The world is a big place. And just when you think you’re starting to understand how big it is, you find that the world you’ve been living in is just the shadow of something greater, just a two-dimensional projection of something too grand to comprehend.
But we try. We bite off little bits and pieces, interpret, chart, ingest, until we begin to understand our place in this world, understand its new shape, feel our way around its vast expanse until we find – a door? We pass through this door, and another dimension is added.
Another.
Another.
Another.
There is always a world outside of our world which we can only dimly comprehend.
But there is also always a world underneath our world, a dark, warm, quiet, intimate space which will always be our home no matter where we go. It is this prison that makes us free, wherever we go.
FEZ is more game than it seems to be. It is a hierarchy of worlds in one, and intentionally blurs the line between itself and reality in many places. Like Anodyne, it makes use of stylized ‘glitch’ effects to communicate something about the world, but it also erodes the fourth wall from the other side, occasionally demanding the usage of tools outside of the game – starting with pen and paper, and progressing from there.
FEZ is a game that is bigger than the space which contains it, as all art must be. Who can say how many dimensions it contains?
FEZ is a game about beauty – the beauty which we find looking around us, seeing the play of light and color and the thrum of our world, the leaves and the music and the water, as well as the beauty we find by delving within, gaining understanding, and seeing our world in a new way. These two facets of beauty, together, are what let us progress,
I need to spend more time with FEZ to uncover its secrets, but it’s time to draw a new slip.
This week’s draw is… Klonoa!
Interesting! So I guess this is the month for awesome platformer games. What I know about this one is that it was a hugely critically acclaimed game on the Playstation that was terribly under-printed and ended up being very difficult to get a hold of. Apparently it’s been remade for the Wii, which I wasn’t aware of, but I’ll be playing the original version. I hope it is as excellent as I have heard!