Welcome to a world filled with animals who sing to one another. The forests and mountains are draped with gorgeous purples and greens. Every color of the spectrum is present in this crystalline land of ancient runes and legends. You step into this world as Fe, a small fox-like creature who is alone and trying to traverse the land. Upon finding the means of communicating with other creatures, through various songs and melodies, you also discover that there are malevolent creatures known as the Silent Ones. Only through exploration will you uncover the motivations behind the beings threatening to destroy this magical land of harmony.

Zoink is an award-winning game developer from Gothenburg, Sweden. They develop games for various consoles and have been around since 2013. Every title they work on has the core tenants of strong characterization and creative storytelling. This particular title is catered towards gamers who love platforming across “directed” open world territory. Also, the game allows you to discover your abilities and the world itself through experiential research as opposed to in-game tutorials.

Zoink and Electronic Arts are elevating this game as a new way to tell stories. Discover the world and its inhabitants through adventure and communication. Learn new songs and abilities that will allow you to speak to the various species inhabiting the Nordic forest. You are free to explore this open world and uncover artifacts that will tell you its narrative through visuals and events instead of text. You can especially see this in the ending credits where the game allows you to keep traversing the land while the credits are scrolling up.

Besides the core gameplay, there are collectibles that take the form of pink crystals. You search for these crystals to unlock a couple of new abilities. But, these are not necessary to complete the game. Playing linearly through the narrative opens up gliding and tree climbing skills that are enough to get by. If you're looking for replayability, there is little to keep you buys. Collecting crystals and finding all of the stone carvings are the only things you have to look forward to. So, enjoy your first playthrough as much as you can.

The basic story of Fe goes something like this... You traverse the Nordic forest and mountain ranges as Fe, a fox-like creature. Your unique ability to mimic the songs of other creatures allows you to communicate with all the other animals. Only you have this ability. You discover that animals are being imprisoned and carried off to a secluded area by beings known as the Silent Ones. Their motivations are unclear, it appears that they detest the songs of the world.

Fe's narrative is creative in how it unfolds before you through artifacts and experience. It isn't a particularly fascinating story. However, you could say that there is a “twist” at the end. The presentation doesn’t feel quite right. Really, the atmosphere, gameplay, and visuals of Fe are what drive the game and propel you to see it through to completion.

Character development isn’t really a factor in this game. Because there is no proper dialogue or exposition given at the beginning, you don’t know what Fe’s purpose is in life. You go around gathering songs make you more adept at communication with animals. However, you don’t grow attached to who Fe is as a person (or animal in this case). You do learn a bit about its past, but it doesn’t feel like enough.

First off, this game gives you no type of tutorials and very few hints. That can be a bit frustrating at first, but you quickly accept it and enjoy the game. It pushes you to be more in tune with the other animals and to figure out what their motivations are. Figuring out which animals to call upon and which songs to use is a huge portion of the game's puzzles and enjoyment. There isn’t real combat to speak of. The way deal with enemies is by outmaneuvering them and relying on bigger animals to plow through them for you.

Visually, this game is extremely eye-popping. The animations and designs are gorgeous to look at. Every part of nature having a metallic or crystalline texture to it feels alien but soothing. There are scenes where you were looking through a crystal and seeing what the Silent Ones are up to. It feels very unnerving and dangerous. You’re spying on them and they’ll catch you at any second! Actually, the whole game is uneasy in a sense. It looks beautiful at times but you never really feel relaxed. The best phrase we could use to describe this game's style is hauntingly beautiful.

We were pleasantly surprised by how little the game asks you to backtrack. The open world setting is perfect for exploration and making the most of your abilities. There’s a lot of times where you feel like you might’ve missed some kind of interaction or item but when you call the guiding bird (extremely useful) it tells you in which direction you need to head. And, it's always forward! So checking every nook and cranny is not necessary for this game at all.

Everyone talks about how majestic and jaw-dropping it feels to free the giant stag. Early on, you are tasked with sneaking past Silent Ones and breaking the energy shackles holding down this sky-scraping animal. Once you do, you can glide to the trees embedded in this mountainous stag's fur and make your way up to its head. It's challenging at first, but extremely rewarding upon completion.

We feel that most gamers and reviewers look fondly at this moment because soon after you are made aware of the flaws within Fe. The game mechanics and plot devices become repetitive and less creative from here on. Everything leading up to this scene felt fresh and inspiring. Everything after feels like you're following a scripted process.

Overall, we had a really enjoyable time discovering what Fe had to offer. Gorgeous visuals, unique mechanics, and a minimalist approach to tutorials are welcomed features to this adventure genre. The limitations of this game do not hold it back from being an immersive, platforming game with an atmosphere like no other. Platforming and puzzle-solving are where this game excels. It executes well on so many points that we really want to see what it can become if it realizes its full potential.

This is a video game that will (and should) likely spawn similar titles or sequels that improve upon the basis that Zoink! created. Hopefully, spiritual successors will include some type of combat and a method for combining multiple songs or animal usage for new and impressive abilities.

Again, Fe is definitely a title we would recommend to fans of the adventure and exploration genre. Our time spent with Fe did not feel wasted or regretful. It just felt like something was slightly missing. We hope you all give this game a shot and voice your opinions so that a spiritual successor can improve upon this great foundation.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article. Make sure to ask us any questions you might have about Fe or other titles we’ve reviewed. You can comment down below or tweet us @honeysanimeEN. We look forward to seeing you in the next one. Take care and have a great day!