Maquette

Really good story driven puzzle game, very sad too.

[b]Completion:[/b] Story completed once, 14/22 achievements [b]Overall Score:[/b] 8/10 [hr][/hr] [h1]A clever recursive puzzle journey that keeps finding new ideas[/h1] Recommended if you enjoy perspective-based puzzles that reward stopping, thinking, and experimenting. [hr][/hr] [h2]Context[/h2] Platform: PC Controls: controller Playtime at review: ~8.7 hours Mode played: single-player [hr][/hr] [h2]What This Game Is in 2-3 Sentences[/h2] Maquette is a narrative puzzle game built around a recursive world where changing the size or position of an object affects its counterparts across multiple scales. Its relationship story is familiar and somewhat predictable, but the strong voice acting presents it effectively, even though the narrative and the puzzle environments feel largely disconnected from each other. The core loop: explore each area, understand how its different scales interact, and manipulate objects until a seemingly impossible route becomes accessible. What makes it interesting/unique: the recursive environment is not merely visual decoration, but the foundation of puzzles that consistently find creative new uses for the same central idea. [hr][/hr] [h2]What Is Especially Good[/h2] 1) The puzzles are genuinely satisfying and occasionally demanding. Several required five to ten minutes of focused thinking, especially the key-resizing puzzle in [spoiler]The Spiral[/spoiler], yet the solutions generally remained logical rather than arbitrary. 2) The pacing works surprisingly well. Despite the speedrun targets suggesting the entire game can technically be completed in under an hour, an unhurried first playthrough remained enjoyable throughout its 8.7-hour runtime. [hr][/hr] [h2]What Is Problematic[/h2] 1) The controller automatically locks onto movable objects, which can unexpectedly rotate the camera while walking past them. It takes some adjustment, but rarely causes serious problems. 2) The story, environments, and puzzle mechanics do not feel meaningfully connected. Although the narrative is framed through a sketchbook, most areas consist of ordinary buildings surrounding the recursive dome, and the puzzles themselves have little relation to the events or emotions being described. [hr][/hr] [h2]Technical State[/h2] FPS / stability / loading: stable throughout the game Bugs: rare Note: In the final area, grabbing the movable dome with X repeatedly caused crashes. Using B instead completely avoided the issue once the correct interaction method was discovered. [hr][/hr] [h2]Price / Value / Monetization[/h2] Full price: worthwhile mainly if you also want to support the developers On sale: easy to recommend for puzzle fans Microtransactions / DLC: none [hr][/hr] [h2]Summary in 2 Sentences[/h2] Who I recommend it to: players who enjoy creative environmental puzzles, recursive spaces, and occasionally having to stop and think through a solution. Who I do not recommend it to: players looking for action, an especially long game, or a story that is deeply integrated into its environments and puzzle mechanics.

Fantastic game! Love it!

I regret pushing this game into my backlog instead of refunding it while I could. The game looks neat and the puzzles are promising. The story is generic "depressing_sob.txt" which I am used to bearing through in walking simulators. But I am convinced the devs have not played their own game. The camera updates are locked to some arbitrary low framerate so any movement feels like I am dragging my face on sandpaper. The devs acknowledged it in some discussion thread back in 2021 but never did anything about it. According to a different discussion there is a game crashing bug near the end of the game and I doubt it got dealt with either. So beware, I guess. Or just don't waste your time.