Fez is a 2D sidescroll platforming game that's actually set in a 3D world. You see, it has a neat twist where at any time during the game you can rotate the current perspective. The game is actually 3D but you can only see one of its four sides at any one time, so you get the illusion that it's a basic 2D game. The story of Fez is simple, Gomez wakes up feeling content in his 2D world when suddenly he is gifted a fez which gives him the power to shift perspectives, realizing he is actually living in a 3D world. He has to travel to collect all the Cubes in order to save the universe but the plot ends up being paper-thin. There is a lot of random stuff happening such as fake crashes or cryptic dialogue.
The endings of Fez are abstract and hard to understand, with the overall storyline being complex (yet without actually telling you much about it...) and can feel disappointing if you don't understand what the game is trying to tell you (which is likely). Just don't play Fez expecting the story to carry you through. The perspective shifting mechanic never gets old and it is really clever and amazing how a simple rotation can shift the perspective of what's onscreen, creating a way up or lining a series of ladders. Traversing the environments can also be shortened once you get the hang of how the rotating perspectives work. Gomez himself can run, jump and climb onto things to traverse the environments. He is quite versatile.
There are no enemies or bosses with only a few ways to die, the most common of which being dropped from a great height or into acid/lava. Either way, you're instantly respawned to your last location with no penalty whatsoever. This is great since it allows you to experiment to your heart's desire. Fez contains a heap of collectibles. The aim of the game is to collect 32 Cubes, however, there is a New Game Plus which allows you to collect more, to a total of 64 cubes in order to see the second ending and complete all that the game has to offer. A Cube can be formed of 8 squares which you need to collect so it isn't as if there are *only* 64 collectibles, although if you solve harder puzzles, you might get a complete Cube as your prize.
Fez is all about the puzzles and they are hard if you don't play with a guide. These puzzles require you to find clues and hints in other hidden rooms before finding the actual puzzle itself in a hidden room to solve it. It can get frustrating and feels extremely abstract. The developer expects you to figure out some vague clues, write it down, and then know when to use them for particular puzzles. The solutions to these puzzles may even end up being codes that you input in a particular area. Gomez will encounter environmental puzzles which require your typical tasks in platformers such as switches, bombs, moving platforms and rising lava. Another annoyance of Fez is that it loves to throw random effects on the screen to hinder the player and confuse them even more.
In Fez, you might encounter random screen effects such as a blurring effect on most of the screen leaving only a small space in the center to platform around, or black holes that seemingly randomly appear which can suck you away. With all these secret rooms and multiple pathways, there is a map that you can pull up at any time, but can be extremely confusing at first glance, and still remains confusing after finishing the game. However, the map does show the various paths in each area and how many secrets are left, which aids the player immensely. The New Game Plus gives you additional benefits such as a first person view which are required to solve more puzzles and the ability to float indefinitely which allows you to skip puzzles if you want to cheat.
Fez has a simply block aesthetic but still manages to look busy and complicated. There are some areas where it feels there are too many things going on in the design of the environments that make it seem off. The music is surreal and can creep you out at times. While the game takes only 6 hours to complete with a guide, it will last for much much longer if you play blind. Overall, Fez is an inventive and unique puzzle platformer. While it is definitely too hard and abstract at times, it gives you a sense of achievement and satisfaction if you manage to solve its puzzles without outside help. Fez is recommended if you're itching for a challenging puzzle game, otherwise, it can be too abstract and the lack of a compelling motive may dampen the enjoyment.
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