Spirit of the North Reviews
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
I cannot argue that Spirit of the North isn't a beautiful game on the surface. It is spectacular in certain areas ways and because there are a number of good points, I rate Spirit of the North at a 7 out of 10. The story of the fox and his spirit companion needs a lot more reason to play to keep puzzle aficionados like me interested beyond the first couple of chapters.
Spirit of the North has moments where it can wow you by its simple beauty and sweeping score, but other moments where it fails to live up to the games it was inspired by.
Spirit of the North Enhanced Edition takes cues from other adventure games like Journey, but it doesn’t offer the same level of replayability. However, it does have a super cute fox.
Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition is a relaxing, atmospheric adventure title that benefits from a gorgeous visual style and musical score. In terms of content and gameplay, it doesn’t offer up a lot of depth, but what is here provides a worthwhile distraction for those looking for a slightly slower paced adventure game.
Spirit of the North is an audio-visual treat, let down by weak gameplay.
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 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 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.
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 almost nails it.
What you should take away from this, then, is that Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition isn’t a great game. I’d even struggle to call it good. It’s overly simple at times, and when the puzzles do ramp up, they quickly become repetitive or let down by the game’s stilted controls. But it’s not all bad. You’ll no doubt enjoy taking in the picturesque scenery and listening to the game’s wonderful soundtrack, and there are some pockets of fun to be found. If you’re after something a little bit different and have a lot of patience, give it a try, especially if you like foxes. If not, steer clear, or maybe pick it up in a sale.
What Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition does, it does well. Essentially, what is on offer here is a beautiful relaxing experience accompanied by a haunting and fitting soundtrack. Occasionally some sort of gameplay element and extremely light puzzling will be experienced, although this is often hampered by janky controls and glitching. The sheer gorgeousness of the world old red inhabits is worthy of admission alone, and the overall style and presentation of the package is what elevates this from "leave well alone" to "give it a lazy Sunday try." If already owning the original release, there's nothing here to justify jumping back in for, but for newcomers looking for something a bit different, certainly consider giving this fox a fumble.
Sadly the lonely experience of Spirit of the North is only a transparent, albeit beautiful, imitation.
Spirit of the North remains a beautiful but hollow experience on PS5. The 4K 60 frames upgrade is glorious to behold, but the lack of DualSense integration in a game that’s crying out for it and hangups from the last-gen version makes it difficult to recommend.
Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition is a short and lighthearted adventure that boasts a good visual department but is crippled by several annoying technical problems.
Review in Italian | Read full review
I really wanted to enjoy Spirit of the North as someone who is passionate for Nordic folklore, meditative video game experiences, and foxes. Unfortunately, amid the game's performance issues and lackluster gameplay, the title comes across as unfocused at best and unplayable at worst. .
Red fox in mysterious landscapes of Iceland. Sounds good, but gameplay is not very adequate, as well as controls.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Spirit of the North is one of those games that had everything to be a good success story. After all, in addition to having an interesting premise and being visually attractive, it is the debut title of a developer with only two people. However, going beyond its appearance, there is a frustrating title, with confusing design, problematic controls and boring missions. The hope is that Infuse Studio will take all the experience gained from this debut title and further improve its development for future games. The graphics technique, apparently, they already have. All that remains is to tighten the loose screws on the gameplay side.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
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.