Fez. Fez fez fezfezfez.
Fez initially presents itself as a 'simple' platformer, where a 2D world suddenly becomes a 2 and-a-half D world. There it is in a nutshell. You play as Gomez, a cute little character who (surprise!) happens to be the hero of this universe and time in history. He is bestowed a fez (a cube!) and the wonders of a 2 and-a-half D world become apparent to him. Where everyone else lives in a 2D world, Gomez now has the ability to rotate his environment on a single axis and traverse the world in new exciting ways in an effort to ...save the universe again, or something. I'm not sure. There's a lot going on.
One of the most captivating elements of Fez to me surprisingly was the lore. There is a ridiculous amount of evidence to suggest a rich lore to the Fez universe(s), but as I sometimes feel whenever I go onto a game's wiki following completion I sadly get the feeling that I largely missed the point. I like what I had conjured up with in my mind regarding Fez and although I knew it was only a pitiful percentage of the overall picture, it really grasped my interest in a way few games have done before and I wished to know more while playing. Phil Fish put a stupid amount of effort in this game and I can understand why instead of going grey with stress he just went crazy. There are games where you bumblingly trundle along a corridor without explanation as to why you are doing the things that you're doing, other than competing in a game of assigned bad guys vs. assigned good guys. (Which is in-tune as to why Star Trek is vastly superior to Star Wars). Fez does start out like that, and it is possible to end it not knowing anything more about it other than 'jump puzzles'. I only got the generic/first ending (that is worth playing for as it is a total visceral trip) which didn't answer any of my questions, only create more regarding what was going on in the universe(s), but getting to that point was one of the best gaming experiences I've had in a long time. I actively felt like I wanted to know so such more, but was also infinitely satisfied with what I had been presented with up to that point.
Fez's mechanics, sound design, pacing, art style and its music (Disasterpiece produce a beautiful soundtrack) are all incredibly considered and delicate, and when put together form a series of incredible vivid and atmospheric worlds for you to traverse, each with their own unique spin and story that I eagerly lapped up. The game encourages absorption of the environment that you're immediately in, and also a sense of leisure in the ways that you set about completing each puzzle. There isn't an abrupt 'level completed' or anything, instead a little visual cue that lasts a few seconds and then gameplay returns to normal. To further highlight that leisure aspect is there are no lives or health in Fez. You can 'die' but that's just from falling too high a distance and you just revert back to the platform where you last fell from. I'd dare say it shares some similarities to Proteus in how calming and enjoyable an experience it is traversing through each world.
A small thing that again complimented that sense of leisure (and this is only really relevant for the generic ending of Fez), but in a sense everything is completable the moment you first come across it it. There is a lot of back tracking (although not in your typical linear way), but if there is a clear 'goal' evident for that world, then in that point and time it is achievable. I really despise games where there's a blocked door or something that I awkwardly button mash or try and glitch through, and by doing so temporarily break immersion. I never experienced that with Fez*. That's not to say there were a few moments where I didn't jump back and forth in front of a locked door or wondering why I was stuck, but it didnt bug me that it wasn't accessible because there were 3 or 4 other doors to take that would eventually lead me to an answer, whether it be the discovery of a new mechanic or whatever object I needed to open that previous locked door.
That is the charm and magic of Fez. There is a lot going on if you look closer, but only if you want to, you don't have to.
*Having said that, hardcore Fez players who are seeking that elusive 206% total completion (?!) have encountered a few puzzles that are only known to have been completed by brute force at this point.
