![]() (Slight spoilers for early puzzle) One puzzle simply required you to pick up a gem and place it against another one to magically remove a door blocking the path. However this doesn't help when one of the solutions to a puzzle is something you have never done before and wouldn't know unless you just tried everything. ![]() This became a problem later when trying to do a puzzle, as I was hesitant to try something for fear of having to restart when it turned out it was the correct method! The game does try to help by blocking off areas as necessary to stop you trying to find solutions in areas that are incorrect, which is appreciated. ![]() Additionally there were times that I became stuck due to placing objects in an area that I couldn't retrieve them again. As mentioned you can end up being very small in a giant world and this doesn't create a nice environment for experimentation as just moving from one point to another can take an unbareably long time. You can potentially waste hours trying something that will never work. The biggest issue, comes from the lack of direction. Maquette isn't a particularly long game at only 4-5 hours long, but can feel shorter given that a lot of the time is spent thinking about a potential solution to problems, rather than necessarily doing something in game, which can often be quite a lot of the time given the problem with some of the puzzles. This is tolerable when it's your falling in a game, but not when it's isn't your fault. The generous auto save meant this wasn't too much of an issue, however if you're unlucky you can end up pretty far back. Unfortunately there were a few glitches l experienced whilst playing, such as falling through the world, and getting stuck on certain objects. This creates a nicely complete looking world. Visually this is a fairly average looking game, however I did notice some Ray Tracing on the PS5 that was subtle enough to not go full "mirror surface" on everything but managed to alleviate the screen space reflection artifacts found when a foreground object occludes a distant reflection. Whilst the background noise is mostly quiet whilst playing, with small ambient effects there are also punches of music that play during key set milestones. (voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard and her actual partner Seth Gabel, which was a nice touch and created a hightened realism). It's a clever concept and this is backed by an endering story of a couple's relationship. The challenge is that you and any objects you carry, remain the same size and each "ring impacts the others, allowing you to carry an object to the model to create a bridge for the larger world you were just in. Going to the outside ring displays a model bigger than the previous and so forth. ![]() Moving into an inside ring displays a smaller model of the previous ring that you were just in. The world is infinitely big with the only restriction being the size of yourself This is best seen in video however to explain the design of the world it's best to imagine a circle cut into rings that you can move freely around. As it stands now? I’ve played worse, but considering it’s an indie title, which needs heart above all else? That this feels so corporate & soullessly clean is beyond the pale.Ĥh PlayedThis is a puzzle game with a unique premise, that immediately hooked me. If the puzzles weren’t completely let down by *every single other element*, would be able to handwave away more. But the puzzles themselves are fairly satisfying, where the finicky controls allow anyways. Except for that first needle drop - almost thought I was listening to a Mamas and Papas song for a minute, but that’s no Mama Cass - and the puzzles, the game is simply incapable of producing a single authentic moment. Once your puzzle fails to solve thanks to the stairs hovering too far above the ground for the 10th time, you’’ll curse how poorly everything fits together. But even that simple element is spoiled to no small degree by how imprecise and sloppy everything is. Sure, the puzzles are fine? But everything outside of the puzzles is so half-assed. Outside of maybe two levels, the one after the big fight where you must look *through* the gem to identify the way forward & the level following, I don’t think there’s much to enjoy. The characters are absolute nothings, without a single unique personality or character trait to them, the game is a bit janky in terms of collision, the art direction doesn’t actually have much personality (noncommittally charming is how I’d describe it, or: vague!). 4h 32m PlayedI won’t say this game is terrible.
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