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Moss (Quest): COMPLETED!

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I was recently bought a Meta Quest 2, which – naturally – meant I needed to figure out what games work well on such a thing and which were worth my time playing. One that was recommended over and over was Moss, so here I am telling you about My First Ever Completed VR Game!

If you take VR out of the equation, Moss is a nice little platformer with some puzzles and sword fighting as you take your mouse through some pretty areas like woods, a deserted village and eventually a castle. But, being in VR, it all feels like a set of interactive dioramas that you can reach into and look over walls and round corners as you do so. I suppose it isn’t immersive in the way you’d “traditionally” expect a VR game to be, but it is wonderfully tactile and immersive, like a kid’s playset come to life.

The Quest 2 itself doesn’t quite have a comfortable level of resolution so everything feels a bit pixellated and/or blurry, but Moss doesn’t seem to be affected quite as much as the other demos and apps I’d tried before playing it. All the depth effects feel “right”, and although I’ve yet to feel any VR nausea (not even in the VR rollercoaster sims) I can appreciate that the mostly static stage “scenes” would probably go a long way to helping those who do.

Graphically it is quite lovely, with nice lighting effects and detailed characters. Some of the backgrounds are populated with large objects and creatures (there’s a fantastic stag in one section) which help make you feel mouse-sized. Moss herself is animated really well and I love how you can pat or stroke her and she responds. She even high-fives you after tricky sections. Well, providing you don’t leave her hanging.

The gameplay isn’t actually that novel or unique, although physically reaching for handles and buttons with your own hands does change things a bit from the norm. It’s the way it is presented, the polish and the animations that really make it stand out for me. The VR is understated but impressive, the puzzles are OK but nothing too taxing, and the combat is a little quirky (especially when you use one baddie to attack another), but the sum of the parts is a beautiful little game with a lot of heart.

Pepper Grinder (Switch): COMPLETED!

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I’ve often said that some games that are previewed too far in advance of release are not doing themselves any favours. For me, anyway. Pepper Grinder is one such game, that piqued my interest in a Nintendo Direct long, long ago and then when it came out I’d totally forgotten about it whereas if it was wowgoshlookithtis and it was released a couple of weeks later, I might have jumped on it immediately.

Then I saw it in an eShop games-on-sale roundup video somewhere and I was repiqued. So I bought it. And it was great!

The main gimmick is that you have a big ol’ drill bit which you use to not only mole your way through soft earth, but also to damage baddies and turn gears and stuff. Digging through the ground (and ground that’s, uh, in the sky) will sort of launch you when you break out of it, so much of the game is about aiming your drill so as to launch and land in the right place.

There are some puzzles in that certain things have to be drilled or activated in specific orders, and tricky platforming where angles and timing are key to success, but you’ve also got baddies everywhere, and some clever bosses where you often have to make alternate use of your drill to damage them. Oh, and sometime you get a MASSIVE GUN and there are also shops to buy upgrades with stuff you collect along the way,

It’s also got nice pixel art and feels like the sort of game you’d play on a Game Boy Advance only this game didn’t exist then. Was Drill Dozer similar? I never had the £££££ needed to buy that rarity.

Cat Quest II (Steam Deck): COMPLETED!

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Since I enjoyed the first game, and also had a free copy of the second, of course I was going to play that too. It isn’t actually vastly different to the first one, although you now have two characters you can swap between (you’ll never guess that the other one is a dog), and as well as a largely-similar map to Cat Quest OG there’s a whole dog-populated area north of it.

Gameplay is mostly as before, although upgrades to your equipment are now more like a traditional RPG with an actual upgrade shop rather than a lootbox-y gambling mechanic. The graphics are noticeably more polished too. Other than that, it’s pretty much more of the same, which it turns out, is Just Fine: a pretty laid back Zelda sort of game with silly characters lots of dungeons.

Dordogne: why am I here?

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A charming adventure game, with a really unique art style and setting. The story is a little confusing at first, without an explanation for why you are in a car with your dad asking where you are, but it quickly starts to piece together: you are on the way to visit your nan’s house, after her death, to find stuff that she left for you – and your dad doesn’t want you to go there. When you arrive and start to explore, you trigger memories of what happened in the house one summer when you were sent to live there (I’m guessing when you were around 10 years old), and you have to explore each day to see how the summer went.

It is very slow paced, quite simple, but utterly charming. The little girl who you control, Mimi, has such a defined expression throughout, with uncertainty but stubbornness as an adult, and – at least initially – petulance and sadness as a child. She misses her friends, her family, and her home in Paris, but gradually the beauty of the location and the kindness of her grandmother change her perception.

The game is stunning to look at, even more so in motion as the environments pan around as you move. Some of the locations are very atmospheric indeed. I have played four days so far and am starting to see links between the young Mimi’s actions and the the older Mimi’s visit. I’m looking forward to finding out all about the secrets that have been kept.