Viewfinder Review – One Perfect Shot

Some of the best designed puzzle games are the easiest to understand at a glance. Portal, despite all the evil laboratories and conundrums within it, is easy to break down and explain to new players, and its depth grows as you use its mechanics in increasingly complex ways. It becomes clear. “Baba is You” is similarly simple, but can get very confusing once you really start experimenting with how far you can extend word-based combinations. The viewfinder fits perfectly in their company. It’s a short but addicting puzzle game with a unique and engaging core mechanic that allows you to explore a variety of challenging puzzles until you’re satisfied, each one reaching a solution. It left a smile on my face when I did.

The viewfinder’s core concept allows you to take a static 2D image and project it into the 3D space of the world around you. For example, a Polaroid photograph of an unremarkable staircase, when projected into the world, is used to build a new path to a higher platform, clearing space for itself and what might have been there before. destroy all The more you play, the more you realize the different facets of how you can use this power to manipulate the quiet, joyful and colorful environments around you. For example, a photo of a plain wall might only show what was captured in two dimensions, but when applied to the world the effect is much greater, allowing entire rooms and important objects to be visible from behind it. You may be thrown out. Likewise, where you place the projection is equally important. This is because a large forward-thinking structure can unintentionally shear the environment, making it more difficult to achieve your goals.

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The viewfinder starts slowly by providing only predefined pictures found around the stage, making it easy to get the ideas you need for later assignments. However, until this feature really unlocks by giving you your own camera to capture stills from any angle in the stage and use it to come up with your own solutions. It doesn’t take long. This moment feels empowering and liberating. It’s like being forced to solve puzzles with just one portal type, and finally being able to activate both types of portals. It’s also just the right time, when the complexity of the puzzle is starting to wear off giving you the precise tools you need to solve it. Without the safety net of giving you the pieces you need for a solution and challenging yourself to find them, Viewfinder lets you create your own solutions that are as simple as the way you decompose the problem, or completely unique. can.

The objective of each stage is to reach the teleporter at its end, but some obstacles have been thrown in to make it less simple. Sometimes the teleporter needs to be powered by multiple batteries at only one level, and you have to figure out not only how to move the batteries to the right place, but also how to summon duplicates without running out of film. You are asked to understand. Also, the teleporter is powered by a network of wires and can easily get disconnected if you’re reckless about where you’re projecting your photos. These networks can be powered by acoustics or pressure plates, and may also hold a charge on their batteries to give them time to reach teleporters before shutting down. Each of these pieces appears simplistic at first, but they quickly combine to make you think about how individual solutions can compose grander and more complex solutions. Often new revelations are needed about the nature of the core mechanism and how it works. another way.

The concept of capturing a moment is extended in a fascinating way, requiring us to think not only of the physical attributes we are capturing in each photo, but also of what state that photo is in. Batteries taken at full charge will stay that way. It will be reused around the world, creating opportunities to reach things that may be powering it without having to physically walk far. Viewfinder uses this as the central theme for a series of puzzles, but builds upon it shortly thereafter, incorporating what it just learned into more complex puzzles while imposing entirely new themes on subsequent puzzles. introduce. It keeps the sense of discovery strong and makes you feel like you’ve conquered impossible problem after impossible problem after each victory, especially considering how complicated the puzzles get by the end. The way Viewfinder can continue to do this consistently is revelatory, but it comes from a relatively short length of only about four hours to complete. There are only a handful of optional (and really challenging) stages to tackle and collectibles to find, but the viewfinder can be easily completed sitting down at once, and may be best experienced that way as well. not.

The series of puzzles is always engrossing to solve, but the story that holds it all together is less so. Most of Viewfinder is done in simulation, and seems to have been stumbled upon by two young researchers of his who were looking for a device to save the current climate crisis. Created by some genius engineers as a way to keep working beyond time constraints, this simulation evokes the introspective idea of ​​the pursuit of perfection given the space.

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Your journey through this simulation is guided by Cait, an artificial intelligence in the shape of an adorable cat. Kate is the only other character you interact with, aside from the occasional disembodied voice you hear from your handler in the real world. However, this is not a problem considering how supportive and encouraging he is as you quickly progress through each puzzle. But as the end draws to a close, Kate’s growing grief and hope that she won’t be abandoned again discourages her from reaching the end. This highlights how strong an impression he left in such a short time and makes the final goodbye a moving moment.

As you venture from one base to the next, you’ll begin to understand more about the people who built this place, and why their quest to save the planet was in vain. , misses most of this context. If you don’t have time to read through the many sticky notes and item descriptions on each level, the narrative of Viewfinder nevertheless lacks the impact it seeks and what the final outcome is. It has become something that is not accompanied by the feelings of. Aside from Kate, no other character has left a memorable impression. It’s a shame because the world they built was so interesting and I got to play in it.

The narrative is unsatisfying, but the bulk of the viewfinder is spent solving various unique puzzles, and you never get bogged down here. I’m consistently fascinated by the different ways Viewfinder expands on its core idea, providing a very satisfying loop of deciphering conundrums and building solutions that differ from my playthrough. gave me Considering how Viewfinder rapidly gives you the tools to create your own solutions and challenges you to further your understanding of its world, how smooth the whole experience is and never once does it leave you feeling bored or frustrated. I’m pleasantly surprised that there isn’t. Viewfinder finds elegance in simplicity, but doesn’t trade it for simple solutions, making him one of the best puzzler games you can play right now.