Review for Moss. Game for Oculus Rift (VR), PC, Steam VR, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR, the video game was released on 27/02/2018 The version for PC came out on 07/06/2018
Probably how many they bought Playstation VR they kept an eye on Moss (which we had the opportunity to try last year) since the announcement, with the hope that it will prove to be one of those titles able to repay the trust given to a technology that is all in all and young and that still has a lot to prove. Already after a few minutes of play it is clear how this wait has been rewarded with a product full of love and attention to detail, capable of kidnapping soft-hearted players and intriguing even the most hardened and disillusioned, transporting them back in time, into a past made up of fairy tales told by warm and profound voices, a past perhaps never really lived by many but certainly well rooted in common imaginary.
And it is precisely in the role of the Reader, a presence who plays the fourth wall, that we will help the mouse Quill to face a journey lined with all the most classic elements of fairy tales, a story that is resolved quite briefly, without presenting anything new but mixing characters and situations well to let oneself be “read” to the end with a certain taste.
The core of the experience, however, are the foundations it lays within the platform on which it is published. In itself, in fact, the gameplay of the title Polyarc can be summarized in a series of rooms of increasing difficulty, full of puzzles and enemies that we will have to overcome by simultaneously controlling the sweet Quill and the Reader (or our avatar inside). Through the joystick we will face simple fights and platform sections in the role of the little mouse; meanwhile we will be able to visually explore the 3D environment and interact with it using the VR viewer, looking for solutions to the proposed puzzles or collectibles scattered around the areas. We will then literally find ourselves inside the splendid settings, full of small and large details, imbued with a truly rare care and love, while maintaining an external observer's point of view typical of the canonical videogame experience.
And it is here that our imagination began to travel, going beyond the experience offered by the title and evaluating the possible future applications of the idea.
Imagine a future (far from remote) in which fairy tales will no longer be told, but lived, a future in which through virtual reality a narrator can literally transport the user of the story into the story, leaving the hypothetical son or grandson in control of the protagonist, helping him during the adventure or, why not, hindering him. Already through the gameplay offered by Moss it would be possible with some compromise to carry out similar experiments, but inevitably the thought flies at the moment in which titles, perhaps built on this idea, will offer such possibilities, sanctioning the definitive passage to a different type of experience. Sure, some might argue that the book's appeal is irreplaceable, and basically we'd agree, but one doesn't rule out the other.
However, there are some aspects that need to be discussed, characteristics that can greatly undermine the usability of the title. Assuming that Moss does not present itself as a title suitable for those looking for action, adrenaline, difficulty and complexity of the gameplay, the Polyarc title is also very short and lacking a worthy replay value. For some this may not be a big deal, but a title like Moss perhaps had the potential to offer something more complex than the usually short experiences that VR titles represent.
Another sore point concerns the localization: the whole story will be lived in English and the narration in this does not help, presenting dialogues and situations that tend to run out quickly, requiring the viewer to have a certain knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon language, under penalty of difficult understanding not only of the nuances, but of the meaning of events. Problem that becomes even more serious when a title like this seems to be sewn around a very young audience, which could really treasure the adventures of little Quill.
Moss is a small pearl that can be proud of knowing how to project itself into the future, as well as being an excellent video game able to tell a story and characters with a certain taste and tons of love and care for their work. A job that more than others is affected by the lack of localization in Spanish due to the target audience, and whose duration will make you want to have more, perhaps leaving you with a bad taste in your mouth. However, we would like to highly recommend it to all Playstation VR owners: if it was a glimpse into the future you wanted when you bought the peripheral, Moss is one of these fleeting glances.
► Moss is an Adventure-Puzzle type game developed and published by Polyarc for Oculus Rift (VR), PC, Steam VR, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR, the video game was released on 27/02/2018 The version for PC came out on 07/06/2018
