every 2D surface is constructed with 8-bit pixels that are as much pleasing art as obscurely communicated secrets. Tetromino shape combinations that appear innocent often harbor hidden rooms that lead to multi-hour puzzles and new areas that aren’t teased on a map or level plan. In a way, players are forced to relearn a new vocabulary for interpreting the environment that hasn’t been seen since the NES and Atari-2600 days: You have to pay attention to every detail to make a new set of tools.

Imagine the reaction a Call of Duty player might have to being told that they were required to scrutinize every detail in a level in order to open up the next gameplay arena. They wouldn’t respond well, and I predict many won’t when playing Fez. The modern gamer is conditioned to ignore such things in all but a few examples--point and click adventures and Dark Souls come to mind. In this game, your success is based entirely on your patience and ability to connect often fleeting, sometimes unconnected success tones that ring with every progression made (read: Zelda chime). Sometimes what the progression is isn’t clear in the slightest. This makes Fez fairly unique, but not endearing, as the retro-principle runs dry around the end.

Fez can be beaten with only 32 cubes, and that goal doesn’t take much effort. Before the “New Game +” option, most cubes can be found with minimal platforming and some spacial awareness puzzles. Choose the second round however, and the hardest mindbenders show up, meticulously designed. It is clear that this is what Phil Fish toiled over for so long. Avoid online walkthroughs and help as long as possible, but be aware that some puzzles are rumored to have solutions completely outside the game and require help from the Internet collective. Anti-cubes and Artifacts are the main culprits, and borderline on insanely difficult. Even when a puzzle stymies you completely, there are usually half a dozen other areas to explore and investigate, and I recommend moving on if possible. Though this can be a chore, as the map system in Fez takes a while to get used to, never really allowing for full efficiency of movement despite the joy of exploring these gorgeous worlds.

Watching a carved rock face pour pixelated water out of its eyes and mouth while frogs plop about is a great joy of mine in Fez, and plenty of areas create such a surreal, peaceful vibe that it’s hard to leave them. Other areas channel Gameboy monochromatics and mechanical industry, while some are leafy and organic. An ambient soundtrack accompanies everything, matching the visuals with powerful, but simple tones. This is indicative of the entire philosophy behind Fez: make everything unembellished, but strong.

Reminiscent of dubious NES and Atari titles--Indiana Jones, Adventure-- but not nearly as mechanically painful, Fez is sure to please those who put in the time and thought needed to uncover some of the deepest secrets that Phil Fish designed. Without enough willpower, it’s just a pretty indie platformer. Stick around for a while, and it’s a great example of why 1980s game design working in modern systems can be interesting if not exactly fun throughout. Your love of exploration will drive how much you get out of Fez, so come to it with that in mind.