The Beauty of Fez

Arful Design Chapter 6

Chapter 6 of Ge Wang's Artful Design discusses game design, including what makes for an artful user experience. It made me reflect on what games I've enjoyed in the past: the first video game I ever played through from start to finish was Fez, a 2D platformer set in a 3D world. You navigate by controlling your perspective, shifting which plane you are on in order to avoid obstacles and progress.

Fez weaves an interconnected web between its narrative, mechanics, and aesthetics to create a game masterfully self-aware of its medium. The game begins with Gomez, your character, traversing his home village in 2D, unaware that there is even a third dimension. Then from the sky, a mysterious hexahedron appears and gives him a red fez before breaking apart, ripping a hole in his world's spacetime. Here the game most explicitly breaks the fourth wall by appearing to crash and restart, this time in 3D. Aesthetically, the graphics and audio mirror such a reboot, both modern revamps of the archetypal 8-bit 2D platformer style. Cubes are used in some recombination for almost all objects within the world, building complexity from simplicity as well as reinforcing the 8-bit aesthetic.

The transition from 2D to 3D in Fez

various size cubes on a vast tree-like structure showing a map of the game Fez, black starry background

Fez's sprawling map [source]

It is a perfect union of narrative and mechanics to have both the plot and game controls centered around navigating a 3D world through a 2D lens. I haven't found another game that uses the mechanism of switching viewpoints quite like Fez, nor a game that directly uses perspective as the subject of the protagonist's quest. Unlike other self-aware games like Undertale or Save the Date, Fez manages to close the loop between medium and message without its characters' acknowledgement that they are in a game. In a way, the mechanics do the talking: rather than asking what is real vs. simulation, Fez points out its medium's traditional limitations on perspective while using its mechanics to break out of the mold.

In addition to working on a more philosophical level, Fez is also just a well-designed user experience. It balances the ludic and paidaic beautifully, combining a clear narrative with a map so vast and web-like that you can largely choose where you go and when. The puzzles have a wide range in difficulty, but it is easy to leave and come back if you get stuck. There are also multiple endings depending on whether you complete a minimum number or finish every puzzle possible (including hidden ones). Even when facing a difficult room, the puzzles often require more patience and problem-solving than pure dexterity, another subversion of the traditional platform game design. With no enemies and no conflict other than your own desire to solve, Fez is a sublime balance of challenging and peaceful, urging you to explore at your own pace and to whatever extent makes you happy.