Who knew that an adorable, sword-wielding mouse would be my PSVR Achilles’ heel, the tectonic slip that ultimately shifted my stubborn opinion on virtual reality as a whole?
In the past, I haven’t exactly hidden my general, aching disdain for Sony’s fancy headset. While I’ve mostly loved the underlying idea and raw potential of said technology, the end result has typically left me feeling rather disappointed. As such, I’ve used a whole slew of choice terms to describe PlayStation’s expensive console accessory: Unwieldy. Inconvenient. Convoluted. Messy. Nausea-inducing (a quality I’m often told would go away if only I were to ‘toughen up’—oh, internet) And on top of all that, the visuals are way too blurry for their own good. Much of the time it’s like playing video games through Vaseline-smeared goggles, or from behind some rickety screen door. Too much hassle and projectile vomit for not all that much satisfaction. Or fun, for that matter.
Truth be told, PSVR still possesses all those annoying qualities, and up until earlier this week, I’d have gladly trumpeted those particular critiques to anyone seriously considering buying one of these clunky headsets. But here’s the thing: Most of those negatives have, almost all at once in a kind of strange disappearing act, faded into the background. Reason being is that developer Polyarc has released a little gem called Moss, and I honestly can’t stop playing it. This 3D platform-puzzler has somehow dug its cute little rodent claws into my gaming sensibilities, flipped my perception upside down and outright made me a VR believer. Honestly, this is virtual reality done in a way I’ve not yet seen, and it’s opened my eyes to what the technology is truly capable of. I’m already imagining the amazing places the medium could go in the next few years, especially in the hands of seriously competent game makers.
What’s funny is that, while I’ve been genuinely excited about Moss since its initial unveiling at E3 2017, I absolutely was not looking forward to it being a PSVR-exclusive. Even leading up to playing my review copy yesterday, I was desperately hoping for a non-VR mode that would allow me to explore the lush environments via my television rather than those cursed claustrophobic lenses. In fact, I was totally dreading hooking everything up. I don’t keep PSVR attached to my PS4, mostly to avoid having my gaming area look like the cluttered soundboard hub at a live concert. I was also loathing the inevitable moment that I’d need to slip on the required headgear, getting lost in endless tweaks and calibration adjustments before even picking up the controller. To my surprise, all that melted away as soon as I saw tiny protagonist Quill. In short, she’s rad.
Polyarc’s mouse hero is who you control within the game world, but in a sort of fantastic way, you also play as yourself. You’re a lore-proclaimed Reader, an omniscient being that can help Quill maneuver around obstacles and battle through hordes of enemies by reaching—quite literally—into the virtual environment with your DualShock 4. This last part is why Moss needs to be a PSVR game; each screen is presented as a kind of 3D storybook diorama that can be viewed from numerous interesting angles. During my adventures, I found myself leaning around crumbling walls, peeking through glowing doorways and perhaps best of all, moving down to see Quill at ground level. I won’t spoil anything, simply because there are a lot of quiet, special moments in Moss that deserve discovering, but the nuanced interactions that routinely happen between our big-eared rodent and the hovering VR gamer at the helm are really something great.
Each beautiful scene is presented like a delicate, hand-crafted gift to the player. Not a video game level, exactly, but instead something astounding and almost tangible that you might happen upon in a vivid dream. Sure, there are relatively challenging puzzles to solve, baddies to squash and well-narrated story progress to be made, but to me, that’s almost beside the point. In most of these expertly presented instances, I’ve found myself getting lost in the atmosphere and taking everything in, glimpsing babbling brooks and swaying ferns that bend as I push my face into their fronds. Yes, I need to guide Quill to the next collectible scroll or ancient pot filled with rainbow dust, but before that, I’m glancing behind me at shadowy groves of old trees and searching underneath ancient stone pathways, almost as if these weren’t polygonal structures but real toy playsets just begging to be explored.
When it comes down to it, I’m in complete awe of Moss’s miniature sense of place, the way it subtly takes you in, wraps you in magic and convinces you that you’re peering into another world altogether. It’s not relying on virtual reality as a gimmick, but rather (and more importantly) as an immersion tool. In a weird way, it’s basically a full realization of Sony’s ambitious but middling Wonderbook project. Imagine opening a book to read a story and instead getting to control the fiction’s main character in 3D space as you watch and guide from above. Maybe this is the future of the humble novel, or at the very least, every notable children’s book in the year 2030.
I’m a good ways into this compelling fable, but I’ll admit I’m taking my time, only because I want to savor the experience. Moss is why I still play video games, and its excellence serves as an example of how this medium can instill a genuine sense of wonder, even awe, if handled correctly. And if this is where virtual reality is headed, if we’re going to get less goofy tech demos and more titles that deliver this caliber of finesse and design, then consider me a convert. Oh, and the lack of motion sickness this time around has been a huge plus, so however you pulled that off, Polyarc, please share your secret with other developers. My queasy stomach appreciates it.
Disclaimer: Polyarc kindly provided a free review code to help make this article possible.
