// FEZ

Initially announced in 2007 this retro arcade title seemed to go into hiding before its final release in 2012. Now, this is the place I usually start by saying “I watched this game’s development for yadayada…” like the gaming snob I am, however the truth is that I first heard about it around 3 weeks before its release.

As well as being plagued by Duke Nukem and Alan Wake syndrome, FEZ’s other claim to infamy comes in the form of its lead developer Phil Fish being viciously criticised by both fans and the press. Withholding patches that are ‘too expensive’ for indie game developers is one thing, but publicly insulting the entire Japanese gaming industry, stating that gamers are the worst type of people AND telling a critic to “Suck my di*k. Choke on it” on twitter, have cast Phil into a bad light… but enough about that! What matters is the product right? After all, Gordon Ramsey might not talk nice but he sure makes good food!

My story begins after I downloaded the demo out of curiosity. I then proceeded to sit and stare for a long time at the title screen before finally pressing anything and jumping into the action. 

This sense of illusion translates into all aspects of the game.
How many orientations can you see? 

The game starts by Gomez, a cute little… well I’m not certain when he is meant to be actually, rising out of bed ready to embrace the day. Leaving his drum kit alone and stepping outside, his first quest is to simply climb up to the top of his 2D village and take part in a ceremony of sorts.

Along the way you encounter a number of fellow villagers, many of whom are very vocal about their contentment of living in a 2D world. A few even make mention of ‘Devil Squares’, otherwise known as cubes to you and I, and several even joke of there being another dimension. It’s curiously innocent and fascinating to explore this area, looking in on a culture sheltered from something so basic as a third dimension strangely got me thinking that perhaps we too are sheltered?!

Although I’m aware that this was probably just me.

Jump and climb your way to victory. Simple, right?

Gomez’s idyllic everyday village lifestyle is soon interrupted and threatened when disaster strikes during a routine ritual involving the ‘Hexahedron’. The golden cube deity fractures and explodes hurling its 64 component parts (cubes and anti-cubes) all across the land sending the world and your mind into disarray. And when I say your mind, I mean your mind. The fourth wall has not been broken so well in gaming since Metal Gear Solid’s ‘Psycho Mantis’ could move your control pad across the floor with just the power of his thought.

Charged with the task of recovering these errant cubes you are granted a brain bogglingly complex power, the power of a 3D perception. This power, bestowed upon you by the red fez on your head, forms the core gameplay mechanic. By tapping either LB or RB (on the xbox) the world will rotate by 90 degrees allowing you access to areas previously unreachable. This mechanic opens up worlds unimaginable to the village’s 2D inhabitants, allowing you to defy logic and physics by solving puzzles using forced perspectives and optical illusions that would make the likes of M.C.Escher and Victor Vasarely proud.

FEZ even has its own day/night cycle. Yes, this does affect the puzzles.

Navigating this beautiful environment is surprisingly simple by and large, and you rapidly come to understand FEZ’s own unique physical world. Should you make a mistake and plummet to your death, you return to exactly where you fell from, all but erasing the frustration element that plagues nearly all platform games. You’re also joined by a guide named Dot (with similarities to Navi from Ocarina of Time) to aid you on your quest who provides the occasional funny one liners and the odd vague hint to assist you with certain puzzles…

Oh god, the puzzles…

I’ve left the puzzles until last as they are for me the defining element of FEZ. Do you remember playing games like 'MYST' and 'Are you afraid of the Dark' when you were younger? Keeping a piece of paper and pen on standby to write down clues and hints as you figured them out? Making notes of strange symbols trying to piece them together or writing down disparate sentences from a riddle? FEZ taps directly into that mentality and takes you back to an innocent and happier (although occasionally perplexing) place.

Someone should put this on a T-shirt.

A friend and I played this game together and were enjoying it on a superficial level for a time. We saw the hidden QR codes and we had an inkling that perhaps there was more to the hieroglyphic letters than mere aesthetics. Then my clever, clever friend cracked it. We had stumbled upon the de-coding tablet in the woods, deciphered the alphabet and we were hooked. My friend even cancelled his planned train journey home in favour of 100%ing this game, which we did with only 2 checks of the internet (anyone who has played this game will understand this feat).

We were simply staggered by the subtle complexity of this game. It is THE most cryptic and understated game I have EVER played. Even now I can still read the language almost fluently because of the pure repetition of reviewing notes. And the hidden language was not the only code to crack in this game… still, I’ve said too much as it is. FEZ’s cute and enchanting exterior belies the intensely intricate game beneath.

But is it art?

FEZ is beautiful in a similar way to Sword and Sorcery or Another World and Polytron has absolutely nailed the retro 8-Bit aesthetic in both the visuals and audio. Jumping and climbing around as Gomez to locate the lost cubes is reminiscent of childlike adventuring. The range of locations is vast and the animation is magical. Your eyes are drawn to caterpillars and birds and the whole experience is strangely relaxing. It never ceases to amaze me what immaculate indie wonders can come from such a limited pallet.

But FEZ is a conundrum.

Developed by people with a sincere love of the gaming of yesteryear, and a profound mathematical vision, it is a modern day rubix cube locked in a 6 digit code safe, disguised as a retro soda stream. It is simultaneously both supremely simple and tremendously complex. It has puzzles ranging in difficulty from pushing a button all the way through to solving an upside down riddle in another language. It is safe to say that FEZ has something for everyone who gives it a chance, and whilst I only played this game during the weekend of its release – I only played this game during the weekend of its release.

Charming, sprightly and cerebral…