Every once in a while, an indie work pops up out of nowhere and blows your mind. For me, this summer was nothing more and nothing less than Viewfinder, the puzzle and platform game from Sad Owl Studios. This beautiful work offers unprecedented puzzles as it plays with perspective in ways that are as overwhelming as they are amazing, which doesn’t mean it’s a title whose basics are direct and easy to understand. Finding the right balance isn’t easy, but after trying Viewfinder I can tell you that it more than succeeds.
You must enter a strange simulation created by a group of geniuses looking for answers and technological means that can help save the real world. The argument isn’t very convincing, but it doesn’t stop you from enjoying the Viewfinder experience either. Some aspects make it look a little like Maquette, the brainchild of Graceful Decay. For example, there are audio files, sticky notes or other elements of the environment that tell you fragments of the story and allow you to learn who these “geniuses” were and what separated them. But the plot never gets in your way and doesn’t make you appreciate what’s going on around you, unlike Maquette, which incorporates emotion into its atmospheric storytelling. Don’t worry, Viewfinder is primarily there to enjoy its gameplay dynamics.
Viewfinder continues to compare it to Maquette and how this puzzle game is played with size and scale in a very original way, offering a similar experience with the addition of perspective. To solve the puzzles you will have to use photos and images to advance further in the different levels. The trick is that there is a puzzle to solve in each level. These can lead you to finding batteries to power the teleporter that takes you to the next level, or figuring out how to get through locked doors or solid surfaces. Photographing a bridge to bridge the distance between two platforms might seem easy, but as you progress and have a camera, photocopier, multiple realities, and more, the challenge becomes more complicated, and then you start to get lost really think about it to work. Test your perception and your logic.
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Actually, the puzzles are pretty easy, but they will give you a headache more than once. Since Viewfinder doesn’t have a hint system, it’s easy to get stuck in a puzzle and have no way of progressing to the next level, as you have to complete each level in a very linear fashion before moving on to the next. However, the solution to each riddle is mostly in front of you: you only need to break the bounds of logic a little to decipher them, which can be a difficult task.
Again, unlike other puzzle games that focus on solving one puzzle at a time, Viewfinder is similar to Maquette in that it offers a more concise but well-thought-out experience. Each level is short but carefully crafted with unique problems waiting to be solved. You never feel like you’re playing the same thing over and over; In addition, thanks to the multitude of easter eggs The items hidden in each level always offer a fun way to spend more time in each level and even find exclusive collectibles from each chapter of the title.
On the other hand, the presentation of the game is exquisite. Viewfinder has an adorable look where sometimes you just take your time to enjoy the beauty of the level before trying to solve its puzzles. The music is calm and soothing, and the dubbing, discovered in the narrative archives lost there, is charismatic and brings to life each of the characters involved in the story.
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This might sound pessimistic to me, but with such confusing gameplay, I was expecting to run into some weird bugs and issues while trying to find my crazy solutions to the puzzles I was given. But no, I didn’t have any problems because the viewfinder is very sophisticated and fine-tuned, making the experience even more special and immersive.
Viewfinder is a very original work. This is a fantastic puzzle game, one of those that stands out in an increasingly popular genre, leaving the player with a sense of wonder and intrigue after each level. However, I believe that the narrative lacks weight and that there could be more attractive ways of telling a story that go beyond the audio files found there. Despite this, it’s almost impossible not to be intrigued by this title and the addictive puzzles it offers. I’m excited to see how Sad Owl Studios will make me explode again in their future work when it comes to logic and perception of reality.
