Puzzling Places

Despite the vast variety of VR games, the same mechanics are used in most of them. However, every now and then comes a developer that seeks a different approach to the VR experience. A good example of this kind of action comes from Realities.io Inc and their game, Puzzling Places, which aims to combine zen-like tranquillity with a simple and very familiar feeling of puzzle solving.

Puzzling Places doesn't have any story elements and the game starts straight from the menu, which is simply just a list of three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. The list includes known and lesser-known buildings and locations worldwide to freely choose from.

The idea of the game is simple. The chosen building is broken down into pieces and the player needs to put it back together just like a jigsaw puzzle. Pieces can be rotated freely with virtual hands and when two matching pieces are put together in the right order they lock together. Along with the pieces, there are pictures of the building from different angles around the player. These pictures help the player to get a better understanding of the target from every perspective, making the jigsaw puzzle easier to build.

All the puzzles are included with some surrounding environmental pieces that will give a little extra challenge to build the jigsaw. These could be for example cliffs, roads with cars, or other nearby buildings. In some cases, the player needs to even build the interior of the building, which will literally deepen the puzzle-solving. You can make the game challenging by increasing the amount of building blocks. The minimum amount of pieces for a puzzle is 25 and it will take roughly 10 minutes to finish it with that many parts, but the amount of chosen pieces can go as high as a thousand, so the game offers a serious challenge, if you're up to it.

The virtual hands controlled by the Sense Controllers obey given orders precisely making handling effortless. The game also supports PS VR2's eye tracking, which will make choosing the right puzzle piece from an even further distance much easier.

Puzzling Places' aims to deliver a relaxing atmosphere. Soft, yet brightly coloured backgrounds make the menu, building blocks, and the pictures of the areas pop, yet keep the mood tranquil. The distinct menu is a bit cheap looking, though it achieves its purpose. The refresh rate of PS VR2 in the game is really fast and steady, avoiding stress to the players' eyes even during longer sessions.

Pursuing the zen-like feeling, the game succeeds to enhance the calm and pleasant atmosphere with its minor sounds. While building the jigsaws, the soft clank and rattle sounds fit the warm and fuzzy feeling just perfectly. The background sounds conform to the target puzzle by adding fitting sounds like ocean waves, quiet traffic noise or forest sounds, and birds singing. Calming music is presented with only a few notes and it builds a relaxing feeling that fits just perfectly to the serene puzzle solving.

Puzzling Places executes its simple idea successfully. The clear appearance and calm atmosphere supports light puzzle solving, and handling those snazzy jigsaw pieces makes time fly easily. When all of the 26 jigsaw puzzles of the main game are built, there are more thematic packages to be bought easily from the menu with reasonable prices. The game is a good example of how, with virtual reality, you can view an old idea from a fresh perspective. I recommend you to try it.