A walking simulator's often frowned upon as some arty-farty, short, boring thing, with
no game play, no excitement and no running.
But then a game like North comes along, dripping with atmosphere, with a clear message that
gets you thinking, and with puzzles that are more thoughtful than just 'find the key'.
Now I'll be honest, I didn't know what to expect going into this one.
I knew it was going to be a short experience- the game's very honest about that.
But what I didn't realise was I how much I was going to enjoy this game.
Here's my thoughts.
Number 1: Letters You play as a unnamed man who has recently
emigrated from the South.
He's trying to start a new life for himself, but first, he needs to gain citizenship to
the North.
The game involves walking around a small city environment, solving a series of puzzles by
clicking on things.
A lot of these puzzles are kind of bizarre.
I'll get to them in a bit, but you do always get some tips on how to solve them from the
letters that you send to your sister.
You see, she's still stuck in the South, so you want to let her know how things are here,
and that you're still OK.
Every time you see something weird, or talk to someone...
or enter somewhere new, an envelope
pops up at the bottom of the screen, letting you know that your character has something
new that he wants to write down and let his sister know about.
Usually I don't really care about letters in games, but here, they're an interesting
insight into what's going on.
They're the main form of the game's storytelling and help flesh out this strange, alien world.
Words in red are clues as to what to do next.
Plus can you collect multiple thoughts, before writing them all down in one big letter, so
you're not constantly bombarded with text popping up on the screen every other minute.
Number 2: Time for work!
To become a citizen you need three passes- a health pass, a police pass and a work pass.
All of these require you to complete some kind of test.
A test that you probably don't understand why you're doing it, what the requirements
to win are and what the point of it is?
You've just entered this new city, after a terrible, long, hot journey.
You don't speak the language- you just want to start a new, happier, safer life.
And now your being forced to take weird tests?
Why are you clicking on pictures of kids?
I don't get it.
Oh, hang on...
I get it!
Whatever your real life opinions on immigration are, this game's all about making you think
about them for a sec.
It doesn't ram anything down your throat.
Just makes you think.
Which leads us onto the work pass.
Here, you need to show that you're willing to do some menial task, in horrible conditions
and hopefully not die.
I tried this section over and over again, but the task was always impossible.
I always ended up dying and winding up in the Metallica album cover.
Was this some kind metaphor?
You repeat the same, boring task over and over and over again, but continue to wind
up in the same place.
Well, no not exactly.
The game glitched on me.
Now, before any of you write any comments saying- oh you missed a bit, that's why.
Well, no I didn't.
It was a bug, which meant I had to start the game again.
The game isn't too complicated, my advice is to just make sure you check everything,
read your letters to find any clues and you should be fine.
If not just look it up on YouTu...
Number 3: Atmosphere This game had a lot of weird stuff going on.
Stop watching now if you're epileptic.
Every room has it's own feel to it, and the atmosphere changes as you move from one to
the other, from the cold streets with that howling wind.
To the creepy church!
A big part of what makes this game is that awesome music.
For such a short game, it does boast a lot of good tracks.
These all help add to how you feel when doing something, from writing a letter... to the
intensity of working...
It's creepy.
It's intriguing.
A little disturbing.
But worth trying out.