An interesting concept based on puzzles and exploration, surprising and fun, but that fails to reach its full potential.
The creators of A Fisherman’s Tale continue to explore the possibilities of virtual reality with this title that, like this technology, plays with the idea of putting on a mask that teleports us to other worlds in a matter of seconds. But how have they executed the idea? We tell you what this interesting project, known as Maskmaker , has to offer .
Magic and masks
Maskmaker is a puzzle and exploration title for virtual reality that takes us to explore different worlds just by changing our mask . It is a very simple concept to understand, although perhaps a bit confusing to explain. The tutorial puts us in the situation, and tells us how this craftsman with powers created masks with powers and, we, as his apprentice, have to follow his teachings and, incidentally, explore an unknown world and discover the identity of the almighty being that control it, Prospero.
Get ready to explore strange universes just by changing your mask.
The adventure begins in the craftsman’s workshop, where we have to take a block of wood and, with hammer and chisel in hand, begin to carve our first mask following the indicated pattern. Afterwards, we have to paint it the correct color and, when we put it on, we will travel to a different universe. There we will find another masked creature and, to progress and get to where it is, we will need to copy its mask after seeing it closely with a magic spyglass. This is the main concept of the game: travel to new places, meet other masked creatures, explore for resources and copy their design .
ADVERTISING
We will have to make the masks ourselves.
All of this makes a lot more sense in virtual reality. It is a very physical game, in which we have to constantly interact with things, either to take the necessary resources to create the masks, or to shape them . We want it to be clear that this is not a survival or resource gathering game; Once you find the right item, it is infinitely available in the workshop.
Not everything is exploration as such, since it is common to find different puzzles. Some are more physical and focused on logic, such as placing the gears of a machine to be able to cross to the other side of a cliff, and others are oriented to the use of masks and force us to place a certain masked creature at a certain point ( for example, a mobile platform) to later be able to teleport to it. They are not too complicated tests, but they help to give variety to the development .
The puzzles will be very important, and many of them play with the position of other creatures on the stage.
Virtual reality: the good and the bad
We always defend the importance of making a game for virtual reality based on the unique advantages of this platform. Maskmaker , although we do not believe that it does anything impossible without virtual reality, it does make it a very physical adventure, in which we are almost at all times interacting with things. The beginning is a clear exception, which forces us to endure an extensive amount of tremendously guided tutorials that are somewhat frustrating in this format. Luckily, little by little they give us the necessary freedom to forget about this awkward start .
As we progress, the masks will become more complex to manufacture.
Something very interesting is the use of the mask as such. When we put it on, we immediately teleport to another location (at least, using an NVMe disk it takes a second to load), and when we take it off we go back to the workshop. It’s a great idea that makes you feel “magical”, but you need to get your hand too close to your face to remove it, and many times we end up hitting the helmet with the controller . Considering that there is no other gesture that requires putting your hand close, it would be nice if it responded to a few inches as well.
The rest, the truth, is very good. The idea of carving the masks, painting them, adding the different elements and constantly interacting with things works very well . It would be nice if there were more objects to interact with or that were more organic, but it does the job of transporting us to another world.
We have multiple options to move, both freely and teleporting.
Multiple worlds to discover
Throughout our trips we will visit eight different environments, each with its own characteristics . By constantly switching from one to another, this variety is greatly appreciated and makes progress more enjoyable. As a note, the duration can vary greatly from player to player. Depending on the order in which you travel, how long it takes to find the resources for one mask or another, how long it takes to solve a puzzle … it can be several hours apart. In our case it has been around seven hours, but we already say that it is a fairly open development and difficult to measure.
In terms of sound, good effects and background music, as well as good voices … only in English and French. The same languages for the subtitles, with the addition of German. This means that there is no way to play it in Spanish, something a bit annoying especially in virtual reality . And yes, once you know how it works it’s easy to move on, but the tutorials are pretty specific and the story interesting enough that you at least want to pay attention to it.
We will constantly revisit each phase in search of resources.
An original adventure, with ups and downs
Despite its limitations and errors that are somewhat easy to correct, Maskmaker is a very entertaining and original game that knows how to take advantage of virtual reality and offer us an adventure with personality and that leaves very interesting moments . We hope that certain adjustments will be made, such as the distance at which we have to approach the remote to remove the mask and, who knows, that in the future we can play it in our language.
