Reissued on Wednesday, July 13, 2022: Following the announcement of the PSPlus Extra and Premium lineups in July, this review will be reinstated from the archive. The original text is:
It’s been a year Northern spirit Initially it took us on an adventure on the PlayStation 4, but with the recent launch of the PlayStation 5, Infuse Studio has brought it back in the second round. Set in Iceland, after the land and sky are polluted with red rot, he is led by the guardians of Aurora to play a normal fox. Greatly drawn from Scandinavian folklore, it brings us an artistic experience that provides us with a comprehensive visual upgrade, but remains constrained by tedious controls.
From snow-covered tundra to hillside greenery, Spirit of the North draws you into this interesting story through environmental storytelling that does not include narrators or conversations. It’s a big world to explore, full of murals depicting past events, and there’s no minimap to guide you. What we get is an occasional place prompt from a friend of our parents who guides us on this journey as we fight the mysterious plague. We call it a battle, but there is no battle here. This experience is completed by solving environmental puzzles. Some things are easy to handle, such as matching symbols between a series of statues, but they get more complicated as you go.
Starting with a basic move set of running, jumping and picking things up, Fox gradually unleashes new spiritual power. It requires spiritual energy to rejuvenate. It is obtained from blue flowers and can transmit this energy to power up the stone tether. When powered on, Fox can release bursts of energy to destroy rooted rot, take the spiritual body to another location for a short time, and land those very long jumps with a spirit dash. .. Staff are lying alongside the skeleton wreckage of the long-deceased shaman spirit. Reuniting them with staff opens up new avenues at first, but later becomes an extra option.
The story is divided into chapters, but all you need is an afternoon to complete it, and it takes hours without getting lost. In most cases, the Spirit of the North works well together to effectively use environmental storytelling to get you into this world, providing a sophisticated artistic experience that will captivate you. The pace of gameplay can be slow, which is certainly unpleasant for some, and while it may not be clear what you need to move forward, the game is patient. Reward them. The song changes aren’t particularly subtle, but all of this is backed up by a fully orchestrated soundtrack that truly brings the world to life.
That said, it has some flaws that are hard to ignore, many of which are related to control. This isn’t too much of a problem with basic exploration and you can come across large open fields, but when it comes to jumping it can feel a bit stiff. Given that some platform segments require higher precision, they are more prone to making mistakes and they can be time consuming. Unfortunately, this was also an issue within the PS4 edition, so it’s a shame that Infuse Studios didn’t spend any more time fixing it.
That said, the Spirit of the North really benefits from the next-generation upgrade of the Enhanced Edition in visuals featuring remastered textures / objects and improved lighting for already beautiful games. It is in. Increasing the resolution to 4K actually brings out the details of these Icelandic landscapes and runs smoothly at a stable speed of 60 frames per second. Even better, it also includes a photo mode to get the most out of it, including replaceable unlockable fox skins, including two new skins for this remaster.
Conclusion
Infuse Studio did a great job of remastering the Spirit of the North visuals for the PS5, which looks gorgeous, but this edition ignores the elements that need the most updates. The controls remain solid and your purpose isn’t always clear, but anyone who is willing to look past this will find a great experience at the core. If you’re looking for a new adventure game, Spirit of the North is short but sweet, so despite these flaws, it’s recommended.
