It should’ve been 2021 once I noticed a gameplay video from an aspiring developer go viral on social media. The clip reveals a Polaroid digital camera taking a snapshot of a 3D degree. Then the participant used the {photograph} to position a perspective shifting copy of the picture into the world. It captured my creativeness and I wasn’t the one one. After this prototype went viral, Matt Stark set to work on making the sport a full expertise, now dubbed Viewfinder. Whereas Viewfinder has real moments of astonishment, the story feels extra like a hindrance than an extension of the spectacular gameplay. There’s some nice concepts at play right here, even when the ultimate supply left me feeling a bit blended on the entire.
Based mostly on the trailer or gameplay you might be stunned that Viewfinder has such an express story. Within the far future, you and your companion have stumbled upon a simulator, as soon as utilized by a bunch of famend scientific and inventive consultants. The aim is straightforward, discovering a machine that’s able to restoring the local weather and making the true world hospitable once more. As you attempt to discover clues concerning the whereabouts of the machine, you’re assisted by an AI programmed by one of many scientists. There’s numerous audio logs, diaries and notes scattered across the ranges that can assist you be taught extra concerning the creators of this world. However fairly frankly, all of them felt just a little bit hole and compelled to me. Whereas it’s good that there’s an overarching purpose and story for the participant to justify the exploration, the story simply isn’t informed that nicely. The twists may be seen coming a mile away and the characters themselves are by no means proven, making their journey really feel very distant. In contrast to a sport comparable to Portal, the place the truth that you’re being remoted is the purpose of worldbuilding and the story, right here you’re being bombarded with lore that didn’t intrigue or curiosity me.
Fortunately there’s the gameplay and that’s actually the place the sport shines. The thought of taking part in with perspective has been performed earlier than in video games, however Viewfinder makes this mechanic all its personal. Each time you discover or snap a photograph, the angle is retained. Platforms are constructed out of pillars, and you may rotate any image to make use of a column as a bridge, or make objects drop down on the bottom. It’s a mechanic that I discovered straightforward to grasp, however all the time difficult sufficient to implement. The sport could be very beneficiant with errors, permitting you to return in time to the purpose when the picture was taken or when it was positioned. This provides room for experimentation. Typically I’d drop myself from an edge into a photograph I’d simply taken to get my bearings and discover potentialities for the right way to use it to energy a teleporter and attain the exit. Every stage provides or combines new parts, typically feeling contemporary and difficult. You might discover a copier, permitting you to make copies of an already taken picture. Or needing to snap an image of your self so as to teleport to the place you used to face in relation to the digital camera. The sport is versatile in a manner that permits you to discover your personal options to issues, the highest quality of any puzzle sport for my part.
But, the Swap model of Viewfinder feels a tad tough at occasions. Even whereas taking part in on Swap 2, quite a few glitches occurred comparable to photographs not loading in correctly, or audio dropping out. The sport solely runs at 30 FPS and might stutter or fall under that when a number of images are linked collectively. I additionally needed to regulate some settings so as to forestall some movement illness, which is uncommon for me. My largest gripe is that whereas the sport introduces numerous new parts to maintain issues contemporary, the repetition units in fairly rapidly. Typically nothing greater than capturing a single image could be sufficient to unravel a puzzle. Often this occurred 5 occasions in a row with a number of related puzzles. On this pacing and description I really feel that Viewfinder desires the story to hold the participant by means of, however that simply wasn’t compelling sufficient for me. At these factors I began to brute pressure my manner by means of a number of the sport, which is a disgrace.
Viewfinder is a enjoyable puzzle sport slowed down by its ambitions. I liked the way in which wherein the sport makes use of the gameplay to talk for itself. On the identical time, every time the characters began talking I used to be type of turned off by the expertise. The Nintendo Swap model runs positive sufficient, however can have a little bit of a tough time with the framerate and loading of levels. For puzzle sport die-hards, particularly followers of Portal, The Talos Precept and Superliminal I’d suggest Viewfinder in a heartbeat. However when you’re hoping to search out one thing past that unbelievable viral video, I’m afraid that Viewfinder won’t be able to vary that perspective.
