FEZ (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.0.2 Update

FEZ is a 2012 indie puzzle platform game developed by Polytron Corporation and published by Trapdoor. The player-character Gomez receives a fez that reveals his two-dimensional (2D) world to be one of four sides of a three-dimensional (3D) world. The player rotates between these four 2D views to realign platforms and solve puzzles. The objective is to collect cubes and cube fragments to restore order to the universe.

The game was called an “underdog darling of the indie game scene” during its high-profile and protracted five-year development cycle. Fez designer and Polytron founder Phil Fish gained celebrity status for his outspoken public persona and his prominence in the 2012 documentary Indie Game: The Movie, which detailed Fez’s final stages of development and Polytron’s related legal issues.

Fez met critical acclaim upon its April 2012 release for Xbox Live Arcade. The game was ported to other platforms following the expiration of a yearlong exclusivity agreement. Reviewers commended the game’s emphasis on discovery and freedom but criticized its technical issues, in-game navigation, and endgame backtracking. Gomez, a 2D creature residing in a 2D realm. But is that truly the case? Upon discovering the existence of a cryptic third dimension, Gomez embarks on an extraordinary quest spanning time and space.

Employ your skill to traverse 3D structures, viewing them from four unique, nostalgic 2D perspectives. They likened the game’s rotation mechanic to the 2D–3D shifts of Echochrome, Nebulus, Super Paper Mario, and Crush. Fez won awards including the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and Eurogamer’s 2012 Game of the Year. It had sold one million copies by the end of 2013, and it influenced games such as Monument Valley, Crossy Road, and Secrets of Rætikon. A planned sequel was canceled when Fish abruptly left game development.

GAMEPLAY

Fez is a two-dimensional (2D) puzzle platform game set in a three-dimensional (3D) world. The player-character Gomez lives peacefully on a 2D plane until he receives a red fez and witnesses the breakup of a giant, golden hexahedron that tears the fabric of spacetime and reveals a third dimension. After the game appears to glitch, reset, and reboot, the player can rotate between four 2D views of the 3D world, as four sides around a cube-like space. This rotation mechanic reveals new paths through the levels by connecting otherwise inaccessible platforms and is the basis of Fez’s puzzles. For example, floating platforms become a solid road, discontinuous ladders become whole, and platforms that move along a track stay on course.

The object of the game is to collect cubes and cube fragments, which accrete to restore order to the universe. In search of these cubes, Gomez traverses the game environment by jumping between ledges. Other platforming elements change with the level themes, including crates that activate switches, bombs that reveal passages, and pistons that launch Gomez airborne. The exploratory parts of the game feature a series of arcane codes and glyphs, treasure maps and chests, and secret rooms. Players are left without guidance to determine whether game elements are decipherable subpuzzles or simply false signals. These sorts of puzzles include hidden warp gates, enigmatic obelisks, invisible platforms, sequences of tetrominoes, a ciphered alphabet, and QR codes.

One of the game’s recurring themes is an ancient civilization that attempted to make sense of its dimensionality, as told through artifacts. Fez has no enemies, bosses, or punishments for failure—the player-character quickly respawns upon falling to his death. The game’s designer described Fez as a “‘stop and smell the flowers’ kind of game”. It prioritizes puzzle-solving and patience over the platforming genre’s traditional interest in dexterity. Fez features a pixelated art style and a limited color palette reminiscent of the 8-bit era.

Its homage includes Tetris tetrominoes inscribed on the walls and in the sky, The Legend of Zelda treasure chest animations, Super Mario Bros. mushroom levels, travel by pipe, and floating platforms. The game’s settings include forests, factories, a coastal lighthouse, an urban city, and a library. Fez’s New Game Plus mode adds a first-person perspective feature and lets the player revisit areas to collect “anti-cubes” from harder puzzles. This second half of the game is more challenging and focuses on code-cracking.