Sad Owl Studios
PC, PlayStation 5
WITH near-ubiquitous access to cameras and screens, it can be hard to remember that the idea of representing 3D objects on a 2D image was once at art’s cutting-edge. Exactly when this happened is debated, but we can reasonably say the practice of drawing scenes with realistic perspective took off in the 15th century.
Personally, I have been given a new perspective on perspective by playing Viewfinder, a first-person puzzle game that is all about the interplay between two and three dimensions. The story is light, but compelling: in a world ravaged by climate change, you enter a simulated environment that was abandoned by researchers seeking a solution. By going deeper into the simulation (playing through levels), you hope to recover their work and save the world.
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What this comes down to is a series of puzzles and evolving mechanics very much modelled after Portal, arguably the original first-person puzzler, while maintaining a fresh and unique identity. Each level involves reaching, and in some cases powering up, a teleporter that takes you to the next level.
Your ability to manipulate the world is fairly limited at first. By picking up photos you find, you can place them in the environment and the contents of the image spring to life, fully formed in 3D – a clever trick that never loses its appeal. In early levels, this might mean using a photo of a battery to create a real battery to power the teleporter, or a photo of a bridge to let you reach a distant path.
From there, the complexity increases, but it is never overwhelming. In later levels, photos might be sliced into pieces in multiple locations, forcing you to find the spot that will bring them all together with the right perspective and render them real.
Eventually, you receive a Polaroid camera that lets you take your own photos, providing more freedom and creativity with which to manipulate the world. At times, I was sure there was no way I was solving a puzzle as the developer, Sad Owl Studios, intended – some of my solutions exploited the game’s physics in janky ways, but that is part of the fun.
I don’t want to spoil some of the later mechanics: it is enough to say that they are all extremely clever and fun to play with. Being able to use a photocopier was a particular highlight for me, which is a sentence that I am not sure anyone has ever uttered.
As you progress through the levels, you learn more about the scientists behind the simulation and meet CAIT, a Cheshire Cat-like artificial intelligence that pops up and comments on what you are doing. It is all very charming, if a little bit vague at times because much of the story is told through sticky notes and audio recordings that can be easy to miss if you are busy concentrating on the next mind-melting puzzle.
Viewfinder is well-paced, exploring its ideas without outstaying its welcome, and only makes a very slight misstep in the last level, which essentially serves as a final test of the skills you have learned, racing against a timer I found far too stressful. Thankfully, there is an option in the menu to turn the timer off, which is a very welcome decision. The end of the game was also far more nuanced and thoughtful than I was expecting, which is a rarity in the gaming world.
All in all, if you have an interest at all in puzzles and playing with spaces, you should definitely take a look at Viewfinder.
Valve
PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch
Now more than 15 years old, this absolute classic puzzle game still has the power to impress.
Demruth
PC
With no real story to speak of, this first-person puzzler puts the focus on navigating bewildering and impossible non-Euclidean geometries.
Jacob Aron is ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ’s news editor. Follow him on Twitter @jjaron
