Fez

Fez is a puzzle-platformer set in an orientable 3D world—but you move into this world in 2D, one view plane at a time. Exploration becomes a matter of understanding perspective and rotating the environment to open up new paths. Proceeding from this core 2D/3D interplay, the game packs many secrets in a joyful adventure.

Although you walk and jump in a 2D plane, the world behaves like a cube whose contents have a different layout when turned. When players make their way to the edge of the plane, they can rotate the cube left or right to reveal a whole new side of their environment. This creates perspective illusions where platforms or objects that are initially far away may be repositioned much closer. Players must use spatial visualization to decide which way to turn each level to discover more of it.

The world of Fez is split between multiple interconnected areas that you can revisit at any time. But first, you usually have to find a key or assemble a special cube in order to unlock the door from one place to another. There are also a number of esoteric artifacts you’ll be rewarded with after completing especially difficult puzzles. Fez is an exploration game filled with secrets that require lateral thinking to uncover.

The story follows Gomez, the player character, who lived a peaceful life in his 2D village, until one day he’s visited by a transcendent hexahedron. The strange volume offers him an unassuming fez, which nonetheless grants him the ability to rotate the world and discover its previously hidden sides. As the inhabitants panic over the sudden shift in their environment, Gomez is helped by a glowing cube called Dot. A dreamy, chiptune soundtrack by Disasterpeace accompanies them as they navigate the pixel-art levels.

Even if the game involves platforming, it is quite forgiving in this matter. Most of all, it cares about providing good puzzles to ponder and solve. As such, if you fall down one of the floating islands which make up the world, or if you’re sucked into a black hole, you’ll simply respawn at your previous position.

Aside from the main route, there’s a flurry of enticing secrets for players seeking the extra challenge. Arcane treasure maps, once decoded, will lead you to new artifacts —sometimes puzzles themselves! Eventually you can track the location of the remaining secrets with the world map, and reach for whatever you missed before. There’s also a mysterious language depicted with blocky symbols all over the game. Try and decipher it for even more mysteries.

This description was written by Cay Macres and edited by Oriane Tury.