A Foxy Journey Through Ruined Lands
My messy London garden not only needs urgent care and attention but seems to be a social club for all the foxes in the area. In the years that I have lived here, I’ve learnt to love these fascinating creatures; those who apparently have hearing so good they can hear a clock tick from over 300 yards away. Did you know they also use upwards of 40 different sounds to communicate with each other?
Anyways, it brings me on to Spirit of the North 2, the sequel to the original Spirit of the North. Your hero is a fox again, but this time around, you are joined on your journey by a raven. I really liked the first game when I played it in Enhanced Edition form, so my foxy anticipation levels were high…
Setting Out on the Adventure
Spirit of the North 2 initially lets you choose the colour and shape of your fox, down to how bushy you want the tail; something that is ever-so-important in a fox’s world.
You start the game without a cutscene or any narrative introduction, your fox sound asleep in a bed in a ruin. Your first job is to get out, heading into the wreckage of a civiliasation that has long gone, bodies lying around and ancient scrolls to collect, providing further lore into what has happened.
There are other foxes in this world, and you have a raven as a companion, as you accidentally let loose a spirit called Grimnir, who wreaks havoc on your world. Your goal from there is to go on a journey to make things right.
The storytelling is mostly told through the visuals of this semi-open world adventure. There are moments where you find written lore, and you can start to piece together bits of history from this. It works well, and this is a game that will allow your imagination to run wild, imagining what happened to this world. Being the fox and raven is great, as is seeing things through their eyes.
Leaping and Leading
Gameplay consists of you controlling that fox, running, jumping, exploring here and there. The platforming element of the game is the weakest for me though, with a strange mixture of organic jumping, and a little blue mark that appears, indicating where you can jump. It doesn’t ever feel like it’s a perfect system, and sometimes it is unforgiving in its accuracy.
Semi-Open Exploration
I loved the semi-open world feel to Spirit of the North 2 – if you see something in the distance, you can head there to take it in. And whilst there isn’t any hand holding or screen prompts to tell you what to do, visual clues work well; red in the sky, or at one point, there is a fox just sitting, staring at a cave entrance.
I liked the exploration and the puzzle-solving elements more than any of the action parts, mostly as they work better. And even though there are save points, some checkpointing can be a tad frustrating upon death, leaving you to travel a fair bit to get back to where you died.
Visual Upgrade and Atmospheric Audio
There has been an upgrade in the visuals from the initial game to Spirit of the North 2, Unreal Engine 5 powering things. At times it shows, especially in terms of the locations and some of the best-looking seas I’ve seen in a game. It does well with the visuals throughout, except for a few strange camera angles that appear at times. Thankfully, the different biomes and level designs are very pleasing.
The soundtrack is full of relaxing gameplay composition too, but that doesn’t mean it’s bland. It revs up a bit with drums for the boss battles and the in-game effects are good. That said, it’s pretty upsetting if you fall off something and hear the yelp of the fox in pain.
A Visually Impressive but Slightly Flawed Journey
I admire the more open world feel of Spirit of the North 2, but if I am honest, I think I preferred the more linear journey of the first game. Perhaps it’s not helped by some of the platforming sections that don’t feel great in terms of controls and execution. However, there’s no doubt that, visually, Spirit of the North 2 is super impressive with some amazing locations and detail.
On the whole, it’s nice to play as a fox again. Here’s hoping we do so more in the future.
Important Links
Embrace the Aurora as Spirit of the North 2 Launches Breathtaking Adventure – https://www.thexboxhub.com/embrace-the-aurora-as-spirit-of-the-north-2-launches-breathtaking-adventure/
Buy Spirit of the North 2 on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/spirit-of-the-north-2/9mtflr6c8rq2
