Indie Game Spotlight: Spirit of the North
This week’s Indie Game Spotlight focuses on an ordinary red fox who becomes entwined with a spirit fox who is the guardian of the Northern Lights. As they journey over mountains and under red-stained skies, the red fox discovers more about his companion and a land left in ruin. We’re talking Spirit of the North.
We asked co-developer Jacob Sutton about foxes, features, and more. Read on!
What is the significance of the fox?
At first, we didn’t know what the game would even be about, other than that we wanted the main character to be a fox. Tayler (Co-Developer) remembered a piece of Nordic folklore about a fox that creates the northern lights when it brushes its tail against rocks and snow. After doing a bit more research, we knew we wanted to have that be part of our main story.
The game combines both the physical and spiritual worlds. Are there any other Nordic spirits we can find in it?
In Spirit of the North, the player may find Shaman Spirits that are tethered to the physical world. These Shamans were part of an ancient civilization that the player discovers more about.
How does playing as an animal without dialogue allow players to find out more about themselves?
Since the game has no dialogue, it really makes the player think about what happened in the past. From the beginning of development, we knew we didn’t want to spoon-feed a story to players. This was a bit of a risk because the story would likely be lost on many. However, we strongly felt that we would need to leave a lot of the interpretation up to the player to give the story a deeper meaning. The game has a narrative, based in real history, for the player to unravel. But the interpretation and meaning behind it all belong to the player. We didn’t want to get in the way of that.
What other features does the game include?
Among other things, players will find eight chapters, six unlockable skins, Iceland-inspired landscapes, a beautiful original soundtrack, and interesting puzzles and challenges.
What do you hope players will take away from the game?
Ultimately, what you take away from the game will be different from everyone else’s experience. That’s one thing we really like about it. You can ask a room full of people what the story of the game was and usually get some pretty different answers. Interpretations typically contain the same major plot points, but it’s really neat that the player decides what the story means. People read between the lines in different ways because we all have different perspectives.
We hope that you come away with something personal to you.
Thanks, Jacob! Are you ready to take the journey to the North? Spirit of the North is now available on PS4, and comes to Steam and Nintendo Switch later this year!
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