Maskmaker

Maskmaker is the new virtual reality game from French studio Innerspace after the very successful A Fisherman's Tale. It tells the story of an apprentice creator of magic masks and his master, while the player infiltrates their secret workshop. Maskmaker is above all an artistic work of quality, both visually and in terms of the soundtrack, with full dubbing in French. However, we regret that the puzzles are not more complex, everything is rather too easy and agreed, even when it comes to making the keepers interact with each other to progress.

It’s set-up is ludicrous, it’s biomes are beautiful but sparse, and it’s story is convoluted; but even still, I enjoyed Maskmaker and I recommend you take up the chisel and mallet and experience it for yourself. There’s a clever and unique use of VR in this game that make it worth trying on, despite everything.

Maskmaker is peppered with magic moments but also padded with more routine and familiar gameplay, plus a heavy-handed narrative. Its best moments achieve an intricate balance between body-swapping puzzling that helps lift the veil on some of the story’s deeper themes, and I would have happily spent hours more making masks in the welcome confines of its workshop. But the game often feels like it’s presenting puzzles for the sake of it and could have helped its story breathe by stripping back some of the exposition.

I really enjoyed my time Maskmaker. Puzzle games like this can easily lead to frustration, but Maskmaker is a thoroughly inventive VR puzzler that walks the line very well. It's a tad short, but I think it might be better that way as it doesn't outstay its welcome or overuse any mechanics. I'd love to give it a better score and it's an enjoyable VR puzzler, but with a few fiddly bits and some pretty serious bug that forced me to restart the whole game, it's lost a couple of points.

Maskmaker isn't a bad game by any means, but it is generic and restrictive in what it allows players to do. Making masks and exploring the world can be immensely enjoyable at times, but the game seems intent on stopping the player from interacting with those elements with any regularity. What's here is a strong foundation for future pursuits, but in its current form, Maskmaker feels a little too lackluster to recommend to anyone who isn't a dedicated VR aficionado looking for their next title amongst the genre's somewhat limited options.