(9.9/10)

This is truly one of the most incredible and special games that I have ever played. At the most surface level, its a sort of fusion of the best of the 2D Zelda games with a 'Souls-Like' combat system/philosophy. That is you go around and explore, find new weapons and tools, unlock new areas with them, and then fight things with brutal and extremely punishing battle mechanics demanding split-second timing of dodge rolls and blocks.

Of course, that is only the surface, if you dig down a little deeper you start to find the kind of ridiculously unraveling puzzles that games like The Witness are known for. Suddenly you start looking at things you have been seeing all along your adventure but with new eyes which recognize hidden meanings, secrets, and all new ways to progress in the game in mechanics you didn't even know existed just before the discoveries. Then you find even more secrets, even more new systems and methods of play and things really begin to unravel and rebuild in your mind in entirely new ways.

And with all of that said, I have focused so much on the mechanics that I haven't even begun to describe the aesthetics. The visuals are absolutely nothing short of one of the most stunning uses of stylized minimalist 3D that I have ever seen. At times its so heavily stylized that you begin to lose track of it being 3D at all and it begins to look more like a carefully hand-crafted 2D world of the type that was seen in the heyday of early iPad type of games where things almost look painted and placed, only for your sense of the 3D world to come racing back when you dart around a corner and the camera/perspective does a relatively rare shift.

The audio is similarly stunning and the ambient smooth music reminds me of the best of games like Fez where each area has its own theme and the music itself becomes part of the presence of each zone as you wander through it. From melancholy soft melodies in abandoned ruins of cathedrals to relatively zen synth and almost chip tuney notes as you make your way through forests and gardens.

Tying everything together is the in-game manual which has the perfect look and feel of the absolute best manuals of the 8 and 16 bit eras, subtly showing you mechanics and information in a mysterious language you can't hope to comprehend but with bright bubbly visuals and the pencil/pen notes of some unknown previous player to help guide you along. You only gradually find and assemble the pages for this treasure and each one is a revelation that can open up entire new game mechanics you always had access to but simply did not know about. The single most enjoyable treasure among so many in this game that you get to experience is the glimmer of yet one more new manual page on the screen which you can then greedily jump into and pore over, zooming in and out to unearth all the information, secrets, guidance, etc that it can have for you.

Oh and the entire game is absolutely riddled with foxes among which your character is absolutely the cutest most inspirational and wonderful example and you cannot help but fall in love with their plucky little can-do attitude wonderfully emoted through every little movement and animation as they dart around and run through grass, fields, cliffs, water, etc. No matter how brutally hard the game gets you can't help but dive back in to help this little fox get just a little further in their quest to... something something!

In short yeah this game is honestly right up there in the hierarchy of some of the best indie games that have ever been created, among the company of Fez, The witness, Braid, etc. Its an absolute treasure and whatever your personal gaming proclivities, you are doing yourself a dis-service if this does not make its way in to your library (and your head-space).