From US indie team Infuse Studio of North Carolina here we have Spirit of the North. It’s a third-person adventure game where you get to take control of a fox.
A peaceful journey based on solitude unfolds as you dash through an icy landscape to the tune of a pelting orchestral soundtrack. Not too shabby sounding, eh?
Spirit of the North and a Noble Journey Into an Icy Wilderness
Foxes and video games are pretty common. There was the excellent Tunic (2021) and the legendary Star Fox series from the SNES where foxy heroes took centre stage.
Then there’s the likes of The First Tree (2017) and Seasons After Fall (2016), all the examples here being games where you control a fox.
Spirit of the North is another one. Hurray! Here you take control of a red fox and head off an odyssey of Iceland, guided by the enigmatic presence of a female spirt of the Northern Lights.
Casual puzzle solving awaits you as you pass through some icy caves and ravines, with a fairly linear sense of exploration set ahead of you.
There’s about four hours of gameplay here. It isn’t a challenging game and does have some control issues (jumping can be a bit of a nightmare).
Plus Chapter 2 is painfully slow as your fox has a limp, forcing you to endure this ridiculously protracted section as you’re left urging the fox dude to just get a bloody move on!
And it is quite a basic game. Move forward. Clear areas. Repeat.
Such issues meant the gaming press weren’t pleased with the game upon its May 2020 launch. Reviews were mediocre to worse, with Nintendo Life criticising its technical issues and handing over 4/10. Adventure Gamers handed the PC version 2/5.
The PS5 version received 7/10 from Push Square, which we think is fair.
Infuse Studio appears to have addressed some of the technical issues since its launch, as we had no major complaints and quickly grew to like the title.
Spirit of the North is beautiful to look at, has a soaring soundtrack, and takes you on a Journey (2012) styled breathtaking trip. It’s a relaxing and peaceful experience that’s best just to flow with.
You should come out of it feeling chilled out, so in that sense the game achieves its goal with cool aplomb.
It isn’t perfect. But it’s foxy enough to make you a happy bunny with its ethereal sense of flowing wonder. Fancy a go? It’s available on PS5/4, PC/Steam, and Nintendo Switch.
Spirt of the North’s Sweeping Soundtrack
It still staggers us the orchestral sweep indie game soundtracks can achieve these days. Spirit of the North is another fine example.
This one is by musician Ari J (Joseph Gifford) who’s from Richardson in the US.
There’s a lot of piano at play and the use of strings to ramp emotions up, to the extent it can get a little repetitive at times. But its peaks are high and it sets the atmospheric, melancholic mood very well.
Ari J composed 14 pieces in total for the game with the obvious game of trying to match the chillout nature of the gameplay. It’s a peaceful work, no doubt about it.
The work is best listened to as a whole, really, as it essentially constitutes one long narrative driven experience to match the game’s developments.
Spirit of the North is the type of game you can watch as a movie. Find a full walkthrough of it on YouTube and you can watch along and experience the sights and sounds that way.
Although we do recommend this one to play, too, as we think it’s an underrated effort.
