When comparing FEZ vs Goat Simulator, the Slant community recommends FEZ for most people. In the question“What are the best casual games on Steam?” FEZ is ranked 15th while Goat Simulator is ranked 33rd. The most important reason people chose FEZ is:
The core mechanic of FEZ is the ability to spin the world around in 3D, and then traverse and interact with the resulting terrain in 2D. This allows you to experience navigation puzzles that are rarely found in any other game.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Clever 2D rotation game mechanic
The core mechanic of FEZ is the ability to spin the world around in 3D, and then traverse and interact with the resulting terrain in 2D. This allows you to experience navigation puzzles that are rarely found in any other game.
Pro Brilliant puzzles
Fez has some deviously hard puzzles and mysteries that will require gathering clues from around the world to solve them.
Pro Mysterious world with lots of depth
FEZ goes beyond just being a great puzzle platformer. It also has a very clever storyline and game world with a mysterious bygone civilization that fits perfectly with the mysterious puzzles of the game.
Pro Charming graphics and world
The characters are interesting and expressive and the world they inhabit varies between vibrant forests and villages, foreboding caves, rainy cityscapes, and more.
Pro Great atmospheric soundtrack
Soft synth sounds mixed with chiptunes makes for an enjoyable soundtrack that evokes a feeling of nostalgia while creating a fitting atmosphere that complements the graphics.
Pro 4 player local coop
Pro Physics-based sandbox design allows for a ton of mayhem
Goat Simulator is a basic sandbox game where the point is to just cause as much destruction as possible. The actual physics of this sandbox are actually designed to be buggy, which can lead to plenty of ridiculous outcomes.
Pro Stumbling across the many easter eggs adds a nice level of "happy accidents"
With the smattering of easter eggs hidden around the open world, it can be quite fun to try out different methods of finding them.
Pro Multi os support (Linux/Mac/Windows)
Pro Wacky freestyle parkour movement makes for a satisfying way to traverse the game
It's extremely satisfying to land that triple back-flip combo when running around the open environments of the game.
Pro Intuitive controls makes for an easy game to pick up
It does not take long to figure out the basic controls of the game. This way just about anyone can pick it up in no time, allowing themselves to enjoy the gameplay over worrying about learning difficult controls.
Cons
Con Minimal direction
The lack of clear direction + the mysteries of the foreign writing alphabet and numeric systems may overwhelm players who got in expecting a simple & cute platformer game about a white dude with a red hat (a traditional Ottoman hat, which is called a "fez").
Con Pen and paper absolutely required for full completion
There is a lot of backtracking and so, you need to keep a pen and paper near you to take notes, because you might need something very important later on. For some people this might be a fun killer.
Con Not metroidvania
Nothing in the form of powerups,. this is a puzzle game - not a metroidvania.
Con Very limited depth
The core gameplay loop of "jump until stuck, then rotate" is boring and repetitive within the first hour. Aside from this perspective-shifting mechanic, the game does not have much to offer.
Con Limited button mapping support on keyboard
FEZ has a couple of preset control schemes to choose from, but the buttons can't have functions assigned individually.
Con Phil Fish made it
Phil Fish has had a long rap sheet of being incredibly arrogant and toxic in his behavior, purchasing this game is an implicit endorsement of this kind of behavior.
Con Guess-and-check instead of intuitive puzzles
Unlike other great puzzle games like Portal or Braid, many of the levels in Fez are unpredictable. You can't just look at the map and predict exactly what to do. You have to guess and check, and not all of the results are intuitive. While guess-and-check puzzles works well for games like The Witness, it's really tedious in a game like Fez.
Con Loads of backtracking
The world is an intertwined maze that rely on specific portals to travel between. Since the entire game revolves around locating cubes -- a minimum of 32 cubes are required to reach the game's ending (64 cubes and "anti-cubes" exist in total). A considerable amount of backtracking is needed to locate the needed cubes; which are intentionally difficult to find and acquire.
Con Slow gameplay
Navigation isn't quick, and each missed jump can make ascending an area feel like a laborious chore.
Con Frequent crashes on PC
PC version of the game has stability issues. Luckily, FEZ autosaves often so no much progress is lost when the game crashes.
Con Becomes boring without buying DLCs
After exploring all there is to see in the game, it can become quite dull to the point that you will probably not play it that much anymore. There are DLCs available to extend the gameplay, though they do cost extra money.
Con You quickly run out of things to do
There is not much to do once you explore the game for a minute or two. It is mostly an open sandbox, but it can get repetitive due to how little there is for you to do.
Con Quirkiness of the game is definitely not for all audiences
Some people will take one look at this game and wonder "what's wrong with kids these days". It certainly isn't for everybody thanks to the quirky and pointless gameplay and purposefully horrible graphics