Spirit of The North (PS5)

Likes:No narration, no explanation. You are encouraged to explore and figure it out. Loved it!You can't die from falling off ledges, making bad jumps. There's no fighting sequences or enemy battles. This makes exploring fun and relaxing.Scenery - I got lost in the beautiful scenery and everywhere I could explore. I was more interested in exploring my surroundings than in the game play in the beginning as a result.The story - It's a beautifully told story about life and death through the eyes of a fox and it's fox spirit friend/guide.The music is phenomenal and goes with the scenery as well as the mood - downloaded the album.Emotionally riveting - yup, grown adult that cried multiple times and sobbed at the surprise ending.Critiques:It's short - maybe 5 or 6 hours. However, I tend to notice new things each time I replay it.It's easy - yeah, there are a few challenges, but the fun is figuring them out. If you like straightforward, this is not your game.The controls can feel clunky at times, but I've played much worse.There's no real distinction between landscapes that can be climbed and ones that cannot. Some cliffs can be lept from while others have an invisible barrier that prevent you from moving forward. The landscapes are wide open so it can be frustrating at times, wondering why you can't make a jump only to realize that's where the developers decided playable scenery ends.SPOILERS in case people want to know what the content is like for their kids:There is an ancient civilization whose ruins litter the landscape throughout the game - the entire population is gone due to a disease that took over. (The game does show dead skeletons bones - but nothing gory) The disease is red and is displayed in large spores. You are near-mortally wounded by the disease near the beginning of the game, and it creates a lot of anxiety when you encounter the disease.The people loved and worshiped foxes and at some point it hits you that no one is left to provide them with this adoration. There is no sound of life, no birds, no other critters - nothing (until the afterlife - more on that later). It captures the loneliness that can come with death. Your spirit fox friend also symbolizes how people who are gone never really leave. This little guy accompanies you throughout the game in different forms as company, protection, and healing you.At one point the spirit becomes sickened by the disease and it makes sounds like it's crying, which could be difficult or distressing to hear.Your fox does die towards the end as your limping, slow moving fox collapses and you suddenly are controlling a lively spirit version of your fox, while your little fox's body falls to the ground dead, quickly engulfed by spores (Maybe not the best game if your kid has recently lost a pet). You then follow your spirit friend to the spirit world, where you spend awhile greeting the fox worshipers whose spirits you rescued throughout the game, bringing closure to the loneliness you felt earlier.You do come back to life only to be met with the surprise ending - You follow your spirit buddy to the top of the mountain to find the spirit fox's body, curled up. Yup - it was alive at one point just like you. But the ending hits hard when your little fox curls up, lays down, and becomes a second spirit fox guardian and together they heal the land, forever creating auroras in the sky. Kids playing this will probably think the fox bodies are just sleeping.