Farewell North Tells A Story About Grief While Focusing On Hope

Farewell North is a narrative adventure that puts players in the shoes of a dog. Your owner has died and you’re on a trip to spread her ashes. You’ll explore and solve basic puzzles to help Cailey progress. Chesley guides her through a series of islands as they bring back the light. Once the story has been completed, players can freely explore the world in full color. 

The story is heartwarming despite its grim topic. Many of the game’s “puzzles” involve herding animals. This isn’t exciting gameplay wise and will get repetitive fast. However, these are bonding moments that help build up the narrative. Most of Farewell North is like that. If you go in expecting complex puzzles and constant new mechanics throughout the game, you may find yourself much more disappointed. 

There are also puzzles that involve activating objects and realigning them. Sometimes the solutions aren’t immediately clear. In this case, some running around should solve the issue. Nothing is hard enough in this game to truly stop progress. Not even awkward kayak controls and a jump that can feel delayed. Herding animals is slow and will often involve finding where they’ve run off to. And, at certain story moments, getting them to their destination can feel like retreading ground as you round them up again.

Farewell North is a minimalistic experience. It Relies heavily on audio and visual cues to develop Cailey’s emotional journey. It touches on her feelings of loss coinciding with the freedom she experiences in the wild. Farewell North mixes a realistic story of recovery with fantastical elements through Chasley’s point of view. It ends with a powerful message about the roles people and their pets play in each other’s lives. If you’re looking for a strong narrative where mechanics support the story instead, this will be an interesting experience.