Guide Quill through PSVR’s best diorama adventure to date.
Moss
Developer: Polyarc
Publisher: Polyarc
Price: $29.99
Consoles: PSVR (Reviewed)
MonsterVine was provided with a PSVR code for review purposes
As has been the case with pretty much every video game platform, titles for said device usually start to shine while in its second year of life as developers start to understand and take advantage of the hardware in a more mature state.
Moss is an example of the rule as it’s a mature virtual reality game that could’ve only existed a couple years into PSVR’s life.
It’s not a loud virtual reality game in the sense that it throws all matter of gimmicks at you from the start — or at any point for that matter. It doesn’t even require you to use superfluous peripherals like the PlayStation Move or Aim controller to fully immerse yourself in its world.
About the only “gimmick” it uses is the way depth is presented as it completely transports you into Moss‘s underground landscape. You inhabit Quill’s world via diorama with depth as far as the eye can see and every once in a while you can peek down in a nearby source of water to see your reflection, that of the “reader,” to give you a sense of being in the world. Think Journey‘s Traveler and you wouldn’t be that far off to what you look like in-game.
Of course, you’re not just an innocuous bystander…you actually matter. As the player you control the “Reader” starting off reading “Moss” in a brightly lit library and as you progress the lights start going down ’til you reach the climax of Book I. As you control Quill with the DualShock 4, you’ll help her solve puzzles, high five accomplishments, and pull her back up to perfect health when she goes down.
Polyarc chose just the right format to present what would otherwise be a quaint — simple even — adventure game and amplified it to 11 by bringing us in to one of the most mature and engrossing virtual reality games to date. And it does this by bringing you in close to its world in what could be the most elaborate diorama you’ve ever seen. Compact settings like Quill’s house or going down halls dripping with history from her ancestors feels intimate and claustrophobic in an exhilarating way.
Moss is a pleasant adventure — in the vein of The Tale of Despereaux, as one friend put it — where you travel to defeat the evil Sarffog, a slithering, serpent beast you see up close in terrific detail. Saving Quill’s uncle will require you to traverse through forests and mires fending off beetles and weaponized critters until you reach her captured relative.
It’s great to, in a sense, passively play through a PSVR game that doesn’t require you to stand or flail around to get the most out of being in a virtual reality space. Something akin to watching “Avatar” in 3D — and Quill’s adventure is the perfect conduit to experience a relatively tranquil experience with the heightened sense of inhabiting a rarely-seen miniature world.
About the only negative is that Moss is not a long game. There’s no leveling up or upgrading abilities past its hack-and-slash initial offerings. You’d be lucky to squeeze more than five hours out of it, and a little on the pricey side at $30, but the sheer joy of playing a game in VR comfort using the DualShock 4 without any motion control gimmicks and the like is more than welcome.
It might end as soon as it starts getting good, but journeying through Quill’s seemingly complex underworld — with an overwhelming sense of scale and detail — and making your way to Sarfogg’s epic finale is a trip worth taking. You’ll be champing at the bit to dive into the follow-up on day one.
Final Word
Moss is a mature PSVR title that strives to bring you into a miniaturized world and largely succeeds. It takes what would otherwise be a quaint storybook adventure and turns it into a fully-enveloping story full of depth, wonder, and intimacy that shows off what is possible as we head into PSVR’s third year of availability. Moss Book II can’t come soon enough.
MonsterVine Review Score: 4.5 out of 5 – Great
