REVIEW — Five years after the original game, Infuse Studio has released its sequel, which barely ties into the first installment. That might actually be for the better, as it feels almost identical to its predecessor. Unfortunately, this means the game is bound to be forgotten in six months—maybe even sooner. It’s just another animal-themed adventure with very little to add. Even this sentence struggles to make it interesting.

This definitely isn’t the game we were hoping for at the end of our last review. Sadly. So back to the beginning—two lights chase each other across the sky.

 Always Look Into the Light

Two lights glide across the sky—spirits of foxes. Suddenly, a third light appears (a star is born, but not on television?). The lands once belonged to the bear, raven, deer, and wolf tribes, but the shaman Grimnir waged war and destroyed everything. Only a fox and a raven remain to save the world. And of course, Grimnir is released at the start of the story.

The narrative rarely references the first game, so prior knowledge isn’t required. Traces of human civilization remain, but they vanished centuries ago. Your task is to reach the totems of the other tribes and purge Grimnir’s corruption from them.

As you progress, you’ll unlock new abilities—like double jumps or a temporary spirit form—if you discover runes and sacred artifacts. Your fox can carry only one item at a time, which leads to plenty of puzzles. Miss a step and you’ll be sent back to the previous checkpoint, Souls-style, losing your collected crystals in the process. There’s also a skill tree for upgrading health, spirit energy, or crystal capacity.

On PlayStation 5, the game’s frame rate drops significantly in Quality mode, so Performance mode is the better choice. Unfortunately, this exposes the game’s visual shortcomings. Few models are well animated, and much of the world feels lifeless. Overall, it resembles the original game with minor tweaks and severe lighting bugs. Area transitions sometimes plunge the screen into complete darkness.

Audio is underwhelming, and controls are hit or miss. For example, the double jump doesn’t always work as expected. The world may be expansive, but as mentioned, it’s largely empty. It takes around 7.5 hours to complete, and there’s little reason to replay it. This leaves the poor reviewer wondering how to even fill the second page—this game is so thoroughly unremarkable that it can only be described using superlatives of mediocrity.

 A Fox Impaled

The art direction isn’t bad and changes with each dungeon. Temples offer unique mechanics and powers, and the exploration loop is… tolerable. But Grimnir? A laughable villain. And the setup? Equally absurd.

The raccoons (yes, the vendors) are admittedly cute, and the Wisps let you access minidungeons. Puzzles are overly simple, and the raven sounds off. The skill tree also includes strange decisions—for instance, if you unlock gliding, the fall damage upgrade becomes pointless. Fewer, more thoughtful upgrades would’ve served the game better.

The platforming segments suffer from a small blue marker that shows your landing spot. This is sometimes helpful but often feels restrictive. The use of Unreal Engine 5 hasn’t done the game any favors either. As mentioned, performance is subpar—even after launch. This justifies a separate rating: 6/10 on PS5 and a slightly higher 6.5/10 on PC.

The developers might’ve had grand ambitions, but they fell short in nearly every area. Spirit of the North 2 feels like a game that aimed for the stars and crash-landed into a shallow pond.

Forgettable

Spirit of the North 2 scores a 6/10 (6.5/10 on PC) for being utterly unremarkable. It’s the type of title that will show up free on the Epic Games Store a few months from now. People will download it, play it for a weekend, and promptly forget it ever existed. If you enjoyed the first one, you might be mildly entertained—otherwise, there’s no point investing your time in it. Especially not one month after release.

-V-

Developer: Infuse Studio
Publisher: Silver Lining Interactive
Genre: Platformer
Release Date: May 8, 2025