#Spirit of the north ps4 review series#

While holding the run button, it’ll run for about six seconds before it runs out of stamina and then requires another five or six seconds before it can run again. It can run, but it’s only for a bizarrely short amount of time. There’s also the fact that the fox is strangely slow. There were many times where I failed to land a jump or had to reorient myself simply because the fox wouldn’t be able to transfer onto surfaces properly. Complicating matters is the often downright poor collision detection. It’s difficult to be precise as the fox’s movements aren’t quite specific or weighty enough to accurately land where you want much of the time. There’s also a fair amount of platforming, but the controls are wonky. Therefore, most of the game is just looking for flowers and powering up statues, which isn’t particularly interesting. These can shift something in the environment, including opening pathways and raising or lowering water levels. The way general progression works is that you’re dropped into an area and need to move on, which is usually accomplished by getting spirit energy from a flower and then transferring it to a statue, which acts as a switch. In the beginning, the fox can only run and jump, though.Īs Spirit of the North progresses, you get access to additional spirit abilities, such as being able to temporarily control the spirit fox, charge a powerful bark to dispel corruption, and dash forward with a burst of speed. The fox only needs to walk above a glowing blue flower and bark, and the flower’s energy will course through it and cover its body with runes.

#Spirit of the north ps4 review series#

Shortly after, a series of events unfolds where the fox gets enlisted in the fight against corruption and gains the ability to absorb spirit power from flowers and statues. Spirit of the North starts fairly weakly and mostly just has the fox walking forward through linear environments before meeting the spirit fox. It’s pretty generic, but it gets the job done. The corruption is red and the fox’s spirit powers are blue, meaning you’re going to see a lot of really familiar color-coding in the environment. The game’s story beats focus on the fox meeting a spirit fox and setting off to eliminate spots of corruption to purge it entirely. It mostly focuses on natural settings, with snowy fields, wide-open grassy areas, and ruins painted red by the corruption falling from the sky. Spirit of the North is fairly nice to look at, too. This makes the game feel focused and organic in a way similar to Fumito Ueda games like Ico, but without all the unique and/or bizarre mechanics.

There’s not a single line of dialogue in the game, but once you get past the main menu, you won’t even find any writing. You play as a nameless fox in Spirit of the North. While it doesn’t do much new and isn’t as satisfying as I was hoping, fans of peaceful, nature-centric puzzle games might find enough reason to give the game a try. But I couldn’t help but be reminded of Capcom’s Zelda-like throughout my time playing. Spirit of the North definitely shouldn’t be confused with Okami though, nor should it be accused of ripping it off. The world is in danger and only a mystical four-legged canid can clear nature from corruption and make things right.