NORTH

North is part of a mini canon of "serious" games that engage with asylum seeking and the plight of refugees around the world, together with entries like Finding Home (UNHCR, 2017), Bury Me, My Love, Path Out, Papers, Please, Against All Odds (2007), My Life as a Refugee (2012) The Migrant Trail (2014), Darfur is Dying (2006), Cloud Chasers: Journey of Hope (2015), Zaytoun (2013), On the Ground Reporter: Darfur (2010), Food Force (2011), and Frontiers: Welcome to Fortress Europe (2015).
Unlike most other titles, North does not engage with any specific real-world crisis, and it certainly eschews realism, opting instead for setting its story in a cyberpunk and surreal dystopian world, the North, where the players find themselves having managed to escape from the South.
The game is very short. Players are warned that it would take around 40 minutes to complete and it is meant to be played in a single sitting. We are not given much information about what is going on

There are some interesting images here and there, and the letters you write/read do give the game some much needed substance (as well as being the most interesting part of the game by far) but the overall presentation is lacking and the subject matter is handled somewhat poorly. It doesn't really ever tie it all together in a coherent way, and it seems to try and push basic surrealism over the social commentary it claims to address.

Additionally, there are some big issues I have with the level design. Mainly, the game is extremely dark and very difficult to find your way around in. Most of the doors you find are so poorly lit that you cannot see them at all, which can make it really frustrating when trying to find your way around, and I've found myself mashing the "use" button while sliding against a wall just to try and activate the door.. I was able to alleviate the issue a little by adjusting the brightness, but I had to go through my television's settings to do so.

I could go more in depth on this frustrating game, but I find reviewing it even more tedious than playing it.

Great game, basically a walking sim with some light puzzle elements. It takes the best out of dystopian and surreal games like the Sluggish Morrs trilogy and remakes them in first person, making the experience much more immersive and surreal. Its hard to describe it without spoiling, but for the 30 minutes it lasts it offers more creative ideas than i have seen when compared to 99% other games out there. Would recommend to anyone looking for weird, non action focused games.