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‘Firmament’ Review – Complex Puzzles & Visual Richness Lacking a Native VR Touch
Firmament was created in the spirit of Myst, the studio’s genre-defining puzzle adventure which maroons you in a strange realm with some very imposing architecture, all of which houses a smorgasbord of some patently challenging puzzles. In this respect, Firmament is kind of an old dog with a few new tricks, as it brings modern beauty and narrative finesse, although the game’s VR implementation sadly feels like a bit of an afterthought.
Firmament Details:
Available On: SteamVR, PSVR 2 (coming later)
Release Date: May 11th, 2023
Price: $40
Developer: Cyan Worlds
Reviewed On: Quest 2 via Link
Gameplay
Firmament: from Latin firmamentum—that which strengthens or supports. In an ancient cosmological sense, the word was also used to refer to the sky, or the vault of the heavens fixed above Earth. You’ll have plenty of time to ponder meaning that as you teleport between the four realms via the game’s conveniently located conveyance pods, which automagically shuttle you Dr. Who-style atop wind-swept mountains and steampunk botanical gardens just waiting to be explored (and fixed).
Firmament dishes out real moments of awe between serving up maddeningly complex puzzles—basically a Cyan Worlds game through and through. The game’s gigantic machines will leave you scratching your head as you run back and forth just to make sure the figurative pilot light is on. While you have some narrative-based voice recordings and found notes to go by, you’re basically on your own when it comes to puzzling, meaning you won’t be babied by a ‘helpful robot’ who feeds answers into your ear. You’ll need to pay close attention to everything, and really get a grip of all the pieces in play before you can make sense of things. Beating your head against puzzles rarely works, so you’ll be greeted by some very familiar frustration if you’ve played any of Cyan’s most recent games, like Obduction or Myst VR.
Anyway, here are some useful hints: Watch out for every ladder. Watch out for every socket. Keep your head on a swivel and mess with everything a little just to see if it moves, but not so much that you scramble puzzles beyond their intended solvability.
Interacting with the world is done by way of activating a swath of standardized sockets, which pair to your hand-held ‘adjunct’ tool—kind of like a remote-controlled sonic screwdriver that lets you tether and interact with machines. Some sockets only have a single function, like opening and closing a door, while others have multiple functions that you’ll need to flip through. More on that in the Immersion section below.
There is a lot of running back and forth, which feels more like a chore in VR than on traditional monitors. That frustration is compounded by moments when I wasn’t sure whether the game was borked, making me wonder whether it was me who screwed up or the game. It seems Firmament came well prepared for this eventuality at least, as you can safely reset back to a central location, which typically also resets puzzles too. While complex and mostly logical, a minority of puzzle solutions can be downright obtuse. I was provided with a solutions guide, which included hints as well as solutions, and I’m not ashamed to say I needed a few of those hints to complete the game, which I did in about nine hours.
In the end the juice is generally worth the squeeze with Firmament, as you’re whisked off to new, even more impressive areas of the game. While the ending left me feeling a little perplexed, the overall level of world-building is extremely high. I only wish I could be more present in the game and given more agency than casting my tether to manipulate glorified on-off buttons.
Immersion
Firmament is a sumptuous and potentially beautiful game that I wish I could be more present in. My aging GTX 1080 was able to play along decently on medium graphics settings in most areas, which is more than I can say for Obduction. Still, some of the inherent beauty of the game is marred by jagged edges and a muddiness in some areas that feel like it’s really pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. My GPU, which is probably the minimum spec for VR at this point, was much happier sipping along on all low settings, so make sure to curb your expectations if you’re running an older or less powerful setups like mine.
I touched on some of the frustration of puzzle solving above, or rather, when solving puzzles goes wrong, but there’s another frustration that has more to do with level design, and not whether things are actually working properly. While slick and in line with ‘AAA’ games in terms of graphics, level design is still very much rooted in the studio’s point-and-click past, which means you’ll have less physical agency than you’d probably think is rational given the expectation of working hands and feet.
In VR, I’m used to being able to not only do what I can in physical reality, like climbing and jumping, but even more. Some of the game’s level design feels like a step backwards in terms of what should be logically possible, like scrambling over a simple banister railing, or sidestepping a box to get to another area. I know that’s part and parcel of the studio’s puzzle style, but if I’m not offered some explanation beyond “no, you just can’t because of reasons,” it negatively impacts my perception of the inherent solidity of the world around me.
And while the world is so rich with possibility, the only meaningful way to interact with it is by using your adjunct tool to manipulate sockets, save a single other tool you’re given that disperses ice and other crusty bits in your way. This raises the question whether Firmament is making good use of VR beyond giving you a more immersive view of the game. Sadly, it doesn’t. It feels more like a flatscreen game with an optional VR mode that hasn’t really informed many of the game’s puzzles or much of its level design. While the amount of backtracking from place to place isn’t such an issue on traditional monitors, it feels way more like a chore in VR.
And yet, all of the frustrations of Firmament never seemed to completely overwhelm me. The game’s score is excellent, complementing both its strong voice acting and mostly well-reasoned narrative. I only wish it were just a little more sympathetic to the modern VR gamer, and a little less of an optional mode that basically works, but not as well as you’d hope.
Comfort
The game’s a bit at odds with standard VR movement schemes. While teleport and smooth movement are options, the game default movement scheme puts turning on one stick, and forward movement on another—something I’m not generally used to. Besides a few cart ride-style vehicles, the game is ultimately comfortable enough for most players.
‘Firmament’ Comfort Settings – May 18th, 2023 |
|
Turning |
|
| Artificial turning | |
| Snap-turn |  |
| Quick-turn |  |
| Smooth-turn | |
Movement |
|
| Artificial movement | |
| Teleport-move | |
| Dash-move | |
| Smooth-move | |
| Blinders | |
| Head-based | |
| Controller-based | |
| Swappable movement hand | |
Posture |
|
| Standing mode | |
| Seated mode | |
| Artificial crouch | |
| Real crouch | |
Accessibility |
|
| Subtitles | |
| Languages | English, Italian, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish (Latin America) |
| Dialogue audio | |
| Languages | English |
| Adjustable difficulty | |
| Two hands required | |
| Real crouch required | |
| Hearing required | |
| Adjustable player height | |
BAFTA-Nominated Adventure Puzzle ‘Call of the Sea’ Releases on Quest 2 Today
Call of the Sea (2020) always looked like a good candidate for VR support, and it seems the developers Out of The Blue Games thought so too, as the Madrid-based indie studio today released the BAFTA-nominated adventure puzzle on Quest 2.
Redesigned for VR, Call of the Sea is all about solving the mass of first-person puzzles which fill the mysterious island, set in the South Pacific circa 1934.
As a story-driven adventure, you’ll explore the lost ruins of the island and uncover its mysteries as you chase your missing husband who was on a mission to find a cure for a strange disease that afflicts you.
The game’s object-oriented puzzling feels like a good fit for VR, as users are tasked with browsing forgotten journals, solving musical puzzles, and manipulating Lovecraftian mechanisms which litter the island.
There’s also a good helping of narrative twists and turns to contend with, as Call of the Sea typically takes players between five to six hours to complete.
We haven’t gone hands-on with the VR adaptation yet, however the original flatscreen version has garnered very positive user reviews from across Steam and Epic Games Store. It also received a BAFTA nomination in 2021 for Best Debut Game and a Raindance Immersive nomination in 2022 for Best Immersive Game.
You can download Call of the Sea VR on the Quest Store starting today, priced at $20. The game isn’t live yet at the time of this writing, as it’s set to unlock in the next few hours.
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Unbinary: Handgemaltes Rätsel erscheint heute für Quest
Mit Unbinary wird heute ein handgemaltes Rätsel für die Meta Quest erscheinen. Auf Steam wird das Spiel zudem heute den Early Access verlassen.
Unbinary: Handgemaltes Rätsel erscheint heute für Quest
Unbinary ist ein VR-Rätsel-Abenteuerspiel, das komplett handgemalt ist. Im Spiel trefft ihr auf “Webby”, eine KI, die aus den Daten menschlicher Verhaltensweisen besteht und den Planeten Erde regieren will.
Unbinary wird von Ludact entwickelt, einem 2005 gegründeten brasilianischen Veteranen-Spielestudio mit Sitz in São Paulo. Ludact konzentriert sich auf wirkungsvolle XR-Spiele und hat bis 2017 hauptsächlich für Kampagnen und soziale Organisationen gearbeitet.
Die Spielidee stammt aus dem Jahr 2015, wurde aber erst 2018 finanziert, was es dem Studio ermöglichte, sich mehr auf seine eigene IP zu konzentrieren und das zu konsolidieren, was es als “kritische Unterhaltung” bezeichnet: vollwertige, unabhängige Spiele, die die Spieler ansprechen und ihre Visionen von der Welt herausfordern, während sie bedeutungsvolle Emotionen und Reflexionen fördern.
Ob der Plan aufgegangen ist, könnt ihr schon bald überprüfen, denn Unbinary wird heute für die Meta Quest 2 erscheinen. Hier findet ihr die entsprechenden Seite im Store von Meta. Unseren Langzeittest zur Meta Quest 2 findet ihr hier.
Für den PC ist Unbinary bereits erhältlich und soll heute den Early Access verlassen. Hier findet ihr das Spiel auf Steam.
Der Beitrag Unbinary: Handgemaltes Rätsel erscheint heute für Quest zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!
Puzzling Places Adds Mars Desert Research Station Paid DLC This Week
Puzzling Places is getting its first DLC with a paid pack including four puzzles to piece together from the Mars Desert Research Station located in Utah.
The MDRS facility is operated by the Mars Society in support of researchers looking to work in an area that’s one of the closest analogs to Mars on Earth. Based on fairly recent 3D scans of the location, the MDRS pack features four puzzles including the MDRS Exterior which gives an overview of the facility, its five primary modules and the surrounding landscape. When that puzzle is completed you’ll be able to see where the others in the pack — the Musk Observatory, The Ram, The Hab — are located relative to one another within the facility.
Developers realities.io brought Puzzling Places on a long journey to the Oculus store for Quest starting as a prototype on SideQuest. We rated the game “great” with its debut on Quest with its satisfying combo of interesting audio and stunning 3D puzzles, and it carries a 5-star rating on the Oculus Store. PlayStation VR owners should be able to play it as well soon, but for now Puzzling Places is available to buy on Oculus Quest and starting on Oct. 21 the new MDRS pack will be available as a paid DLC pack inside the game for $4.99.
Check out the trailer below:
If you’d like to hear more about Puzzling Places’ unusual path to release, we sat down with a couple of the developers recently to learn more about its development. You can check out that interview in the video below.
Preview: Skybinder – Tranquil Dotty Origami
Dot to dot puzzles were always one of those classic activities growing up as a child, the folks handing over a book filled with numbers to join up and see what images would appear. While the pastime might not be as popular in the digital age, indie team Maku XR saw an opportunity to make a minimalist puzzle experience that kept to the timeless gameplay but with a modern virtual reality (VR) twist.
Currently available via Oculus Quest App Lab – with a Steam version on the way – Skybinder is a really chilled out puzzler where the goal is to connect lines between various dots; creating origami-style animals in the process. All you have to do is grab one dot and draw a line to whichever dot you think is appropriate, the trick with Skybinder is to think in triangles.
Every single model is a collection of triangles that you have to build up but just because you can make one connection between three locations doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where it goes. Each dot has a counter indicating how many lines connect to it, giving a handy hint as to each models construction.
Because of this Skybinder’s gameplay is instantly intuitive from the start as you can create and delete lines very quickly and easily. The second mechanic to aid puzzle solvers is that when you do make a correct triangle it’ll infill with the lines now fixed. Thus you can easily build upon one area once you get it going, making Skybinder suitable for all ages and skill levels.
So you might think that the title is very easy and you’ll blast through it in no time. This early access edition comes with 20 puzzles to solve, however, as you can see from the screenshots once you hit some of the later levels that come with a multitude of dots to connect Skybinder soon becomes far more intricate and enjoyable to play.
And that’s what is really important, making a fun VR videogame. Skybinder is a very visual puzzle experience, you don’t need an amazing memory or keen deduction skills to translate some ancient language; everything you need is right in front of you. Grab and twist the model, resize it, do whatever to help visualise what the final piece will look like. And if you really get stuck the hint system brings up a miniature version to help.
Skybinder also seems to be one of those ideal puzzle candidates for Oculus Quest’s hand tracking, just using your fingers to draw the lines or pinching the model to move it around. Hopefully, that’s a feature Maku XR is looking into.
Oculus Quest has gained several of these very casual, relaxing puzzle titles with the likes of Cubism and Puzzling Places both offering their own unique take on the genre. Skybinder easily joins this roster, offering its own style and charm for those after a meditative VR experience. It’ll be interesting to see how Maku XR builds upon this as once the puzzles are complete there’s little incentive to keep replaying but you’ll still want to nonetheless.
Gadgeteer PlayStation VR Release Date Confirmed for May
When it comes to building puzzles and intricate rube goldberg machines then Gadgeteer has to be one of the best virtual reality (VR) titles for that job. Currently available for most headsets, only the PlayStation VR is missing out. Developer Metanaut is about to sort that out, announcing a May launch date for the videogame.
VRFocus has heavily covered Gadgeteer over the last couple of years, seeing the title grow from an early access, single-player videogame on Steam to a multiplatform puzzler where you can build your own machine and share it with the community and vice a versa.
Gadgeteer is split between two gameplay modes Puzzle and Maker. The Puzzle Mode is the best place to start offering over 60 pre-made puzzles which gradually introduce new players to the various mechanics. Of which there are many, the videogame has a massive selection of gadgets to play with and four tools to create, clone, paint, and destroy those elaborate machines you plan on building.
That’s where the Maker Mode comes in. Free from any restrictions you’re given free rein to create twisting domino runs, towering marble runs or a mash up of both – all without the real-world fear of setting a sequence off early. As mentioned, with Online Sharing you can showcase your designs, whether that’s a machine or a devilishly difficult puzzle.
Reviewing the Oculus Quest version in 2019, VRFocus said: “Gadgeteer isn’t going to be for everyone, much like being a watchmaker. It’s finicky, time-consuming and puzzling all at the same time. They’re also the reasons why Gadgeteer is a puzzle gem for Oculus Quest.”
Gadgeteer is set to arrive for PlayStation VR on 25th May 2021. To celebrate the launch date Metanaut has released a cool new trailer with an elaborate machine and plenty of nods to the PlayStation platform. For continued updates for Gadgeteer, keep reading VRFocus.