![]() ![]() Probably due to their real-life marriage, they sell the chemistry between the two lovers. To get what I liked about the story out of the way first, I will say that both lead actors do a great job with what they are given. It's very indie in its presentation, which makes some sense considering the publisher of this title is Annapurna Interactive. And playing the doomed couple is real-life couple Bryce Dallas Howard and Seth Gabel. Their tale is relayed to the player through in-game text pop-ups and fully voice acted, but abstract, cutscenes. ![]() From coffee shop meet-up to an awkward ending, and everything in between. It's the story of the relationship between Michael and Kenzie. ![]() In contrast to the game's heady puzzles, the over-arching storyline is a much simpler tale. Even when I knew exactly where to place something, I often found myself fighting the controls to get this simple action done. So, you're constantly bumping into walls or struggling to accurately place something. The issue is that you are moving giant objects around a tiny environment. In a title that is built around moving objects of different sizes all around, this is not ideal. Maneuvering objects is surprisingly clumsy. Maquette does attempt to course correct with the final chapter, but this segment only reiterated another complaint with this title. It almost feels like the developers needed to pad out the length of the story but ran out of unique ways to utilize the recursion mechanic. The pacing is completely thrown off by this chapter, and the title never recovers from it. The story is broken up into individual chapters, and the beginning of the downslope can be seen when you reach an arc that is essentially a full-on walking simulator. The issue, though, is that it loses steam over the back-half of the campaign. I really do love the gimmick here, and the title makes great use of it in the early goings. It's certainly confusing in the moment, but when you eventually come to a solution, it's hard not to feel proud of yourself. Shuffling between three different sized versions of the same locale, all while manipulating objects within them, is a genuinely ingenious touch. This is especially true once the world opens to reveal the larger version of the area you are currently in. And in its best instances, the title plays with how disorienting the premise can be. Staring into a miniature version of your world, which theoretically could hold an even smaller world inside of it? That's enough to drive a man mad. It's also a gimmick that can melt your mind if you think about it too hard. The recursive world of the game is something that is easier to understand once you get your hands on it. Thus, when you return to that location in the larger world, a full-sized bridge is now available for you to cross. To clear it, you can drop a miniature bridge over that pit in the miniature diorama. In the larger world, you come across a chasm that cannot be crossed due to a piece of the walkway being missing. To better explain it, I'll use an early example from the game. Remove a block from the miniature set? A smaller version of it will show up near you. ![]() Drop a key into the diorama? You get a bigger key in your world. Perhaps most importantly, though, is that any object that gets added or removed from the diorama will change in size. However, anything you alter in the miniature world gets altered in the larger world you inhabit as well. This set is a tiny representation of the area you are currently standing in. When you first enter the world of the game, you come across a beautiful dome that houses a miniature set. Like many great puzzle titles out there, Maquette is built around a unique mechanic. ![]()
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