What the Fez is This?

After years of hype, and delays and I'm sure a death threat or two, Phil Fish's magnum opus, Fez is finally upon us. Having never seen the game in motion, I really didn’t know what to make of Fez before I started it.

If you follow the video game industry, you've heard Fez described many times before. Fez (conceptually and literally) takes a previously two dimensional Gomez into the 3rd dimension to collect Hexahedron pieces, or else the universe and everything in it will collapse into itself.  And of course, no one wants that, especially Gomez. Your part in this is to use the right and left triggers (bumpers work also) to shift perspectives so Gomez can reach previously unattainable cube pieces that are spread across the land. I could sit here and tell you that the less said of Fez the better, but who am I kidding?  I barely have a grasp on what I'm experiencing as I'm playing it. What I can say, some two hours into it, is that Fez is the type of game you never tell non-gamers about. It's the type of game that revels in video game obscurity to the point of celebration. It’s admiration for the medium is evident in every pixel on display. It's just not the type of game you speak of in the presence of people you potentially might have sex with one day.

What makes Fez so interesting is its unassuming nature. The game hides layers of complicated riddles and gameplay mechanics under a heavy gloss of charm. With cute characters, colorful worlds, and a beautiful soundtrack; Fez wants you to smile, but all that acts as a facade to hide that this game was made by a serious gamer. And to truly beat Fez, you’ll need to take Fez serious. So I’m going in with itchy trigger fingers, and I’m not leaving until every last Hexahedron is collected.

I’ll make sure to update more as I delve further into the very beautiful mad world that is Fez.