Moss is fun, immersive game that has made its home on the PlayStation 4 VR. This game is a VR exclusive and takes full advantage of it. It is an adventure game with loads of combat and puzzle solving and has been developed and published by Polyarc. It features a rather interesting mix of first person and third person views and has one of the most responsive and tight controls for a VR game. So lets see what makes Moss one of the best games to have graced the VR Genre, specifically the PlayStation VR.
Moss is a game where you take on the role of “The Reader” who finds an old story book while wandering about in a library that is inside an old cathedral. While you start to read the book, you get transported into the world of the book and meet a young mouse named Quill who is also the female protagonist of the game. Quill is on a journey to save the kingdom that she lives in and her uncle from the evil fire-breathing snake Sarffog who overthrew the rulers of this kingdom to claim it as its own. The Reader joins Quill on her adventure to help her through her journey by interacting with her and guiding her through puzzles and also during combat.
You take control of both Quill and The Reader in this game. As Quill you can move around, combat enemies and solve puzzles to progress through the levels and as The Reader you can assist Quill by interacting with objects and also enemies to help her during combat. During combat you can take control of both Quill and an enemy that is being controlled by The Reader with the help of the right analog stick which controls the enemy, so you might often find yourself in situations where you’ll be doing both, controlling Quill and fighting enemies while also controlling an enemy to either help Quill or to navigate around the level. This is fun and really challenges the player.
The combat in itself is not that hard. Attacking is simple and features a time based combo system but other than that it does not have any depth or deep combo mechanics, which honestly is not needed in this game. The puzzles are also great and start off as quite simple but as you progress, get more and more challenging. But fret not as there isn’t an insane bump in difficulty. It is gradual and allows you to get accustomed to the challenges and puzzles so that you can adapt to the new, more challenging puzzles.
The visuals are fitting and help immerse you into this world with a lot of beautiful world design. The VR aspects of the game are one of the best in the VR genre with a few technical problems that occur because of the VR itself and not because of the game. The addition of leaning and standing up to give the player different angles and a birds eye view was a feature that I found to be pretty neat. Sometimes due to the FOV, you won’t be able to see part of the level or your calibration will go off which means that you’ll have to re-calibrate it again. The acknowledgment of the player by Quill is also very cute, especially with the sign language that she uses to convey emotion and tips to the player, and this interaction is one of the things that really made this game for me. The game also has this audio book vibe with a great narrator who narrates the story. This makes this experience a complete package and shows what the VR is actually capable of.
Moss is one of the best games I’ve played on the VR with minor annoyance and a short story that is its shortcoming. It is an absolute must play for owners of the PlayStation VR who are looking for a great experience.
