Fez finally comes to iOS

Fez, the mind-bending platformer from Polytron, is now available on iOS.

Polytron launched Fez as an Xbox Live Arcade title on Xbox 360 in April 2012. The Canadian indie studio later released the game on Linux, Mac and Windows PC, as well as PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. Barcelona-based BlitWorks, which handled the PlayStation ports, also brought Fez to iOS.

It’s been a long time coming. Fez creator Phil Fish said back in March 2013 that the game “should be out on pretty much everything” eventually, and that an iOS port was “highly probable.” Then, this past April, the company posted a teaser trailer for an iOS version, saying it would be released in 2017.

Polytron representatives told Polygon that active development on the iOS port only began at BlitWorks in April, when the teaser was published. They said the eight-month timeline was required for “porting and optimizing for as many devices as possible.”

BlitWorks/Polytron

The iOS version, which is known as Fez Pocket Edition, requires iOS 8.0 and is not supported on devices older than an iPhone 5s or iPad Air. It appears that Fez was designed to run at a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio — iPads, which have a 4:3 aspect ratio, display the game in a letterboxed presentation, according to screenshots of the iPad version attached to the iTunes listing.

On the controls side, Polytron confirmed that Fez Pocket Edition is played with “virtual controller buttons,” saying that gesture controls for Gomez’s movement didn’t work as well as that solution. The studio noted that screen rotation is controlled with swipes, “which we hope feels pretty awesome.”

Fez Pocket Edition is available for $4.99 on the iTunes Store. Asked about an Android version, a spokesperson for Polytron told Polygon, “We aren’t planning a FEZ Pocket Edition Android release at this time.”

For more on Fez, read our original review, in which we said it “doesn't just love the games it borrows from — it understands them. It knows what it is and what it wants to be, and doesn’t compromise on it.”