Farewell North - The Game That Teaches One to Say Goodbye
Farewell North, the first game by Kyle Banks, isn’t just a game – it’s a complete experience. A journey about confronting and accepting grief, as well as all the emotions that come with it. What drew me to the game initially was the border collie dog on the art. In June ‘23, two days before I joined the Player 2 crew, my border collie cross named Sid passed away. He was sick and had Lymphoma, so it wasn’t unexpected, but it hit me incredibly hard. As if knowing I needed to play this game, Mooneye Studios sent me a key and I’m very glad they did.
Players will mostly take control of Chesley, the border collie, as he and his owner Cailey, wander about the Scottish isles. It’s the first time either of them has been back since Cailey’s mother, and Chesley’s original owner Shona, had passed away. As the game is about grief, which often leaves the world feeling colourless for those suffering from it, the surroundings are greyscale. He needs to help Cailey progress, as emotional obstacles are represented as physical barriers, requiring Chesley to connect the puzzle pieces and clear the way. Items that are colourful, or glowing, will help solve the puzzles. These puzzles include things like using a flower to unlock gates, using arches to travel back in time, herding animals to bring life back to the surrounds and lighting up the dark. There are only three buttons to control Chesley aside from the thumbstick. – jump, action and bark. Bark also is the pick-up button in certain situations, keeping the controls simple.
Each isle will have its major goal, and no two goals are the same. Sometimes the aim is as simple as “get to the other side of the isle”, other times, it’s about revisiting specific memories or helping the local wildlife. Once the main objective has been completed, the entire isle regains its colour, in a way that oft reminded me of Okami. While each isle could easily be considered its own stage, there are things that can be discovered on every isle. Even though the game’s focus is the narrative, it’s not necessarily a linear experience. Some of the isles can be visited in any order, others can be skipped completely, but each one encourages exploring the vicinity and taking in everything the Scottish highland has to offer.
So how exactly does the player get from isle to isle? Cailey has a canoe that she will row while Chesley often sits or sleeps during the travels. While the player is in control of Chesley most of the time, there are instances where the player will control Cailey, such as the canoe. Paddling the canoe can either be done the hard way where players will need to time pressing the left and right triggers to paddle correctly and using the shoulder buttons to steer sharply, or the easy way by just using the direction stick. The easy way is, well easy, but a lot less fun. I found paddling the canoe to be a fun experience, even if I was so bad at steering it that the game kept hinting I could use simplified controls. I enjoyed getting some speed up and watching the world turn from greyscale to colour when I would get a rhythm going. I was usually fine until i needed to turn…which was often.
Another fun thing to do was to herd animals to safety or use them to melt the snow and bring colour back to the world. These were simple mechanics, but it didn’t matter because they were delightful. It was the same with the puzzles. Even when I was stuck, I sometimes would grab a flower and run around with it just for the heck of it. The game encourages this by having a variety of collectables that are dotted all over the Isles. There are campfires, often significant spots to Cailey and Chesley, and visiting them will lead Cailey to reminisce about the past. There are seats that Chesley and Cailey can sit on, which are at scenic spots, perfect for screenshots. Cailey is trying to remember a song that Shona used to sing to them, and only by collecting music notes will she recall the verses. The last collectable is restoring the lighthouses that are on the isles, protecting the ships in the area. These are not just collectables because they’re all significant to Cailey and Chesley and help reinforce the experience that we, the players, are just getting a glimpse into their lives.
On one Isle the objective is to recount the time Chesley became lost in the city and how scared he was. Each person is a stranger trying to get him. It reminded me of my dog Sid and how he was the complete opposite. The cheeky bugger used to escape and wander the neighbourhood for a few hours. Once I would realise he was missing, I’d grab the bike and go looking for him, calling for him. But Sid didn’t want to come home, so he would hide until he was sure I’d stopped looking, which was usually an hour at a time. Then he’d saunter home on his own time, ready for a long drink and sleep.
Unfortunately, as amazing as Farewell North is, it isn’t without its problems. While movement is generally great, sometimes Chesley would become stuck on geometry, only becoming unstuck by jumping to his death. Sometimes, the jump mechanic didn’t work the way I expected it to, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough to derive from the joy, or the experience, of the game.
Farewell North is an impactful game whose story not only made me cry but made me realise that I’ll always hold the moments I had with Sid close to my heart. Everyone experiences grief at some point, but i did not think a game would help me come to terms with it and the emotions it causes. Kyle Banks has done an amazing job bringing the story to life and creating a character you empathize with. I’ve never cried over a game before, but I don’t regret playing it at all. Just like I don’t regret having a dog. Maybe I’ll go back to check out the isles I missed on my first playthrough. It just won’t be for a while. Oh, and six months after Sid’s passing, another dog needed a home and so I have a dog again. A lab named Ivy.
Player 2 reviewed Farewell North using a code kindly provided by the publisher.
