They’re not very difficult, but they are very repetitive, and it constantly feels like you’re doing the same things over and over again just to pad the relatively short length.
The biggest reason the game feels overlong, though, is probably the puzzles. Spirit of the North is a pretty linear game, so building such a vast wilderness to explore seems kind of like overkill, particularly since there are places where it’s very easy to wander for awhile without realizing you’re on the completely wrong track. But also again, it feels like there’s far more of it than there needs to be for such a simple story. Again, they’re certainly not bad: the game does an excellent job of creating a mostly barren wasteland, with only sparse grass and some trees populating the world above the treeline (save for a chapter near the end that takes place in a massive forest, which may or may not be some kind of afterlife). That’s hardly a lengthy experience, but it still feels like the game’s length could have been cut by an hour or more, and nothing would have been lost. While that’s certainly enough to go on, it’s also not enough to sustain the game for nearly four hours. Take the story, for example: it’s a wordless tale about a fox wandering through the frozen wilderness to find its lost love (or so I gathered). The biggest problem with Spirit of the North is that there’s far more of it than it needs to be. I will say, however, that it feels like they could have used a very good editor (or whatever the gaming equivalent of that would be). Now, I’m not going to say Infuse Studio weren’t the right hands for their game - after all, they put all those good pieces in place. It’s got a heartfelt story, striking visuals, and some decent puzzle-platforming - all essential building blocks for a fantastic experience. I feel like Spirit of the North could have been a great game in the right hands.