The emotions are felt to the core and I would die for Chesley. The bestest boy travels the Scottish isles with his human companion, Cailey, as he helps her recover from the loss in her past and finally says farewell to the north. What a masterpiece of story driven art and a must play for anyone looking for a game that really moves you and swells the feelings in your soul.
Where to start… Farewell North throws you into the fray with Cailey trying to overcome loss and grief. Together she and Chesley, her loyal working Border Collie (who the player plays the game as) travel through the Scottish Isles, remembering both good and bad memories to help Cailey reconnect with her birth land and help recover from the emotion of grief inside her, something she’s put off for a long time. The game has a wonderful way of writing the story from both the perspective of Cailey and from Chesley.
So oh boy, what do I write about without getting into the story? ‘Cause this is a hard one, I want to say everything about the story, but I really do suggest you play for yourself to experience it the way the developer intended. So let’s talk about CHESLEY and what all we got to do as him! I was really surprised to have the herding aspect of the Border Collie brought into the game as a gameplay mechanic. There were many opportunities to wrangle up ducks, coos, and highland sheep for the people of the Skerry’s. Not only that, they brought in the actual lingo of it and taught the player how to respond to the herd with the shepherd’s calls. Not only that but you got to play fetch with Cailey on several of the Skerry’s as well! You’re also there to help bring her out of her dark times, and restore color and good memories to the isles. I particularly loved the small interaction the dev included to have Cailey pet Chesley if you barked at her. There are several small interactions like this that just really brought the game to a peak and plenty of small easter eggs to find.
I finished the game completely in about eight and a half hours for my stream viewers (I was slightly held up by a lot of bonking and hydrating in stream). So what all is there to do? Plenty! The game has a great system that makes it easy to see the main story driven isles versus the skerry’s that are bonus and side content, as well as once the main story is finished which one still had content that needed finishing. We of course chose to do all the side missions before proceeding with the story, gotta save the best for last. Aside from the missions, there are benches to rest at (and check off a completion list), Song notes from Cailey’s mother’s old song, as she remembers it, Lighthouses to restore, and Will o’ wisps to collect. All of this collected and finished compliments the story and really gives the player the depth of the character connections. Also if you don’t play the bonus game within Farewell North, did you really play the game at all? Aside from the previously mentioned herding aspect, there is quite a bit of wildlife that needs saving, whether it be a whale, some ducks, or a fox, Chesley is there to save all of them. Sometimes it takes some remembering of how the Skerry used to look, to get to a certain area and sometimes it’s just a matter of finding the lost coos that got loose in a ruckus! Either way Chesley is on the case and with the help of Cailey everyone can get back home safely!
I’ve kept this review fairly short to keep it spoiler free, but seriously, go check the story out. Kyle Banks, the developer, did an amazing job with this gem and I’m not crying, my eyes are just leaking from the hydrate redemptions on stream. I know Cailey and Chesley’s story will have me snuggling my pups closer and really make me appreciate their companionship and what all they do for us.
--FINAL VERDICT--
