Infinite Inside

fun ;p

This one is worth a go. Quick 2-3 HR VR Puzzle game. Puzzles are basically 3D Jigsaw puzzles, similar to the Japanese Wooden Box Puzzles. They are engaging, building in difficulty, but not brain busting. The movement, graphics, colors, art design, and stability of the game were all very well done. Everything popped really nicely on the PSVR2 headset, and ran well on a 3090ti. This game does not have locomotion, opting for a teleport to node system, but it is done well, and does not bother me in this game as much as it does in most others. The environments are extremely crisp, artistic, and visually interesting architecture wise, trending towards M.C. Escher style environments. While I enjoyed the game greatly, and it kept me well engaged during the playtime, I wish there had been more interaction with the environment. Like, where a change in a puzzle also changed the environment, or progress/movement in the environment was tied to the puzzle, similar to games like The Witness, Fisherman's Tale, or Cocoon. While playing the game, I kept thinking to myself "this would fit right in as a Myst level/age". A reinvention, or more creativity/variety in the puzzles with each stage, instead of a slow escalation of the core premise/original puzzle would have taken this game from enjoyable to a total banger in my book. I encountered one bug, where I held a puzzle piece in my hand, and then activated a portal/switch and lost the piece to the ether. Jumping back to the office hub and coming back into the level, reset the puzzle and the piece position without me having to restart the game, which was really nice, and made it not a big deal at all (2 minute delay at most). Story elements are also pretty lean, there are periodic animations of a ghostly apparition/ or an echo of a former explorer of the world that you stumble upon. There is some environmental props/elements that indicate some semblance of a storyline for this character's time spent in the world, but without dialogue or diary entries/logs to read, the story is kind of left to the player's interpretation/imagination. The ending is kind of a head scratcher. I feel like the dev needed to go the Myst route, and sprinkle in some voice acting/dialogue lines, or some log entries, and build up some more solid lore for the player to grasp/anchor onto. I feel like folks forget that all the majority of the acting/voicelines in Myst/Riven were done by the developers themselves to keep the budget down. I always loved that, I wish more devs would take that risk, and not worry so much about the localization implications with translation. Anyway, I would recommend it as a nice, quick puzzle diversion. Like a quick Myst-like Happy Meal. Can definitely tell it was made with love, by a really talented team who really did a fantastic job on a smaller budget. Based on the art design/direction, and the technical competency of how well this one is made, I am excited to see what the team comes up with next. Their environmental design and art direction alone has definitely got interested in what they are putting together with the upcoming joint-venture developed Thief VR, as well as the Atlantis themed dlc announced for this title.