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Remember that game Super Paper Mario that came out for that system the Wii? Yeah, you might have heard of it. And remember how it revolutionized platformers by offering levels that could be played in 2D and 3D? Yeah, it was pretty neat; I couldn’t agree with you more.

Well, forget everything about that game and feast your eyes on upcoming PC indie game Fez. Honestly, I don’t have any words for how freakin’ cool the above gameplay footage is. This gem in the making apparently exists somewhere here at GDC and I am determined to find it before the week is over. Operation: Play Fez begins!

While not much info is known about this Independent Games Festival finalist, Fez is obviously a platformer with a ridiculously cute (and adorably animated) main character. That is all well and good, but the minute I saw the game break the traditional 2D perspective and morph into this crazy 2D/3D ridiculously well-designed hybrid I almost fell of my chair and cried with happiness. Okay, fine, I did fall off my chair and cry with happiness. But it was all worth it.

If this is a sign of what game design is going to be like in the future, I am so happy to be a part of this industry. Fez is getting a lot of buzz here in San Francisco and rightfully so. I have to get my hands on this thing. Is it too early to call “game of the show?”


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99 comments | showing # 1 to 50

tazarthayoot's Avatar
tazarthayoot at 02/19/2008 21:13
Who does the music? The game looks fun but that music makes me really curious.
Spykron's Avatar
Spykron at 02/19/2008 21:15
i remember seeing this a few months ago, and then forgot about it. thanks for the update!
JOURN3Y's Avatar
JOURN3Y at 02/19/2008 21:16
But what about Crush? no Crush love?
Sam Spectre's Avatar
Sam Spectre at 02/19/2008 21:16
Wow this is a definite buy. I beg for some footage at the GDC if you can find it.

Also, I FUCKING LOVE THE MUSIC!
Gangles's Avatar
Gangles at 02/19/2008 21:16
Go Fez go! Kokoromi ftw.
grrza's Avatar
grrza at 02/19/2008 21:19
"Very good. I'm pride." lol, I hope they the game completely littered with engrish.

The music is total fucking win. Does the graphic style remind anyone else of cavestory?
Chad Concelmo's Avatar
Chad Concelmo at 02/19/2008 21:19
@JOURN3Y,
You're right, I should have given Crush a shout-out. I love that game so much, but Super Paper Mario was the first comparison that popped in my head. I blame it on being distracted by HOW FREAKING AMAZING FEZ IS! :) :) :)
Itchy Tasty's Avatar
Itchy Tasty at 02/19/2008 21:26
When will we be able to download this game? If you look at the 1up article about this game they mention the person responsible for the music.
mix's Avatar
mix at 02/19/2008 21:28
Looks damn cool, any news on what this is coming out on?
DarkTetsuya's Avatar
DarkTetsuya at 02/19/2008 21:30
@grrza:

You're not alone, I thought the creatures looked sorta like the ones in CS.
ceark's Avatar
ceark at 02/19/2008 21:32
I'm sold. I wanna play this.
KamikazeTutor's Avatar
KamikazeTutor at 02/19/2008 21:34
Damnit, I once pitched a game like this to some friends of mine and they simply said they didn't knew how to program it, it sounded good but it would be complicated. At least I would like them to have tried...

I need new friends...
KamikazeTutor's Avatar
KamikazeTutor at 02/19/2008 21:36
It looks so beautiful... it's like the child I never had...
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 02/19/2008 21:36
Okay, I just watched this and the Echochrome introduction videos, and I am so stoked for both of them. I'm really glad to see developers doing something awesome without having to go the whole photorealistic route. This reminds me of Crush, only I never played that.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Samit Sarkar at 02/19/2008 21:43
Holy hell, Chad, that’s mind-blowingly amazing! I’ve never played Super Paper Mario myself, but I’ve seen friends play it, and I always thought that the mechanic was very cool. But this takes it to another level — changing perspective while jumping opens up all kinds of new possibilities, it seems, and it is now a possibility that this may be the second PC game I buy on my laptop (the first was Audiosurf; boy, I hope my computer can run this game!).
sev4's Avatar
sev4 at 02/19/2008 21:58
I am so in love with the wave of game-design. Brilliant art direction. Good luck on your mission!
3r0t1c n3rd's Avatar
3r0t1c n3rd at 02/19/2008 22:06
One word: Amazing!
Cutie Honey's Avatar
Cutie Honey at 02/19/2008 22:06
I'm suprised no one says it looks like Cave Story.
'Cus that's pretty damn awesome.
ZargonX's Avatar
ZargonX at 02/19/2008 22:06
Looks like Cave Story and Paper Mario mashed together into one glorious whole.
mourning orange's Avatar
mourning orange at 02/19/2008 22:11
I named my cat REZ cos that game was amazing.....might be getting a new cat soon...
saxomophone's Avatar
saxomophone at 02/19/2008 22:12
"very good. im pride."
GutZ's Avatar
GutZ at 02/19/2008 22:17
Do Want~!
zardoz's Avatar
zardoz at 02/19/2008 22:31
Strange how a game with such simple stylised graphics and an elegant concept can provide more emotional stimulation than most photorealistic HD efforts.

Looks great.
velcroman's Avatar
velcroman at 02/19/2008 22:32
http://phishy.deviantart.com/gallery/

i've loved the artist forever! and check his stuff out every once in a while. so imagine my surprise about a year ago when i was scoping out his deviant art and found art for this awesome game...i came!
Baron Calico's Avatar
Baron Calico at 02/19/2008 22:32
Dayam! That's impressive! Imma put this in my "hopefully is the next Cave Story" pile.
Upgrayedd's Avatar
Upgrayedd at 02/19/2008 22:46
OH. MY. GOD!
Nubc4kes's Avatar
Nubc4kes at 02/19/2008 22:50
Chad. Do whatever it takes to play this game. And tell me how awesome it is.
Seifersythe's Avatar
Seifersythe at 02/19/2008 22:51
Cute. Very Cave Story esque. Looking forward to it.
Barcode's Avatar
Barcode at 02/19/2008 23:00
OMFG It's trippy AND awesome!
HarassmentPanda's Avatar
HarassmentPanda at 02/19/2008 23:08
This game looks great. I love titles like this that bring back some of the old school fun back into gaming.
Cowzilla3's Avatar
Cowzilla3 at 02/19/2008 23:12
Sweet, looks totally amazing, though I proably won't play it as its on the pc. Come on live or wiiware content!
TheToiletDuck's Avatar
TheToiletDuck at 02/19/2008 23:24
AND it doesnt have lines and lines of text to have to read through.

viva la Fez!
ToxinBlackheart's Avatar
ToxinBlackheart at 02/19/2008 23:36
It looks so amazing!

I really want to play it now. I also had been watching Phishy's art for a while, and seeing his work in action is jaw-dropping.
MissHinasaki's Avatar
MissHinasaki at 02/19/2008 23:36
Sexy.
Orionsaint's Avatar
Orionsaint at 02/19/2008 23:40
Typical platformer NEXT!

This thing looks like Snoopy if you view the face looking sideways.

mdmike's Avatar
mdmike at 02/19/2008 23:48
Very cool...maybe it's just because I'm sitting next to my 360 right now, but I'd like to see a console port of this. It's hard to imagine playing a platformer on a PC...haven't done it since Commander Keen
Pacman's Avatar
Pacman at 02/20/2008 00:11
This looks awesome, and I'm liking the older style graphics much like Cave Story used.
Paul Soth's Avatar
Paul Soth at 02/20/2008 00:11
Two dimensional creature introduced to three dimensions?

[embed]71235:8215[/embed]
Paul Soth's Avatar
Paul Soth at 02/20/2008 00:13
Well, that didn't work. Ah hell, just watch this.
Crapsh00t's Avatar
Crapsh00t at 02/20/2008 00:19
My brain just melted.
DinnertimeNinja's Avatar
DinnertimeNinja at 02/20/2008 00:25
Interesting, but it almost looks too complex for it's own good.

The guy in playing the vid obviously knew where he was going but it seems to me that anyone playing a level for the first time would just be making a single jump, then figuring out where the hell to go, then one more jump, then figuring out where the hell to go, rinse and repeat.

Crush avoided this to an extent by making the levels smaller and in general, you can already see the things around you without stopping to view an pan-out camera. Also, I'm gonna miss being able to crush a top-down view.

Get your hands on it and let us know how the thing actually plays.
MagicAQ's Avatar
MagicAQ at 02/20/2008 00:27
i would just like to quote all the above and say its a beautiful thing to be able o share this .... its peeps and games like these that give me hope with fresh talent.
Teta's Avatar
Teta at 02/20/2008 00:38
This is great. Finally developers are doing something different instead of just making the jumping and running more or less difficult, depending on the colour of the level.
I am truly interested on this game.
Woocifer's Avatar
Woocifer at 02/20/2008 00:39
Am I the only one that thinks this is an annoying idea for gameplay? Awkward perception with simple platform tendencies seems to be more of a gimmick than anything else. Perhaps it's just a matter of taste...but really...it seems so over the top trite and childish even among other games...which are trite and childish haha But this 2d/3d thing is charismatic for about 2 minutes...then it just becomes uninspired, overused and derivative to every other platformer. I don't mean to be the heavy...but I have to say it...independent or not, this is just swimming around in the same fish bowl...except this time its in a different direction.
Zacks Destructoid User Name's Avatar
Zacks Destructoid User Name at 02/20/2008 01:10
hmm the graphic style doesnt do it for me but the game design looks nice. interesting how the world flattens after u change perspective. looks fun
manasteel88's Avatar
manasteel88 at 02/20/2008 01:32
holy god this is amazing...please if you see the creator ask him to port this to a console!

I loved the platform jumping while rotating the world...thats pretty sweet...also the awesomeness of Mushroom Rainbow
zeroth's Avatar
zeroth at 02/20/2008 01:39
simply awesome - i loved super paper mario, but i spent the whole game wanting a really challenging puzzle with the flipping. i think my wants have been responded to, but in a different game (this one).
naia-the-gamer's Avatar
naia-the-gamer at 02/20/2008 02:06
@Dexter:

I totally thought of Echochrome watching these videos! It's like a cuter more colorful version.

I totally want to play this game. Is there a website to go to download it and/or buy it?
atheistium's Avatar
atheistium at 02/20/2008 03:14
do want fez :(
Justice's Avatar
Justice at 02/20/2008 03:19
This game is beautiful!
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