Farewell North is a sweet-natured look at companionship and loss through the eyes of a very good boy.
By Steve Watts (Twitter) on August 13, 2024 at 11:21AM PDT
As the name implies, Farewell North is a game about saying goodbye–to a place, to people, and to the lifestyle that those things represent. Though the narrative adventure is short, it packs a lot of characterization and resonance into that time, with only occasional stumbling blocks to blunt the impact of the experience.
You play as Chesley, or Ches for short: a sweet-natured border collie who had once worked as a sheepdog on a farm in the Scottish highlands. Your human companion, a young woman named Cailey, ventured off her family farm and into the city but was summoned back when her rural mother became ill. Cailey helped with the farm for a while, relying on Ches’ herding skills, and then when her mother passed away, they moved back to the city together, where Ches became a homebound pet rather than a working dog. This game captures what seems to be Cailey’s first time coming back to the area since then.
On one level, this is a game about loss, and how it manifests in different ways. Cailey lost her mother, and as you explore the Scottish highlands with her, you get bittersweet reflections about her farm life and how it felt to slowly lose her mother to a terminal illness. Though it’s less pointed, you also get the sense that Ches lost her home when she became a city dog, so this return to the highlands is a reunion of sorts.
That sense of coming back home is what makes a lot of the moment-to-moment gameplay feel light and joyful, even when it’s touching on very serious subject matter. Ches is obviously thrilled to be back in the wild with the freedom to explore wide open fields, herd sheep, and generally commune with nature. Likewise, Cailey is reflecting on both moments of sadness and joy with her mother, the land, and Ches.
The core of the experience is solving a series of environmental puzzles, though these are as light and airy as the environment itself. The puzzles aren’t especially mentally taxing, which usually gives the whole affair a relaxing feel that lets you focus squarely on the narrative.
I say usually, though, because while it does have a calm, relaxed feel when everything is working properly, I did occasionally run into a situation where it wasn’t entirely clear what to do. Often puzzles come down to crossing under a downed tree or other similar piece of nature that will change the environment in some subtle way, and if you happen to miss one of these, you’re liable to be very confused about the path forward. At one point I was stuck for quite a while, and when I finally did discover the way, I wasn’t entirely sure what I had been doing wrong before. I just stumbled my way into it, blissfully unaware.
This is partially attributed to the visual design, where a mostly muted gray palette shifts to vibrant colors during specific gameplay elements—such as the area surrounding a flock of sheep, highlighted with colors that help distinguish it from the background. This effectively conveys the main theme: Ches’ interactions with Cailey reinvigorate their world with color and happiness. However, it occasionally renders the environment difficult to interpret.
The game shines brightest when it pauses its puzzles to focus on immersive natural landscapes, like a scene where the soundtrack swells while Ches dashes through a revitalized colorful meadow. The game also uniquely abstracts the environment at pivotal moments to reflect a dog’s perception, such as traffic lights appearing as an impenetrable barrier or a crowd of faceless individuals who seem threatening but are actually Cailey’s friends and community aiding in a search.
Farewell North combines everyday life with surreal aspects seen through Ches’ eyes, culminating in a profound reflection on the reciprocal emotional support roles between pets and their humans. Despite some navigation issues, it offers a deeply touching experience that resonates long after playing, and might even inspire more affectionate moments with your own pets.
