Spirit of the North Reviews
At the end of the day, despite the faults of the core gameplay, Spirit of the North is redeemed by the amazing sense of wonder its environments, score, and story deliver. Many of its issues lie on the technical side, and quite a few will be impossible to ignore. But, if you’re able to look past that, you‘ll surely find an experience that you won’t soon forget.
Spirit of the North may have its fair share of flaws, but is ultimately a success in spite of them. In the end it won me over, and will be a game I’ll revisit when I need a warm hug from an old friend.
Spirit of the North is a beautiful experience with a gorgeous score, beautiful environments, and peaceful gameplay, but its late inconsistencies make it a missed opportunity for a complete package.
Spirit of the North is a contemplative indie adventure, which tells of a civilization lost through the wonderful lands inspired by Iceland and Nordic folklore. In addition to constant drops in frame-rates, the real sore point is gameplay. From a technical point of view it is impossible to ignore their big inaccuracies, but it would be a shame not to be able to put these problems aside and look beyond. In fact, the game has a lot to offer from other points of view. First of all, let yourself be enchanted by the loving journey of a fox and her friend, through fascinating and evocative landscapes.
Review in Italian | Read full review
An oftentimes-gorgeous game whose shifts in gameplay focus make way for a dispiriting experience as time goes on.
Spirit of the North has much to offer, even though some of the finer points get lost in between the cracks, it's a journey well worth taking.
Spirit of the North - Enhanced Edition offers up a majestic, yet melancholy narrative that will bring some peace to a weary mind, or at least try to lull you to relax. Sadly, that lull can often be disrupted by the controls, as their inaccuracy might take you out of the moment and create frustration. The game does still manage to be more entertaining than not, especially with its visuals and music.
It's visually quite stunning and features a solid but overplayed soundtrack. There are moments of brilliance sprinkled in with an otherwise thoroughly mediocre experience. I wouldn't say I hated my time with Spirit of the North, but I'd certainly have rather spent it elsewhere.
Spirit of the North is an atmospheric, evocative adventure game with puzzle/platforming elements that—despite being clumsily implemented in parts—are ultimately rewarding if you stick with it.
GREAT - Despite the indie background, Spirit of the North feels like a master class in atmosphere and just how much you can do with it. Even with some noticeably rough edges, the world we get a glimpse into is beautiful, bold, and begging to be explored.
Spirit of the North is a decent game let down some by subpar controls and underuse of the player character's abilities. It still manages to be somewhat entertaining but is far from a must-play.
When I go to PAX I tend to book my days to the brim with appointments but that doesn't mean I lose the opportunity to uncover some additional gems along the way...
Sadly the lonely experience of Spirit of the North is only a transparent, albeit beautiful, imitation.
Spirit of the North almost nails it.
I found Spirit of the North to be quite simple and I think that’s intentionally. I like the fact it’s simple, it reminded me of Journey and Abzu. The aim of the game is getting from place A to place B, while doing a few things on the side. And to meanwhile enjoy the surroundings and the wonderful places you travel through. So, while the scenery is spot on, it just dragged on too much for me. The gameplay fell a bit flat, and later on in the game, when there’s a bit of platforming to do, the controls aren’t accurate enough. If, however, you are looking for a beautiful atmospheric puzzler that isn’t too difficult you might want to check it out. For me, the game just wasn’t memorable enough.
Spirit of the North offers a novel and charming adventure, but there were a few too many annoyances to be found within its gameplay to make it essential playing. Whilst the puzzles were clever in design and the environments both stylish and vibrant, the awkward controls and some dull gameplay mechanics just held things back a bit too much. Despite these flaws, I did have fun with Spirit of the North – I just wish that some aspects of its design were a bit more streamlined and accessible to make the experience that bit more enjoyable.
Spirit of the North simply doesn’t hold up well on the Switch, and with poor gameplay and visuals, its relatively short 3 to 4-hour length felt much longer as a result.
Some players might be put off by Spirit of the North due to how heavily it relies on its players to figure things out, but that’s also its biggest charm.
Not the worst game in the world and although on paper the pros slightly outweigh the cons I'm finding it incredibly hard to really recommend it beyond it being a nice idea.
Spirit of the North is an audio-visual treat, let down by weak gameplay.