"Moss" Review - Where there's a Quill, there's a way

Available for: Playstation 4 VR

Reviewed for: Playstation 4 VR

That's correct, dear reader. If you know anything about Moss, then you've probably realized that The Right Trigger has added a new bit of technology to the arsenal. Having had my birthday recently (and given that it's the one day out of the year that I allow myself to make impulsive purchases), I am now the proud owner of a PSVR headset. Along with it, I purchased a number of VR games: Skyrim VR, Raw Data, and Moss. I've dabbled in each of these and in the little demos that came with the headset enough to 1) have a gist of what VR looks and feels like and 2) get over the initial feeling of "oh my gosh I'm gonna be sick ohnonononono I need to sit down for a sec," although I'm still seeing in two separate framerates when I take the headset off. Anywho, if you read my E3 impressions from 2017, you may recall that Moss was one of the games I was captured by when it was demoed at Sony's press conference. So, with that in mind, it was the first game that I really dove into after getting my feet sufficiently wet. Readers, there's a reason I brought up the fact that I played enough VR to get a gist of how it generally looks and feels before I got started on Moss. The point of my bringing it up is to say that I went into this game thinking I'd seen the most amazing visual spectacle VR could bring (in Raw Data), but I was wrong. Moss is the greatest game PSVR has to offer in terms of how well it utilizes its virtual space. Compound that with loads of charm and well-done game design, and you have a game that will be first on my list to recommend to people who are looking to get started in the VR experience. Because this is a fairly short game (approximately 4 hours if you die a lot), there isn't a lot to cover, but I'd still like to take the time to explain to you, dear reader, why you should purchase Moss if you have the necessary hardware. So sit back, relax, and prepare for the first ever Right Trigger VR Review.

Moss opens up with you sitting at a table in a cathedral, with a book in front of you. You open it up and our talented narrator starts to tell the story of the land of Moss. The narrator tells about the evil serpent conquering the land and killing the king, and it serves to set the stage for what Moss essentially is: A children's fairy tale. None of the backstory is anything to write home about, but it doesn't really have to be. The point of Moss is to visually immerse the player inside of this fairy tale world and imbue a sense of childlike wonder, so who cares if the backstory isn't special?
In any case, the narrator then starts to talk about how a new, unlikely hero is about to rise up. At this point, the visual style changes from the storybook about the land of Moss to the land of Moss itself. If you're anything like me, this will be the first of many moments that make you go "wow!" But more on that later. The narrator continues to narrate, and soon we are introduced to our cute little mouse heroine: Quill. Quill is just about the cutest thing in the entire world, but again, more on that later. Quill stumbles upon an artifact of some kind, and a benevolent being of immense size and power is summoned: you. Though you do control Quill, you play as this being, who is referred to by the characters of this story as "The Reader." The Reader accompanies Quill back to her uncle's home, learning the basics of environmental puzzle solving along the way, and Quill excitedly (and adorably) tells her uncle about what happened. Her uncle goes the way of Gandalf with talk of "If I could take this burden from you, I would," and heads out on his own to try and protect her. Later that evening, a wisp of light comes to Quill to tell her that her uncle is in danger, and Quill and the reader set out on a quest to rescue him.
That was just about the most high-level, vague description of the story I could possibly give. I just really think that, despite how this is a pretty basic story, the cute little intricacies of it are better left experienced than explained. Though basic, the story is good enough. Through the four hour runtime, it provides enough emotional ups and downs to not feel shallow in spite of its brevity. You could say that its pacing is perfect for its length.

Another aspect of the game that can be considered perfectly paced for the runtime is the gameplay itself. Gameplay is made up of combat and environmental puzzle solving, with the two sometimes intertwining. Combat is fairly simple: You control quill using the analog stick and the x and square buttons, causing her to attack and evade as needed. In addition, you can use the motion of the dualshock controller and the trigger buttons to (as the reader) grab and hold enemies in place, allowing Quill to get a hit in uninterrupted. Quill can usually take 3 hits before dying, but using the same controls you use to grab and hold enemies, you can heal her mid-battle. While the majority of combat responsibility falls on Quill's actions, the majority of puzzle solving responsibility falls on the reader. Every puzzle involves the reader having to manipulate the environment in a way that allows Quill to proceed to the next area, and this is done through the built-in motion detection of the dualshock controller. Whether it's spinning a podium around so that the gap between two platforms is closed or grabbing and moving an enemy onto a pressure plat that causes a platform Quill is standing on to rise, you'll need to experiment with every grabable object in the environment if you want to advance. Both combat and puzzle solving start off simple. You start off fighting one or two basic enemies at a time and facing situations where your thought process might be: "Gee...I wonder if the solution to this puzzle is to grab the one item I can grab and pull it in the one direction it'll let me pull it?" but the challenge ramps up smoothly and consistently as the game progresses. By the end of the game, you'll end up facing waves upon waves of various enemy types, being shot at from multiple angles and avoiding explosions. Likewise, you'll end up in puzzles where you might think: "Ok, maybe if I have this enemy come up to this platform and shoot this twirly thing while I have quill on this other platform, it'll let Quill get to the lever to move that piece up so that the enemy can be moved to shoot that other twirly thing." Though things do get difficult, there isn't really a difficulty curve because of how well-paced the increases in complexity are. It's rare to find such a smooth transition from frying pan to fire, so in spite of how disappointingly short this game is, I have to admit that the gameplay is perfectly tuned to its length. I'll take a well put-together afternoon affair over a sloppy month-long investment any day.

But enough of that nonsense. Story and gameplay are, of course, important, but that's not what you're here to read about, is it? You want to know how Moss is from a VR perspective? Well, as I said in the introduction, this is simply the greatest offering that the PSVR has right now. The reason? Scale. Quill and the environments you play in are both consistently tiny, and you are a giant looking in on that tiny world. Part of this effect is accomplished because of the fact that most of the game has you looking at a slightly downward angle. When Quill is right in front of you, she's always looking up at you, and even if you get right down to her level, she still looks small (in other words, it isn't like zooming in with a camera, it's like actually getting closer to a small mouse). You're going to feel like a giant throughout the game, and I can remember the exact moment when I realized I felt that way. I'd sent Quill into a little destroyed house to look for one of the collectible scrolls, and I couldn't see anything inside the house except for the x-ray view of Quill from behind the walls. I played this game from a sitting position for most of the time, but at that moment I thought, "hmm." I stood up, took a step or two forward, and physically peered into the hole in the roof of the house to locate the scroll. At that moment I realized just how large I was IN-GAME compared to the rest of the world. It's an indescribable kind of feeling. However, you are far from the biggest thing in this world. Take a second to look around at any given moment, and you'll get a Dark Souls kind of effect. I remember at one point I'd been keeping my eyes on the current environment when I suddenly decided to look off to the right. In the distance was an enormous castle that I knew I was going to end up reaching at some point. It didn't actually look that far away, but it was a full-sized castle that I knew was far away for Quill. Developer Polyarc knew that it had 360 degrees to fill, and they knew just how to fill it. At any given moment, you have an area perfectly proportioned to Quill in front of you, but take a look away from the immediate area and you get a glimpse of the rest of the world, and this serves as a reminder that Quill and the enemies she faces are but a small portion of it. I'm finding the experience hard to accurately describe. I'm writing this shortly after finishing the game, and the words on the laptop screen are still popping out a bit, my hands are still disembodying themselves, and my peripheral vision is still blurring occasionally, which is a little distracting (for those thinking about starting VR, you have got to take it slow; there are some subtle psychological effects within the first few days if you have prolonged sessions like I have). If you play, you'll understand what I mean about scale, and you probably won't be able to describe it either.

Now let's talk about Quill herself. I legitimately took a break from writing this review to look up the costs associated with getting a pet mouse because of her. She is absolutely the star of the show, and without her this game would just be a good tech demo. Her animations are realistically mousey (despite the fact that she's bipedal) and smooth, and her movements lend her a strong personality in spite of the fact that we only hear her speak through the narrator's voice. Quill communicates through sign language, so we never really hear her speak at all. Yet, in spite of this, her demeanor is quite well-defined. Even if that weren't the case, she would still steal the show because of how doggoned flipping cute she is. Like, if you can watch her reach out for a high-five, high-five her tiny little paw with the controller, and watch her leap up and squeak in triumph without grinning ear to ear, you're going to hell. Even the way she helps you out is cute. If you don't move for a while, Quill will mime out some kind of hint. In one example I came across,  I needed to make an enemy shoot a particular twirling thing, and I knew that, but I'd sat the controller down for a second to think about where to put Quill. Then I heard a squeak, and I turned to see Quill waving at me. She then pointed at the twirling thing, moved her elbows in a machine-gun kind of formation, narrowed her eyes in a stoic glare and flattened her ears to almost look like a helmet, went "chk chk" in her cute little voice while cocking her arms back, then went "pww" (you know, the onomatopoeia for a gunshot) while pointed at the twirling thing. It completely melted my heart, and it's but one of many little helpful animations she has.
And it's with Quill that Polyarc once again proves that they understand what VR should be capable of....because you can pet her. Move the little orb representing the position of the controller over to her and hold on of the triggers and you can satisfy the urge to pet this adorable little mouse, and doing so results in Quill getting the same satisfied look that my family's chinchilla gets when you scratch her chin. A game with a cute animal mascot that you can also pet? That alone is worth the nearly $400 price of admission to VR.

Unfortunately, where the game starts to suffer is in the technical department. This is a game in which you're going to have to constantly recalibrate the screen. Doing so is a simple task (pressing the options button, selecting "recalibrate," facing forward, and confirming), but you'll have to do it very often. In other VR games, recalibrating is usually limited to "screen" position, as loading screen tend to stick to wherever you happen to be looking at the time. However, in Moss the center of the entire game appears to stick to wherever you happen to be looking once the loading is finished. Because of how often you have to turn anyway, you might not notice until it's another storybook section and the book is way to your left or right. This also causes problems with the grabbing, as you'll think something is in reach, but it actually isn't until you recalibrate. Ultimately it's a minor annoyance, but it is a frequent minor annoyance that does directly impact gameplay at times.
In addition, the platforming occasionally feels a little off. There'll be times when you think you've jumped at the right time, but the game acts like you hit your head on the underside of the platform you were trying to latch onto. Other times you'll jump over a chasm only to graze the side of the platform you were trying to reach and end up causing poor Quill to plummet to her death. Maybe it's just a VR depth perception problem, but I found it frustrating in one or two points in the game.

Folks, Moss is the way to go if you're thinking of getting into VR. It isn't the longest adventure on the market, and the ending is more sequel-bait than resolution, but in terms of getting the best out of your VR experience, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything better. Though simple, its story and gameplay are perfectly paced for the runtime, ensuring that you get the most out of it for the afternoon it'll take to beat. And if none of the above appeals to you, Moss boasts one of gaming's absolute cutest mascots. I mean, look at her freaking ears and her little tail! You can pet her and give her a high five! What else do you need? If you can handle taking the time to consistently recalibrate the screen and a little bit of cheap frustration when it comes to platforming, you owe it to yourself to give Moss a try if you have the hardware or are thinking of investing in the hardware....just pace yourself. This isn't a motion sickness-inducing kind of game, but it still has an impact if you take it all at once.

Let us review:
Constant recalibration - 0.5
One or two cheap platforming issues - 0.3

The final score for Moss is...

9.2/10 - Fantastic
Excellent work, Polyarc, excellent work!