Moss 1, an adventure VR game, was developed and published by Polyarc before being released in 2018. However, its sequel, Moss 2, was released in 2022, and both games were remastered for the PlayStation 5. In both games, players help a little mouse named Quill through puzzles as she battles to save her kingdom. Now, both Moss 1 and 2 are available on PSVR 2.
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The Story
In Book I, players become the Reader, who finds an old book and is transported to the fantasy land within after flipping through the pages. When they arrive, the Reader meets Quill, a young mouse whose kingdom has been overthrown by a fire-breathing snake known as Sarffog.
Sarffog has captured Quill’s uncle, and with help from the Reader, the two go on an adventure to defeat the snake and help her uncle. Unfortunately, the Moss 1 doesn’t really conclude, and players are left on a slight cliffhanger if they don’t already have the sequel.
Book II has a very similar story to its predecessor. Players are thrown into a story that occurs moments after the first games end and builds upon the limited world-building done in the Moss 1. This time Quill is the one being hunted by Tylan, a winged tyrant who plans to take over the world of Moss with the help of his arcane abilities. Only the glass shard can defeat him. It’s a straightforward story that works for the quaint little world of Moss.
Fortunately, Book II’s ending is not as much of a cliffhanger and concludes nicely while leaving space for a sequel.
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Environment
The world of Moss expertly captures the feeling of being a human-sized object in a rodent sized-world. In addition, the game has a charming storybook design that makes you feel like you’ve disappeared into a book.
Book 2 expands further on this design and has done more world-building than its predecessor. As a result, the world has excellent variety, and different parts of the map feel beautifully detailed and colourful.
Each section fully uses the third-person gameplay and players’ 360-degree world-view. Players can alter their positions to see around buildings or get an aerial view of their map. By doing so, they may happen upon secrets that otherwise can’t be seen.
Gameplay
Combat
Moss saw Quill taking on different enemies with her sword and some puppeteering help from the Reader. She has a few time-based combo attacks, which allow her to take on the beetle-like enemies without too much hassle. It only gets stressful when several enemies and enemy types are in an area, and you must figure out the fastest way to take them all out.
Book II grants Quill the use of two new weapons: a hammer and a chakram. The hammer is a heavy weapon that can also be used by the Reader in certain puzzles, and the chakram works to take out weaker enemies and acts like a boomerang when embedded into walls.
Players can use all three weapons to assist with puzzles.
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Puzzles
The environmental puzzles in Moss make up half the gameplay and increase in difficulty as you progress through the game. Most start pretty simple and give you a chance to get a handle on the puzzles and understand how they work before they move on to more complex puzzles that may have you staring at your screen for a while.
The puzzles in Book II are just as great as in Book I, and the Reader has more to do. Players have some new abilities, including creating climbable vines or bridges for Quill and solving these puzzles helps you build your relationship with her.
Interactions with Quill
Book 2 allows players to have more interaction with Quill. In the previous game, Quill could provide hints and show emotion through ASL. Now Quill will pretend to surf on a platform that players are moving or give players a high five. These small moments are heart-warming and make it feel like you are developing a friendship with the little mouse heroine.
Notable Issues About the Game
The controls for Book II specifically can be complex. Players can control Quill, but while doing so, they must manipulate objects or puppeteer certain enemies.
The game would be much easier if players could switch between Quill and the Reader. Players would no longer have to fight the motion controls and make a quick button press that leads to accidental death.
Speaking of accidental deaths, many players find the instant kill that comes with falling into water incredibly frustrating. In most games, players are respawned at their last position when they fall into instant kill water. Moss has a checkpoint system that is mostly fair but gets incredibly annoying when you are first to restart an entire section because you mistimed a jump.
Quill also feels weirdly heavy for a mouse. Jumping can be tricky for the platform heroine, and it can get incredibly frustrating when you keep missing what should seemingly be an easy jump. Making Quill a little bit lighter would significantly improve the gameplay and make accidental deaths of the adorable mouse more avoidable.
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TL;DR
- The remastered versions of Moss and Moss: Book II were released recently and can be played using PSVR 2.
- Both maintain their storybook charm and their fantastic puzzle and combat mechanics.
- Quill still feels freakishly heavy on jumps.