From the developers of A Fisherman’s Tale comes a game that’s less mind bending, but just as charming in Maskmaker.
Maskmaker
Developer: InnerspaceVR
Price: $19.99
Platform: PC/PS4
MonsterVine was supplied with a PC code for review
Maskmaker’s premise is simple: you play in VR as a burgeoning apprentice to a mask maker, discover the masks you create can transport you to another world, and begin working for a king (who’s totally on the up and up) to heal the land and ultimately become the new mask maker yourself. It’s a story that’s not particularly grand, but it’s held up entirely by the superb narration of the king who guides you along your journey.
As you explore the game’s many worlds, you’ll come across wooden automatons who sport increasingly fancier masks. You can take a snapshot of these masks to craft yourself, and herein lies the game’s main hook: each time you craft an automaton’s mask, you’re able to possess their body and swap to them whenever you please. It’s not a new concept, as swapping bodies to solve puzzles is something that’s been in countless puzzle games before, but the art of having to put together the necessary mask in VR adds an interesting bit of ownership to the whole affair.
To actually put together the masks, you have to actually find the various parts out in the game’s levels which isn’t hard since they’re usually somewhere on the beaten path. You’ll start by taking a hammer and chisel to a block of wood in an oddly satisfying, if repetitious method as you chip away to find the mask underneath. Afterwards, once you have the base mask component, you’ll begin adding simple trinkets like jewelry or floral branches to masks, and then progress to adding wood expansions to the mask and eventually deeper painting mechanics. Putting together these masks in first-person is a genuinely satisfying experience, as I was eager each time I got to go back to the workshop to put together my next mask; I just wish some of the more complex elements Maskmaker introduced in its back half (like painting individual sections of a mask) came into play much sooner and lead to more intricate masks than there currently are. Honestly, at the end of the day I could have really done with more actual mask making. It’s incredibly gratifying as you swivel your mask around your workbench, checking the blueprint for the correct trinket and intricately painting the appropriate pattern, before marveling at the finished product.
What’s perhaps the game’s most impressive feature is how quickly you move around the game world. To return back to your workshop, you simply have to reach to your face and remove the mask, and place it back on your face when you want to reenter the fantasy world. The same applies when you want to hop between automatons in the game world itself. There’s practically no load time when rapidly swapping between locations, which would have greatly hampered the experience if it were the opposite.
My main gripe with Maskmaker is that there aren’t many puzzles, most kept to the back half of the game while the first half simply has you exploring the area, and the few that are there just aren’t very engaging. One has you tossing coal into a cart to transport to a body who will then put said coal into a furnace, and then you need to move over to the body by the fan to fan the flames. It’s not a difficult task, mostly just tiring as you rapidly wave your arms to operate the fan. Another simply has you rapidly swapping between bodies as you rush to fungal growths to spray with an antidote before they can recover. Again, not a great closing puzzle to a level. As a puzzle game, Maskmaker is an absolute failure as the puzzles are just minor roadblocks to deal with so you can get to more of the narrator speaking.
The Final Word
There’s a simplicity to Maskmaker, but a simplicity that works for a fun 2-3 hour romp.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
