Spirit of the North 2 Review – Outfoxed

There’s something inherently magical about animal-focused video games, with some of my favorite moments centering around wolves. Tunic and Neva are prime examples, offering compelling action-adventure experiences despite their contrasting art styles and perspectives. Their nature-focused themes were also appealing without feeling too forced or excessive, weaving into the central plot and enhancing the overall.

In that vein, Spirit of the North from Infuse Studio has always intrigued me. Surely, playing as a fox would prove just as compelling? While the first game didn’t really connect with me for a myriad of reasons, I had some hopes for the sequel, which is out now for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Surely the development team had learned from the first game’s issues and lived up to the thematic potential. Unfortunately, Spirit of the North 2 fumbles almost as much as the first game and fails to really capitalize on an interesting exploration loop.

"You’re given free rein to explore, at least within your abilities. In this vein, Spirit of the North 2 does a decent job of providing enough freedom while reinforcing the plot’s agency."

The sequel starts with you, a fox, awakening in your sanctuary where other foxes dwell. You can customize your fox at the start, and while options are fairly limited (the number of fur and eye choices particularly didn’t impress), others become available as you explore the land. You’ll get plenty after quote-unquote accidentally releasing Grimnir, the dark shaman.

Grimnir, as you’ll learn through the various scrolls scattered through the sanctuary, isn’t a good dude. Though originally a wise shaman, traversing the regions and offering knowledge, he seemingly falls to darkness and begins to corrupt the various tribes. The Fox Tribe is the only one that escapes unscathed by fleeing to some unknown land, and, yet, Grimnir is also imprisoned within the sanctuary. Which is fine – perhaps there’s a rational explanation for these disparities. However, even after enough warnings that his staff should remain separated from him, you, the protagonist, take and deliver it, express style.

Yes, it’s somewhat accidental, having collapsed through rickety wooden boards and super-conveniently landing in Grimnir’s cell, but the entire set-up feels incredibly contrived. It feels like the development team couldn’t think of any other way to kickstart the adventure across the Northern Isles without making your character into an absolute dolt. The only thing funnier is the mighty Grimnir, who creates lava eruptions within the cavern he’s imprisoned and sets fire to your sanctuary, is fought off by a couple of pecks from your raven companion.

After escaping a corrupted bear and the sanctuary, you proceed to explore the landscape, gathering clues and ideally cleansing the surroundings. The goal is to locate the Guardians, who were lost to Grimnir’s dark tides, but it’s not completely obvious. Instead, you’re given free rein to explore, at least within your abilities. In this vein, Spirit of the North 2 does a decent job of providing enough freedom while reinforcing the plot’s agency. You’ll collect crystal shards to unlock Obelisks and reveal more of the map, with points of interest to investigate, Runes to discover, and Wisps to collect. There are even cute little raccoon merchants to purchase wares as their limited facial expressions light up with joy.

"The landscape as a whole feels barren and not just because of the dull color palettes. The extensive distance between different things adds to the monotony."

These Wisps are integral to accessing the mini-dungeons dotting the landscape, where you’ll uncover items to unlock the main puzzles. There’s an extensive amount of puzzling and platforming, with the former feeling incredibly quaint. For instance, you’ll have to pick up small objects and place them on podiums to open the way forward, but they’re insultingly easy to find. One variation tries to mix things up by giving you three different small objects. Which one could possibly fit on the podium? Trial and error? Who could possibly try that?

Another instance involved leaping through openings due to every cell door being locked, which could have offered something intriguing but felt way too simplistic. I appreciate some guidance, like the raven companion perching on some objectives as an indication of where to go next. It’s thankfully not overdone, giving some breathing room to figure things out, even if the process is way too easy. The puzzles are slightly better, especially as you unlock new abilities like Glide that allow for fresh mechanics. There’s a Zelda-ish vibe, which isn’t completely unwelcome, even if I yearned for more varied challenges and harder puzzles.

On a side note, the raven sometimes sounds mysteriously like Kazooie from the Banjo-Kazooie series. Perhaps it’s Kazooie that sounds closer to a raven? Regardless, this only distracted me from the middling platforming and made me want to play Banjo-Kazooie.

Venturing to different areas just to see what lies around the next corner can be enjoyable, especially as you discover more scrolls and learn how bad Grimnir is and how you totally shouldn’t have broken him free. However, the landscape as a whole feels barren and not just because of the dull color palettes. The extensive distance between different things adds to the monotony. I don’t need a random event occurring every few minutes to farm two Tokens and a Blue, but it feels like the overall play space could have been compartmentalized a bit.

That extends to the skill tree as well, which offers all kinds of quote-unquote meaningful upgrades like +1 health and reduced fall damage (which feels unnecessary after you unlock Glide). I would have appreciated fewer nodes if it meant they were individually more impactful. At least the various discovered Runes add some interesting wrinkles, like free armor points that recover your health.

"With some more polish and shine, it could evolve into an above-average but still solid experience. In its current state, however, it’s little more than a hollow action-adventure title with numerous rough edges."

As for the platforming, the core component of the gameplay, it leaves something to be desired (like many other aspects). Along with regular jumps, you have “guided” jumps, where a small blue indicator appears on crevasses and ledges. Hit the jump button, and you’ll leap onto them. Attempt to leap onto them like a fox, and you sometimes won’t make it. Some sections are annoying to traverse without following the indicator. It’s not every single section, but the implementation is a bizarre choice and disrupts what should be a smooth platforming experience. You can’t ignore it either, which further adds to the mundanity.

Finally, there are the visuals created courtesy of Unreal Engine 5. There are two modes available on PS5, Performance and Fidelity, with the former selected for the sake of 60 FPS gameplay. The downside is that the aesthetic, which is an odd mix of realistic and animated that isn’t terrible but feels off as a whole, suffers from excessive environmental pop-in. At one point, I thought I saw the sky slightly flashing, which didn’t help with the immersion.

The overall brightness is also odd. Some areas were pitch-black until cranking it up slightly. Then I ran into other locations, which were dark until approaching closer, leading to uncertainty, especially since fall damage and environmental hazards are a thing.

Spirit of the North 2 has sizable ambitions – it’s apparent in the storyline, awfully contrived as the set-up and boneheaded as the protagonist may be, and in the sheer scale of the landscape. If only the iffy platforming, barren regions, unimpressive puzzles and awful visual optimization, on PS5. With some more polish and shine, it could evolve into an above-average but still solid experience. In its current state, however, it’s little more than a hollow action-adventure title with numerous rough edges.

This game was reviewed on PS5.