Look at this photograph…
I am a sucker for a good puzzle game. Ever since Portal hit the scene back in 2007 dozens of first person puzzle games have attempted to capture that lightning in a bottle again. While none have ever really stuck the landing, it has led to no shortage of great puzzle games. Viewfinder is not unlike any of those games where players are in a unique world with a narrator leading them on mixed with a puzzle gimmick that evolves over time. What separates Viewfinder from titles like Superliminal or Maquette though is where it goes. Nothing prepared me for how this game evolved as I worked my way through it.
The concept starts simple. Players move around the world and pick up photographs. These can then be held up to create new areas of the world. It is hard to describe until you see it in person. The first time I saw the trailer I was blown away. Once I played it, I was even more impressed. These new sections not only add, but also carve out a piece of the existing world. It is wild how impressive that is technically. They really pushed Unity to its limits. This is just how the game progresses at the outset though and it iterates on itself over time, nothing I will spoil, but it never stopped impressing through its five hour runtime.
MSRP: $24.99
Platforms: PlayStation (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $24.99
What is impressive more than anything is how this all plays out. Once I got the camera and was able to take my own pictures I assumed there had to be limitations. The world could not simply just work at my whim. Much to my surprise it can. So much so that I could literally destroy the exit to a world with my photographs. Thankfully there is a quick fix with the rewind button. This allows seeking as well as a double tap to simply go back to the last placed photo. It is a necessity as I chopped many a battery in half while concocting my puzzle solutions.
The game never kicks you back to a screen or limits what you can do and seeing that all play out in real time is incredible. This is one of the most technically impressive games I have ever seen. I don’t know how they achieved this, and I suspect they got a lot of calls and emails from other developers on how it was accomplished. It truly is one of the most impressive technical feats I have ever experienced in a game.
The story behind Viewfinder is grim to say the least. Climate change has nearly destroyed civilization and everything takes place in virtual reality. The puzzles I was solving were actually designed by scientists in hopes of figuring out a way to reverse the destruction of the Earth, which is grim but also kind of awkward to be solving staircase puzzles to save humanity. The story fizzles out and I found myself much more interested in the mechanics and the narrative served more as a catalyst to move from level to level than anything else.
The game is gorgeous running on PS5. It has clean environments and the control is spot on. I loved the minimalistic future design of everything and it truly felt like I was lost in a dystopian VR device. Everything is clean and easy to navigate and even with the impressive technical achievements the game barely drops a frame. This looks, feels, and sounds like a big budget game.
Viewfinder is a unique game that begs to be experienced. I do wish it was available on more platforms as everyone needs to experience this unique puzzle game. I could not put it down until the end and I cannot wait to see what this team accomplishes next. There is so much here that impresses, it never overstays its welcome, and the technical achievement will be talked about for years. Definitely play this game if you have the means
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
