Maquette is a better story than it is a game. It's better as an art piece, a movie or a book, than it is as a gaming media.
The story is solid, writing is compelling enough while still vague enough that anyone who is going through or has experienced a tough breakup can insert themselves into the narrative. It's cute and touching. A story of two people who clearly loved each other but couldn't make it work. It's a tearjerker. It's emotional and the game makes you wear the weight of the tale.
But. The game has a lot of sore spots. I'll address what's good first. The recursive puzzle design is very cool and about as well done as I've seen in any game that utilizes similar mechanics. Drifting through from the maquette into the 'real world' and back is a lot of fun. And takes a little work to figure out very well. The process of changing the size of available objects by moving them in and out of the maquette is also super cool.
For the most part the controls are easy and simple enough and fit the game world fine. The game itself is gorgeous and the soundtrack is insanely good. High quality stuff. A prettier and better sounding game is hard to find. The game is ethereal and atmospheric, lilting and ominous depending on the level.
But the game has plenty of warts. The controls are not always so pleasant. Getting things to work right when placing object can be a pain and then some. Getting them to lay right or tilt the right way when being hemmed in by the limited camera angles is painful. The inability to make small adjustments to placed objects makes simple solutions to minor mistakes take wholesale reworking of a puzzle you've nearly completed. Aligning the pillars along the doorway in the game's second to last level is an arduously infuriating task if you don't get it right the first time.
Some of the puzzles are quite simple. Others are very difficult. Only sometimes does the game manage to strike a nice balance that challenges and rewards for the challenge. Since the game gives zero hints or assistance, or map markings or anything the harder puzzles can leave you completely stumped. But the easier ones are hardly puzzles at all. The most enjoyable levels would be The Gateways and The Wedge which come back to back in the middle of the game's story. But The Wedge is ruined by another major flaw of the game.
The game is kind of a buggy mess. You can easily get stuck in map geometry or jank your way into rooms you're not supposed to be in yet. Forcing restarts and reloads. Maquette is not equipped for you to attempt puzzles in any way other than the exact order and way it is designed to be played by devs. This is fine with an actual real life puzzle or sudoku, but less enjoyable in a video game. I found a way to hop into the chapel at one point during the game and very nearly got stuck there. Soft-locking myself out of being able to complete that level. Fortunately I hopped back out and was able to continue.
During The Wedge there are several instances where the game becomes easily breakable. Falling behind the woodstacks along the cabin and getting trapped. Falling behind the radiator and getting trapped. Soft-locking the stairs in the wrong size and jammed the wrong way in the maquette. The level is a very cool level but the way the solution to one of the puzzles is designed (jumping onto a somewhat obscure ledge of the final cabin) makes it very easy for you to unintentionally get stuck somewhere that requires a reload.
Some of the other puzzles in the game feel difficult by virtue of the game's design. Not by virtue of the puzzle's intrinsic difficulty. The second to last level has an absolute debacle with this key. The game never even provides remote hints as to what the hell you're meant to be doing and it introduces a brand new mechanic 85% of the way into the story. The puzzle's solution felt less like a clever 'a-ha!' moment and more like a "force the player to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to solve this until they find out the solution by sheer luck." Between that kind of design and the fact that the game itself has too much jank in the controls and inconsistencies in player navigation and map geometry, it was very easy to get frustrated. I also hated the design choice of the very final puzzle. Finding the sketchbook. It derailed momentum that the story was achieving up to that moment. The payoff for that was very minimal.
Maquette is a touching experience. A warm and soulful narrative about love and loss. It is a tearjerker and a heartwarmer. I really enjoyed the game's narrative, the graphic design and the soundtrack. Those three components are not only top notch but veritably great. All time kinda stuff for this touching puzzle genre of games. But the mechanics could be so god awful at times that I was really taken out of being able to immersively enjoy the story. Monument Valley puzzle design, solutions and gameplay combined with Maquette's story, graphical fidelity and music could be an all-timer. Unfortunately Maquette just gets the 'game' part of a video game too wrong to be as great as its potential.
The story is solid, writing is compelling enough while still vague enough that anyone who is going through or has experienced a tough breakup can insert themselves into the narrative. It's cute and touching. A story of two people who clearly loved each other but couldn't make it work. It's a tearjerker. It's emotional and the game makes you wear the weight of the tale.
But. The game has a lot of sore spots. I'll address what's good first. The recursive puzzle design is very cool and about as well done as I've seen in any game that utilizes similar mechanics. Drifting through from the maquette into the 'real world' and back is a lot of fun. And takes a little work to figure out very well. The process of changing the size of available objects by moving them in and out of the maquette is also super cool.
For the most part the controls are easy and simple enough and fit the game world fine. The game itself is gorgeous and the soundtrack is insanely good. High quality stuff. A prettier and better sounding game is hard to find. The game is ethereal and atmospheric, lilting and ominous depending on the level.
But the game has plenty of warts. The controls are not always so pleasant. Getting things to work right when placing object can be a pain and then some. Getting them to lay right or tilt the right way when being hemmed in by the limited camera angles is painful. The inability to make small adjustments to placed objects makes simple solutions to minor mistakes take wholesale reworking of a puzzle you've nearly completed. Aligning the pillars along the doorway in the game's second to last level is an arduously infuriating task if you don't get it right the first time.
Some of the puzzles are quite simple. Others are very difficult. Only sometimes does the game manage to strike a nice balance that challenges and rewards for the challenge. Since the game gives zero hints or assistance, or map markings or anything the harder puzzles can leave you completely stumped. But the easier ones are hardly puzzles at all. The most enjoyable levels would be The Gateways and The Wedge which come back to back in the middle of the game's story. But The Wedge is ruined by another major flaw of the game.
The game is kind of a buggy mess. You can easily get stuck in map geometry or jank your way into rooms you're not supposed to be in yet. Forcing restarts and reloads. Maquette is not equipped for you to attempt puzzles in any way other than the exact order and way it is designed to be played by devs. This is fine with an actual real life puzzle or sudoku, but less enjoyable in a video game. I found a way to hop into the chapel at one point during the game and very nearly got stuck there. Soft-locking myself out of being able to complete that level. Fortunately I hopped back out and was able to continue.
During The Wedge there are several instances where the game becomes easily breakable. Falling behind the woodstacks along the cabin and getting trapped. Falling behind the radiator and getting trapped. Soft-locking the stairs in the wrong size and jammed the wrong way in the maquette. The level is a very cool level but the way the solution to one of the puzzles is designed (jumping onto a somewhat obscure ledge of the final cabin) makes it very easy for you to unintentionally get stuck somewhere that requires a reload.
Some of the other puzzles in the game feel difficult by virtue of the game's design. Not by virtue of the puzzle's intrinsic difficulty. The second to last level has an absolute debacle with this key. The game never even provides remote hints as to what the hell you're meant to be doing and it introduces a brand new mechanic 85% of the way into the story. The puzzle's solution felt less like a clever 'a-ha!' moment and more like a "force the player to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to solve this until they find out the solution by sheer luck." Between that kind of design and the fact that the game itself has too much jank in the controls and inconsistencies in player navigation and map geometry, it was very easy to get frustrated. I also hated the design choice of the very final puzzle. Finding the sketchbook. It derailed momentum that the story was achieving up to that moment. The payoff for that was very minimal.
Maquette is a touching experience. A warm and soulful narrative about love and loss. It is a tearjerker and a heartwarmer. I really enjoyed the game's narrative, the graphic design and the soundtrack. Those three components are not only top notch but veritably great. All time kinda stuff for this touching puzzle genre of games. But the mechanics could be so god awful at times that I was really taken out of being able to immersively enjoy the story. Monument Valley puzzle design, solutions and gameplay combined with Maquette's story, graphical fidelity and music could be an all-timer. Unfortunately Maquette just gets the 'game' part of a video game too wrong to be as great as its potential.
This is a game of recursion. There’s a mini map of the whole world to interact with that affects the larger world. The music is cool but the story and puzzles didn’t personally click with me so dnf
Maquette is a game I want to love. This genre of artsy, story driven puzzles games are some of my favorites, and this certainty checks those genre defining boxes. However, this game simply walks through everything, never really running to greatness. The puzzles become too annoying and unclear, and while some can also be simplistic I did not see any issues in such; my complaints are based entirely on the annoyance and difficulty curve factors. The as well is story is not amazing, but quint and sweet for what it is, and the graphics are quite pretty. Leaving really, nothing but the puzzles to bring the game down in my opinion.
My apologies for half of month of delay from my last few... well lets just say, mediocre reviews. The Fallout show has simply taken all my time and redistributed it into Fallout 4.
My apologies for half of month of delay from my last few... well lets just say, mediocre reviews. The Fallout show has simply taken all my time and redistributed it into Fallout 4.
Cool conceit for a puzzle game, and when it clicks it clicks really well… but only a few levels in, I already encountered what I’m pretty sure is a game-killing bug where a key I need to finish the level disappeared, and I don’t really feel like restarting the level, especially as the various manipulations of color-coded gems were already starting to overstay their welcome. Lots of potential, there’s a chance I’ll come back to it, but it just doesn’t feel as polished or tightly designed as it should.
É um jogo sensível, possui uma história bonitinha e puzzles bem elaborados. Honestamente, achei que o jogo solta demais o jogador, algumas vezes faltando mostrar um direcionamento do caminho a ser seguido.
Mesmo assim, acho que vale a pena.
Mesmo assim, acho que vale a pena.
I'm pretty sure that scientific studies have shown that this is the most mid game ever made. Not the worst, but the most mid. It is an incredibly mid game.
Some of the most frustrating puzzle design in any game I’ve ever played- always drops you in the deep end before showing you how to swim. Story is a horribly, horribly bland break up plot- if you’ve seen romance fall apart in any story before, you’ve already seen what this one has to offer. It’s really too bad though, this game does have some unique visuals and intriguing ideas at play- not to mention a stellar soundtrack. All of that cannot help the game overcome the slog it is to play through, though.