Northern Journey
A Norwegian Happysad Game
Very few games that I have played have managed to capture my love for the outdoors. How could they? How could any game capture and magnificence of the cold forested expanses before me in the fall? As you've probably gathered at this point I have found a game that has managed to caputre my love for the outdoors. Northern Journey is Norwegian "happysad" game, and I think this is a pretty fitting description, because while the cold overcast landscapes that lie before you in Northern Journey can feel a little melancholy, if you're like me you'll be breath taken at the sights of some of these landscapes. I'd like to hit on some of my favorite points throughout the game and there will be light spoilers throughout. So if you don't want those I'd reccomend just playing it!
Atmosphere
The first key to capturing these great landscapes is level design. Not only how the player traverses the level but also what the player is looking at while they are traversing the level. The actual layouts of the levels are very well done but aren't really going to be my focus with this little review.
Just looking at the screenshots already provided you can probably see the detail of these landscapes. There are just so many things this game got right when it comes to painting the landscapes, from the way all the foilage and leaves fuzz together in the distance to the way the fog in the distance starts to engulf the landscape. While I do think the developer (I haven't been able to find his name anywhere so let's go with Slid), did a great job just laying out the scenes I'd like to touch on perhaps my favourite element of the atmosphere, the sound.
The sound design in Northern Journey is on point throughout the whole game and includes a pretty interesting detail. From the get go you're led to believe the flute player sending you out to do his bidding is more than meets the eye, and quickly it's apparent magic is afoot in this realm, and a very interesting audio signifier is harsher electronic noises coming in through sound effects or into the music. Something weird and magic going on? There's probably a really crunchy synth in that level's music. This just happens to be an interesting detail that I thought really helped to sublty reinforce the mystical nature of your journey. On top of cool details like this, the soundtrack also just ranks up there with my favourite video game soundtracks.
Combat / Puzzles
Moving away from the sound design we've got the combat and puzzles, which is primarly what you're going to be doing when you're not exploring the landscape. I really don't have much to say here, I didn't think the combat sequences were exceptional or the puzzles amazing, but I did find both fun. The way combat is paced throughout the game is quite good and gives you a nice palette cleanser between breathtaking levels. I'm almost hesitant to talk about the things I didn't like because I fear I might scare someone away from what I view as a masterpiece but I think it's still important to aknowledge the game isn't perfect.
The only things I'd hold against the game are that some combat encounters (bosses specifically) feel a bit off, and that there were too many encounters in the very last section of the game. Most of your weapons just aren't made for these fights, and during the very very last section of the game it starts to feel like a retro FPS, rather than a slow paced journey through a mystical Norway. Don't get the wrong impression though, even knowing these flaws I 100% reccomend the game if you have had any interest at all reading this.
Hopefully I've made you want to play this infamous masterpiece. If you're still on the edge and would like maybe a more in depth review I'd reccomend this video by Mandalore Gaming.
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Anon