Maquette

Maquette is just fascinating. It is a game that has one central mechanic and ties it into a narrative not often told by games and media. That unique blend of challenging, but mind-boggling recursive gameplay, jaw-dropping set-pieces, and heartfelt narrative moments really crafts an experience that mesmerises and stuns at every turn and is another great title from Annapurna.

Maquette is a great puzzle game that uses perspective and out of the box thinking very well. The story of Michael and Kenzie is neatly entwined within these puzzle, adding heart and soul to the game as you make your way through the world, big and small.

In the end, Maquette is a fair and unique experience, even if tainted by some flaws.

Maquette has its issues, but is still a solid experience. The grievances I have can be fixed if the studio has the manpower and time to do so. If you’re looking specifically for puzzle games there are others I would recommend before this. But it’s free for PS Plus members for March 2021, and it’s hard to say no to free.

Definitely give Maquette a try if you like puzzle games, but be aware that you’re likely to come up against numerous brick walls as you vie to reach its conclusion. The earlier puzzles are truly satisfying to crack but they quickly lose their charm, while later conundrums might leave you scratching your head in frustration. What doesn’t lose its charm, though, is the small yet beautiful narrative that you’ll want to savour every moment of. It’s just a shame there isn’t more of it.

Maquette is colorful and sometimes quite smart, but the trial and error gameplay is frustrating.

Maquette is a clever game with some original game mechanics. Playing around with the scale of objects is challenging but fun, however the game also suffers from some technical issues and can even cause motion sickness. But even if that doesn’t bother you, you will reach the end soon – too soon, even for an indie game.

Despite what all the other users wrote, I had fun with this game, no stuttering or any kind of technical issues on my PS5. I normally don’t enjoy typical lovestory stuff, but after the first 30 minutes, the game was pretty much done with bad stereotypes. If you ever had a long relationship you will find patterns, issues, problems and situations you can relate to. At least my relations sometimes contained some stereotypes and that’s the mix that this game hit pretty well. Even days later, I still thought about the Story and im not that much of an emotional person. People may ask for more decisionmaking in some games, but this is a story of which im happy in was told the way it was.(strange sentence, sorry, but I don’t want to spoil what you can and cannot decide) The puzzle aspect isn’t a Portal, but the game never tried to be something it can’t reach. So for me, puzzles started easy and got harder during the game. Not to easy throuout the game, still no unbeatable obstacles. Of course it’s a relatively short game, but the developers filled it with content, that i wouldn’t want to change. The visual style of the game is beautiful, and was well thought of. Through the whole game the look and the design supported the Story and the mechanics at the same time. I had no trouble with any mechanics nor a feeling of bulgy or lazy design. All in all this Game isn’t groundbreaking, It’s smart art. If you can’t enjoy a good book, or a demanding movie, maybe you won’t enjoy it as much as I did. But If you do... you‘d regret missing this game.

A fine puzzle, but doesn't really do anything special that would make me recommend it over some of the other open world puzzle games out there of the same ilk.

Pretty chill game with some innovative puzzles. I applaud the way they made the puzzles, but in a way in became easier since the concept of them remained the same mostly. Didn't run that well on PS5 and got more friends saying it made them dizzy. Pretty good game for anyone loving a good puzzle game anyway, and would recommend. Takes about 3-5 hours to complete.

Hours Played: 4 Hours Trophy Completion: 13/23 (60%) Worth My Time: Only if you like puzzle games. Worth My Money: No, unless you got it free from PS+. What I Like: The theme is interesting and the concept unique. It makes good usage of the PS5's game help cards, so you don't have to run to your phone or PC if you get stuck. What I Dislike: Kind of janky and a bit too much running around in what I would consider boring landscapes. Also runs terrible on the PS5 for what it is. How It Stacks Up: An early PS+ offering, so can't expect much out of it. It's a bad port that didn't necessitate a PS5 version, considering that it could have run just as fine in backwards compatibility.

Artsy, sort of pretty, ok size puzzle concepts, bland relationship story, ultimately pretty boring.