5/5 ★ – Kalle_Deimos's review of Fez.

*Biased Review* TLDR: Today is special day! Gameplay: I BELIEVE IN MAGIC!!! I feel like I usually don't go for games like FEZ, where the deepest puzzles and secrets border on meta-knowledge that the average player would never figure out on their own. It sort of reminds me of Animal Well, a metroidvania type platformer with a focus on puzzles and secrets. But Fez is so much more approachable and casual, which makes consuming the content easier. It does help that Fez is one of the first indie games I ever played, and even though I never got far I was in love with what Fez did. And now, replaying it as an adult, seeing areas I've never seen before, solving puzzles I've never solved before and reaching the ending to a game I've never even dreamed of beating, well it's just so magical. The 3D perspective flip is an amazing concept and executed perfectly. Exploring these 2D environments through multiple perspectives leaves me awe-struck. The map screen makes exploring easy, indicating when you've fully searched through an area or not instead of just taking guesses. The platforming is solid and the puzzles are contained enough to never feel overwhelming. FEZ is a joy to playthrough both casually and to seek completion. And I do believe that it's a game that most gamers should have on their radar to check out. Story: The world is going to IMPLODE if you don't get all those cubes son. This is established in the very beginning and never really spoken about again. And that's fine, the story isn't very important to FEZ. What I find important is what you can infer and discover about the strange, almost liminal world you find yourself in. And in a way, the story / ending is about the world being more complex than you could ever know, and that's a great thing. Graphics: I don't really know how they did it, but FEZ is a 3D game, shown in 2D and it looks good from all angles. It's not just a novelty to see some good pixel art and then flip it in another direction because it still looks really good. It's a real beautiful game. The almost liminal spaces used as environments does a lot to set Fez apart from other pixel art games. Sound: Disasterpeace really cooked on this soundtrack. Beautiful, full of curiousity and discovery, sometimes haunting. It's all lovely. Extra: You do not need to find all the cubes and anti-cubes but it is a fun challenge to discover it all. And if you really want, find the three red cubes. Favorite Thing: Finding the ancient city with "Majesty" playing almost brought me to tears. Not My Favorite Thing: I played this handheld on an OLED Switch and some of the secrets where you have to read the tetronomer code hurt my eyes.