FEZ

This game is a masterpiece, beautiful art, music and it has a lot of mysteries to solve. This is an exploration puzzle game and the environmental story telling literally has me thinking I am an archaeologist rediscovering some ancient civilisation. Its unique and incredible. Spoilers ahead! [spoiler] The incomplete ending ends up being more uplifting than the true ending, one of the only instances I have seen of a game actively punishing the player with its difficulty curve in order to put them off as the true ending isn't satisfying, a metaphor for how the truth rarely is. [/spoiler]

Phil Fish may be the most hated game dev. ever, but, Fez must be the most beloved game ever to me. What he and Disasterpiece achieved is absolutely amazing, to create an amalgamation of the 1970s, 80s and 90s video games and video game music into one masterpiece is absolute cinema.

FEZ is a puzzle game that's really up my alley. I originally heard of this game, of all things, from Krzyhau's FEZTAL game. At the time, I only knew him for his Portal 2 videos. When P2:CE came out, I kind of rediscovered his channel and with it FEZTAL, and decided to give the original game a go. Of course, the definitive property of this game is the perspective-changing mechanic. I think it's a really, [i]really[/i] interesting way to experience the 3rd dimension. It reminds me, in a way, of the 3blue1brown video that describes Quaternions, 4-dimensional numbers. This game feels like attempting to describe the third dimension to a creature that fundamentally only understands two. To demonstrate the third dimension, you need to warp the entirety of the creature's two dimensional perspective of the world in a way that wouldn't seem natural without an understanding of the third dimension. Gomez (the character's name) doesn't experience the true third-dimensional experience, but it can be shown partially to him in a way that he can grasp. It really plays into the whole "incomprehendable power" that the hexahedron channels when it talks to you. Which brings me to the story, also pretty good! It's quite hands-off, letting you discover the traits of the world in whichever order you end up following. It has a similar feeling to "The Witness" in that regard. There were a variety of things that I discovered long before I learned what to do with them. They just linger in the back of your head and it makes the "eurika" moment all the better when you finally do learn. The game has plenty to do after the credits roll, which is nice. While I've reached the credits, I've still got about 40% of the cubes left to find. (minor spoiler: [spoiler]there are 32 cubes required to beat the game, but there are an additional 32 "anti cubes" that are optional and also count.[/spoiler]) And oh my goodness, there are so many little things that you have to teach yourself to progress that are [i]so cool[/i]! I can't talk about them in much detail without spoiling parts of the game, but I ended up far more invested in this world than I initially expected. It is again similar to The Witness in the aspect of a world that you have to learn about from an outsider's perspective. The music is incredible. Despite being kinda crunchy chiptune, it plays well in the ears and eases between smooth and happy to incredibly dramatic and powerful while complimenting the game, not dragging you out of it. Every song seamlessly transitions, and nearly every room has an adaptive song to it. There are multiple worlds, and each one has its own motif that is slightly added upon as you delve into the rooms. It's really quite beautiful. The graphics are also good! The depth in the 2.5d maps make it really pretty to rotate the screen. Something about it is just very satisfying to me. You can play this game on probably just about any computer you've got lying around with a basic GPU. It's already a 13-year-old game, and the graphics aren't super intensive. Overall, a very great puzzle game. I wish I could re-experience parts of it, genuinely this game has some of the best "eurika" moments I've ever felt. Really cool to uncover its secrets. Highly recommend.