Fun puzzle game with unique mechanic around a recursive world, where if you affect a small model of the world it affects the world you're in and then the bigger world outside of you too. Doesn't go crazy in depth with this mechanic but keeps it short and sweet and explores lots of different simple puzzles that can come from it.
Bittersweet breakup story as it's narrative that is well written and makes you feel for characters but ultimately although both the narrative and gameplay are good, they are relatively seperate and don't reinforce each other.
Controls can be a bit clunky on occasion. Good soundtrack. Pretty visuals.
Bittersweet breakup story as it's narrative that is well written and makes you feel for characters but ultimately although both the narrative and gameplay are good, they are relatively seperate and don't reinforce each other.
Controls can be a bit clunky on occasion. Good soundtrack. Pretty visuals.
Apesar de eu não ser muito fã de jogos de puzzle, a historia de Maquette é muito envolvente e logo no início eu já estava querendo saber o que ia acontecer com os personagens. O áudio do jogo é incrível e te prende muito no enredo da historia. Os puzzles em geral são longos e complexos(na minha opinião), o que pode incomodar alguns jogadores, mas fora isso é um jogo muito bom e emocionante. Vale a pena.👍
This is probably the worst Annapurna published game I've played, but that's notable because Maquette still sets a pretty high bar.
The writing and voice acting is superb, if predictable. The visual metaphors are superb, and the story structure too sort of mimics the idea of a recursive environment.
Unfortunately, the gameplay aspect itself, the act of puzzling out the puzzles, often doesn't connect to the themes and metaphors of the rest of the game. The puzzles all have one simple step to solve, and although I sometimes found it tricky to figure out, I often found them either too easy or too hard. The walking speed is far too fast for a game about looking at environments, and worst of all, the central mechanic of moving and placing objects is far from as polished as a game's central mechanic ought to be
However, I can forgive it of all these flaws, because the simple act of walking through these spaces, reading the accompanying words, and experiencing the cutscenes is enough for the experience to be impactful, memorable, and beautiful.
The writing and voice acting is superb, if predictable. The visual metaphors are superb, and the story structure too sort of mimics the idea of a recursive environment.
Unfortunately, the gameplay aspect itself, the act of puzzling out the puzzles, often doesn't connect to the themes and metaphors of the rest of the game. The puzzles all have one simple step to solve, and although I sometimes found it tricky to figure out, I often found them either too easy or too hard. The walking speed is far too fast for a game about looking at environments, and worst of all, the central mechanic of moving and placing objects is far from as polished as a game's central mechanic ought to be
However, I can forgive it of all these flaws, because the simple act of walking through these spaces, reading the accompanying words, and experiencing the cutscenes is enough for the experience to be impactful, memorable, and beautiful.
remember, never let a mechanically interesting video game get in the way of a bland unlove story.
Promises an interesting puzzle-solving experience and a heartfelt love story, while falling just a bit short on delivering either.
An interesting little puzzle game that tells a story about a failed relationship, but I didn't keep playing because I wasn't in the mood to be sad.
Seems to be a very interesting puzzle game but this suffers a similar fate to many of the type, I just cannot stay in these games. I'm sure it is a fantastic game, from what I've played it really does have a great style, but it was just not for me.
i have never felt more punished than when i reset a puzzle and had to listen to these people argue again
An Annapurna-published title? A walking simulator crossed with a first-person puzzler? A really interesting central game mechanic? This should be a home run, but instead this game feels half-finished and one of the few, if only, disappointing games in the Annapurna stable.
Maquette is a good example of the pitfalls of coming up with a cool game mechanic first, gameplay and narrative second.
The big positive, the aforementioned core gameplay mechanic of recursion and playing with size and scale is really cool. It reminded me initially of the mechanic in Superliminal, except a lot deeper.
Sadly this game is a hot mess. Firstly, puzzles are either way too easy or extremely obtuse, there is no range here. The game does a horrible job of explaining the extent of your 'powers', and I had to look up about 3 or 4 solutions to puzzles - the solutions all being something I'd never have tried because I didn't know it was an option.
Secondly, the narrative here is clumsy and gets in the way. I've played many games that do a good job of telling the story of a relationship, this one feels irritating. It's very much a play-by-numbers 'honeymoon period, then suddenly everything is the worst' story. I've been in these relationships IRL Maquette, I don't need a reminder of what it feels like. Apart from failing to tell a new story or anything insightful, the game also fails to marry the story and the game properly. The story just gets in the way, and the gameplay doesn't seem to match the story in any sort of meaningful or profound analogy. I must say that the voice-acting here is superb, I just wish it was a more interesting story than [every breakup ever].
Finally, the game itself just feels poorly made, like the devs came up with a handful of cool visuals and puzzles and struggled to join it all together. Every puzzle is solved by moving objects in 3D space, and this ALWAYS feels horrible to do, it is so clumsy and not at all fun. Also levels are just badly designed - at the end of one level I had no idea how to progress, tried to puzzle my way out of it, and it turned out I just had to pull a lever... that was hidden around a corner somewhere. Just maddening.
I wish the devs had focused on the puzzles here, the needless story left both halves of the game feeling unfinished. They should have looked at Superliminal. Also a game with a cool core mechanic, but one that didn't let a story get in the way.
Really disappointing.
Maquette is a good example of the pitfalls of coming up with a cool game mechanic first, gameplay and narrative second.
The big positive, the aforementioned core gameplay mechanic of recursion and playing with size and scale is really cool. It reminded me initially of the mechanic in Superliminal, except a lot deeper.
Sadly this game is a hot mess. Firstly, puzzles are either way too easy or extremely obtuse, there is no range here. The game does a horrible job of explaining the extent of your 'powers', and I had to look up about 3 or 4 solutions to puzzles - the solutions all being something I'd never have tried because I didn't know it was an option.
Secondly, the narrative here is clumsy and gets in the way. I've played many games that do a good job of telling the story of a relationship, this one feels irritating. It's very much a play-by-numbers 'honeymoon period, then suddenly everything is the worst' story. I've been in these relationships IRL Maquette, I don't need a reminder of what it feels like. Apart from failing to tell a new story or anything insightful, the game also fails to marry the story and the game properly. The story just gets in the way, and the gameplay doesn't seem to match the story in any sort of meaningful or profound analogy. I must say that the voice-acting here is superb, I just wish it was a more interesting story than [every breakup ever].
Finally, the game itself just feels poorly made, like the devs came up with a handful of cool visuals and puzzles and struggled to join it all together. Every puzzle is solved by moving objects in 3D space, and this ALWAYS feels horrible to do, it is so clumsy and not at all fun. Also levels are just badly designed - at the end of one level I had no idea how to progress, tried to puzzle my way out of it, and it turned out I just had to pull a lever... that was hidden around a corner somewhere. Just maddening.
I wish the devs had focused on the puzzles here, the needless story left both halves of the game feeling unfinished. They should have looked at Superliminal. Also a game with a cool core mechanic, but one that didn't let a story get in the way.
Really disappointing.
This review contains spoilers
Look, I love romance stories but Maquette's attempt at one made me want to throw up. The best part of the game was when they started arguing.
It's a neat puzzle game outside of too much backtracking, but kinda forgettable. And some bugs and performance issues held it back further.
Maquette is a first-person puzzle game that takes place within a recursive world, where the same layout is repeated on different scales. The player must navigate this world, using the scaling effect to solve puzzles and progress through the game. This is an interesting mechanics which genuinely perplexed me at times and never overstayed their welcome.
In my opinion, this game would best be experienced in one afternoon sitting which should take between 3-5 hours depending on your puzzle skills. The gameplay is enhanced by impactful storytelling through the main character's relationship with his partner and is told through the game's audio and its gorgeous environments.
The playlist in this game while short delivers wonderfully and once you load up the first level with San Franciscan Nights by Gábor Szabó & The California Dreamers playing in the background you don't want to progress but just hang out in the world for a while.
My gripe would be that outside the puzzles there is not much interactivity with the world or any areas which test the mind. That being said if you're looking to shut off and get immersed in a game for an afternoon then this is a great option.
In my opinion, this game would best be experienced in one afternoon sitting which should take between 3-5 hours depending on your puzzle skills. The gameplay is enhanced by impactful storytelling through the main character's relationship with his partner and is told through the game's audio and its gorgeous environments.
The playlist in this game while short delivers wonderfully and once you load up the first level with San Franciscan Nights by Gábor Szabó & The California Dreamers playing in the background you don't want to progress but just hang out in the world for a while.
My gripe would be that outside the puzzles there is not much interactivity with the world or any areas which test the mind. That being said if you're looking to shut off and get immersed in a game for an afternoon then this is a great option.
it was fine. i wasn’t familiar with the gimmick before i started playing so that was cool and it’s mostly pretty good besides a few rough moments. story was very meh, but it wasn’t as bad as i was expecting to that’s a plus. wouldn’t recommend this game to anyone, but i don’t regret playing it.
beautifully made, great puzzles, emotional story
Them trophies is glitched man
An interesting puzzle with some good ideas that unfortunately falls a little short of being great.
The game narrates a very interesting, personal story about love and heartbreak, but the gameplay is unable to match the intimacy of the story and you are left fighting some nasty bugs, and some quite frustrating puzzles.
The game narrates a very interesting, personal story about love and heartbreak, but the gameplay is unable to match the intimacy of the story and you are left fighting some nasty bugs, and some quite frustrating puzzles.
Boring/annoying characters/narrative
Boring and annoying storytelling
Boring puzzles
Extremely easy to softlock the game, leading to believe it was barely tested.
Music feels like the developer wanted to add their favorite playlist to the game, and some piano for filler.
Disappointing relative to the initial reveal trailer, and I am extremely glad I didn't pay for this, so thank you Sony. If you want a fun version of a similar concept, play Superliminal.
Boring and annoying storytelling
Boring puzzles
Extremely easy to softlock the game, leading to believe it was barely tested.
Music feels like the developer wanted to add their favorite playlist to the game, and some piano for filler.
Disappointing relative to the initial reveal trailer, and I am extremely glad I didn't pay for this, so thank you Sony. If you want a fun version of a similar concept, play Superliminal.
I seem to be the minority but I really loved this game. The art style is beautiful and the puzzles are unique. The story isn't anything innovative but it was decent enough. Overall this is a short but pleasant game to go through. Worth playing especially if you got it for free with PS Plus.
Great core ideas that stand at odds with what have now become cliche indie-game-narrative tropes.
Not my kind of thing
This game is beautiful in alot of ways. The story resonated with me in a way that I wasn't anticipating and made me genuinely emotional. I love the animated vignettes, the voice acting is phenomenal, and the ending left me heartbroken and sad. The puzzles in this game are also pretty top notch, with a really cool mechanic that encourages you to think recursively. There are some pretty clever puzzles but running around some of the bigger spaces can be tedious at times. Unfortunately what bugs me is the fact that this games best aspects are almost entirely disconnected. There are some moments where you can bridge the gap but otherwise it's just a pretty puzzle game with a story happening in the background. I love the separate parts of this game, but as a whole it left me feeling underwhelmed.
The concept is great and interesting. I've had a lot of fun playing... but still it's somewhat lacking. It never really goes beyond and uses gameplay to it's full extent... a missed potential, really. And a story is oookk... kinda nothing new when it comes to indie games.
Interesting mechanic lost behind a love story the game did not need or deserve.
Enjoyable puzzles, but wasn't enough to keep me wantng to see what happens next in the story.
Maquette punktet mit der innovativen Rätselformel und einer gleichzeitig spannend-emotionalen Story. Die Rätsel fordern einen teilweise echt gut, sind teilweise aber auch durch Rumtricksen zu umgehen. Technisch nicht komplett einwandfrei, aber für Zwischendurch ein nettes Rätselspiel.
That was fun. Got it free with ps plus, worth the 3 hours or so I spent on it.
Eh, overall, I found the experience bad, which is crazy to say with a game that has such a good premise.
First, I already have beef with the fact that the PS5 version wasn't even that beautiful, or 60FPS, which already begs the reason it should exist, but I digress.
Anyways, the game really puzzles you in one way, the fact that you switch between a smaller map of the map you're playing, and the actual map you are trying to circumnavigate. I appreciated this for the first two levels, but by the third, I already was wondering if I had seen everything the game had wanted me to see. The answer? I had, and really had no intention of seeing the game through thanks to the medicore story.
The story of this game is worst kind of indie story. One that isn't really direct enough to capture you, but just bland enough to illicit emotion in some people. It basically just paints vignettes of a relationship ending, and trying to refind love in it. Which, just feels more sappy and some sort of game someone who cries at Hallmark movies would like. Maybe my mom would be a Maquette stan for all I know.
Not great, and probably would have hated it more if I paid for it. Thanks, Playstation Plus!
First, I already have beef with the fact that the PS5 version wasn't even that beautiful, or 60FPS, which already begs the reason it should exist, but I digress.
Anyways, the game really puzzles you in one way, the fact that you switch between a smaller map of the map you're playing, and the actual map you are trying to circumnavigate. I appreciated this for the first two levels, but by the third, I already was wondering if I had seen everything the game had wanted me to see. The answer? I had, and really had no intention of seeing the game through thanks to the medicore story.
The story of this game is worst kind of indie story. One that isn't really direct enough to capture you, but just bland enough to illicit emotion in some people. It basically just paints vignettes of a relationship ending, and trying to refind love in it. Which, just feels more sappy and some sort of game someone who cries at Hallmark movies would like. Maybe my mom would be a Maquette stan for all I know.
Not great, and probably would have hated it more if I paid for it. Thanks, Playstation Plus!
Interesting puzzle game that plays with scale in cool ways with an unfortunate romantic story throughout that I ended up just skipping through every time it came up
7,2/10
A very interesting concept, but a little "crooked" controls, good visuals, but a lot of weak unnecessary story about parting with pretty music, also too long unnecessary ending
A very interesting concept, but a little "crooked" controls, good visuals, but a lot of weak unnecessary story about parting with pretty music, also too long unnecessary ending
the main mechanic of this game is actually pretty good but theres just a lot holding it back
the controls are super wonky, for some reason they decided to have super strict collision rules which wouldve been fine except when whatever you're carrying hits or gets stuck on something your camera becomes locked onto the object until it's free, which is really annoying because that means the only way to unstuck something is to either put it down (which you cant always do) or do the exact inverse of the camera movements you did to put the object there in the first place
this happens pretty often and can get VERY annoying
also annoying is this series of puzzles i think in the second to last chapter of the game
idk why they just decided to put 3 terrible janky puzzles in a row right there and it was awful
anyways the one other thing about the game is the story, which i mean
the story itself is fine if a little too biographical, you can kind of ignore it and it'd have no effect on the gameplay
except that the game stops you to tell you more story every 10 minutes it feels like
i constantly felt like i was being stopped in the middle of something so i could hear some random conversation
i think you can click to skip though so ultimately it probably wasnt that big of a problem
all in all its a pretty mediocre game with a good concept but unwieldly implementation and a pretty unnecessary but inoffensive story
two days later edit:
there was some stuff that i was gonna mention here but forgot to do when i first wrote the review so im gonna mention it now
jumping feels super wrong in this game
it's way too short of a jump and you lose a lot of forward momentum well before you expect to lose it
i almost want to say they should've just designed the game without jumping
i almost entirely forgot about the weird use of random pop/rock (idrk my music genres, it's like kind of hippie? nu-wave? something else that ends in wave?) music in the game
im not entirely sure what they were going for but it feels kind of pretentious nonetheless (not to say that it actively detracted from the game)
the controls are super wonky, for some reason they decided to have super strict collision rules which wouldve been fine except when whatever you're carrying hits or gets stuck on something your camera becomes locked onto the object until it's free, which is really annoying because that means the only way to unstuck something is to either put it down (which you cant always do) or do the exact inverse of the camera movements you did to put the object there in the first place
this happens pretty often and can get VERY annoying
also annoying is this series of puzzles i think in the second to last chapter of the game
idk why they just decided to put 3 terrible janky puzzles in a row right there and it was awful
anyways the one other thing about the game is the story, which i mean
the story itself is fine if a little too biographical, you can kind of ignore it and it'd have no effect on the gameplay
except that the game stops you to tell you more story every 10 minutes it feels like
i constantly felt like i was being stopped in the middle of something so i could hear some random conversation
i think you can click to skip though so ultimately it probably wasnt that big of a problem
all in all its a pretty mediocre game with a good concept but unwieldly implementation and a pretty unnecessary but inoffensive story
two days later edit:
there was some stuff that i was gonna mention here but forgot to do when i first wrote the review so im gonna mention it now
jumping feels super wrong in this game
it's way too short of a jump and you lose a lot of forward momentum well before you expect to lose it
i almost want to say they should've just designed the game without jumping
i almost entirely forgot about the weird use of random pop/rock (idrk my music genres, it's like kind of hippie? nu-wave? something else that ends in wave?) music in the game
im not entirely sure what they were going for but it feels kind of pretentious nonetheless (not to say that it actively detracted from the game)