Maquette

 PlayStation 5
User Score
6.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 91 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 91
  2. Mixed: 38 out of 91
  3. Negative: 18 out of 91

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  1. swkane
    Mar 4, 2021
    9
    I greatly enjoyed Maquette. With puzzles like Escher / Monument Valley and a story and soundtrack akin to 500 Days of Summer, this dreamy puzzler is the perfect way to pass some time during quarantine. (Especially if you can get it free from PS Plus!)

    Devs, if any of you see this review, thank you for a wonderful little game, it brought me joy during a tough time.
  2. Marko24778
    Mar 4, 2021
    10
    Maquette is a beautifully designed game with vibrant colours and wonderful graphics. The puzzles and the story are intertwined exquisitely and solving each puzzle feels extremely rewarding. The puzzles never get too complex but are tough enough to challenge you and make you think. The story is well crafted and is an interesting and engaging take on life. I would recommend this game toMaquette is a beautifully designed game with vibrant colours and wonderful graphics. The puzzles and the story are intertwined exquisitely and solving each puzzle feels extremely rewarding. The puzzles never get too complex but are tough enough to challenge you and make you think. The story is well crafted and is an interesting and engaging take on life. I would recommend this game to anyone who loves puzzles. This is definitely a must play!… Expand
  3. TheChungus
    Mar 7, 2021
    9
    Everyone seems to be hopping on the bandwagon of torching this game, which is sad for the developers because I am sure it is deserving of better. The recursive mechanic is super cool. I came into the game blind, and dropping the box the first time was delighting. Yes, the game feels limited in that there are paths you are supposed to take to solve the puzzles. People love to compare it toEveryone seems to be hopping on the bandwagon of torching this game, which is sad for the developers because I am sure it is deserving of better. The recursive mechanic is super cool. I came into the game blind, and dropping the box the first time was delighting. Yes, the game feels limited in that there are paths you are supposed to take to solve the puzzles. People love to compare it to Portal’s openness and trash it in that respect, which I would say is unfair. The puzzles are still intriguing, rewarding, and fun to solve. I would take the limited world trade off for what the game provides in terms of narrative and aesthetic design. I knew I was going to dig what the team at graceful decay were serving up when the soundtrack started rolling at the start. The game is beautiful, the soundtrack is the best pairing with a game’s narrative and overall feeling I have heard in a long time. The narrative itself is fantastic. Cheesy? At times. But a ton of authenticity throughout as well. I was certainly invested in the story, even to the point where I was sure Michael was the narrator. A clever trick allowing the player to identify the narrator by whoever they might connect to. The way the color palette and architecture changed across the chapters moving in synch with the ebb and flow of Kinzie/Michael’s relationship was also a wonderful trick. Terrific audio design, even when not considering the soundtrack. So all in all, this game is great. It’s not a Portal puzzler, and it’s not a Marriage Story level narrative, but it’s a blend of the two and an absolutely delightful one at that. Well done graceful decay, excited for your next release. Hopefully people come around, and this metacritic doesn’t stick at the score it’s currently at.… Expand
  4. HaloFever
    Mar 4, 2021
    8
    Clever puzzle game with fantastic presentation. Maquette's gameplay is the most innovative gaming I have had in quite a long time. The game world is repeated in increasingly larger sizes, and small objects you move in the small size cause large objects to move in the larger sizes and vice versa. In some parts, I felt like Ant Man. In others, I was in an M.C. Escher. The gameplay remindedClever puzzle game with fantastic presentation. Maquette's gameplay is the most innovative gaming I have had in quite a long time. The game world is repeated in increasingly larger sizes, and small objects you move in the small size cause large objects to move in the larger sizes and vice versa. In some parts, I felt like Ant Man. In others, I was in an M.C. Escher. The gameplay reminded me of some of the neat experiments I've seen from players in "Dreams" by Media Molecule, only as a full polished game. Just as I've become jaded of the typical AAA game after decades of gaming, I've become more interested in games that give me new experiences. In many ways, "Maquette" is a game for people who love games.

    Let's get the elephant out of the room. According to my PS5, my playthrough clocked in somewhere over 3 hours. I do not care at all about the game's length. I only care about the quality of the experience. The same way the first 11 minutes of Pixar's "Up" are better than most entire movies, this 3 hour game is better than most of the bloated, generic games with 25+ hour times to beat. Full disclosure: like most PS5 owners in March of 2021, I downloaded this for "free" from PlayStation Plus.
    The puzzles in "Maquette" can be a bit obtuse, and I love that about the game. There is really little in the way of tutorial, though the trailer for the game gives you a good idea of how to play it. For all I know, there are multiple way, perhaps insidiously elegant ways to solve the game's puzzles. My advice, as always, is to avoid using any kind of guide. Once you break that seal, you can't unbreak it. Fair warning to casual players: some of the puzzles do require a bit of movement skill. You might also need to reload a game save if you drop something where you cannot reach it. Deep breaths.

    "Maquette" has a nicely presented story about romance. This is solid ground that games, especially indie games, have trod before. The style is unique. There are little vignettes between puzzles and they have show how the gaming industry is providing employment to talented artists. The soundtrack is one of the best I have ever heard. I was surprised by the voice cast as the credits rolled. Annapurna spared no expense.

    All in all, "Maquette" is a must play puzzle game. Even if you do not like puzzles, there is something marvelous about how Annapurna created this game world. A few of the puzzles were difficult for the wrong reasons (unless I was brute forcing something I shouldn't have), but you won't spend long banging your head against a wall. I wish more games would look this good, sound this good, and bring in so many new ideas.    … Expand
  5. morikules
    Mar 3, 2021
    10
    I really enjoyed Maquette. Its a beautiful little puzzle game with a sweet love story. The puzzles are in my opinion cleverly designed and it took me some time to solve them but they never get too complex either. Every time i got the solution i thought: "wow, that´s clever".
    I really recommend everyone checking in on this game its short but beautiful experience.
    Oh and also: the    I really enjoyed Maquette. Its a beautiful little puzzle game with a sweet love story. The puzzles are in my opinion cleverly designed and it took me some time to solve them but they never get too complex either. Every time i got the solution i thought: "wow, that´s clever".
    I really recommend everyone checking in on this game its short but beautiful experience.
    Oh and also: the soundtrack is unbelievable good!    … Expand
  6. PlaySIvan
    Mar 6, 2021
    10
    This is a master craft of a game. It’s fairly short. But it packs a pretty hard punch with its 4-5 hours of gameplay depending on how puzzle savvy you are. If you love a good story, perhaps even a love one, then don’t miss out on this game.
  7. deathstramding
    Mar 19, 2021
    10
    this game is simple but i like this gamethis game is simple but i like this game
  8. MauJAJ
    Mar 12, 2021
    10
    Is an emotional and beautiful game, I love it, and the integrated adaptive triggers give it its master touch, for me it is a good candidate for a Game of the Year, it is a masterpiece, it just lacks more publicity.
  9. HappyNebula
    Mar 8, 2021
    8
    Maquette is a simple and enjoyable puzzle game driven by a love story between two people. The narrative is simple and presented by great voice acting. There are some cliches, but is well written overall. The recursive scenery is beautifully crafted which serves as a visual metaphor for constructing the narrative and gives you a fun sense of scale. Placing objects in the small “maquette”Maquette is a simple and enjoyable puzzle game driven by a love story between two people. The narrative is simple and presented by great voice acting. There are some cliches, but is well written overall. The recursive scenery is beautifully crafted which serves as a visual metaphor for constructing the narrative and gives you a fun sense of scale. Placing objects in the small “maquette” and seeing it recursively generated outside is a cool effect and reminds me of that “infinite mirror effect”. The game plays with that to construct puzzles in a simple manner, there is not much variation on how you manipulate objects or place them, but is effective. I like how the game gives you no hint on what to do and encourage you to explore the scenery and try things out. It’s something that you’ll probably won’t be spending dozens of minutes to figure out what to do. And if you find yourself in that situation, you’ll feel lonely with the silence of the game. Don’t get me wrong, the game has a good well-suited soundtrack, but it’s played just in the beginning of each chapter, and then you will be hearing just the silent ambient noise. I thing they could have worked better on sound design.

    Overall, it’s a nice puzzle game that will not stress you out. A good game to play in a weekend and chill out. If you are a complectionist, you can easily platinum this game within four hours.    … Expand
  10. Scottyunbeamed
    Mar 13, 2021
    10
    Despite what all the other users wrote, I had fun with this game, no stuttering or any kind of technical issues on my PS5. I normally don’t enjoy typical lovestory stuff, but after the first 30 minutes, the game was pretty much done with bad stereotypes.
    If you ever had a long relationship you will find patterns, issues, problems and situations you can relate to. At least my relations    Despite what all the other users wrote, I had fun with this game, no stuttering or any kind of technical issues on my PS5. I normally don’t enjoy typical lovestory stuff, but after the first 30 minutes, the game was pretty much done with bad stereotypes.
    If you ever had a long relationship you will find patterns, issues, problems and situations you can relate to. At least my relations sometimes contained some stereotypes and that’s the mix that this game hit pretty well. Even days later, I still thought about the Story and im not that much of an emotional person. People may ask for more decisionmaking in some games, but this is a story of which im happy in was told the way it was.(strange sentence, sorry, but I don’t want to spoil what you can and cannot decide)

    The puzzle aspect isn’t a Portal, but the game never tried to be something it can’t reach. So for me, puzzles started easy and got harder during the game. Not to easy throuout the game, still no unbeatable obstacles. Of course it’s a relatively short game, but the developers filled it with content, that i wouldn’t want to change.

    The visual style of the game is beautiful, and was well thought of. Through the whole game the look and the design supported the Story and the mechanics at the same time. I had no trouble with any mechanics nor a feeling of bulgy or lazy design.

    All in all this Game isn’t groundbreaking, It’s smart art. If you can’t enjoy a good book, or a demanding movie, maybe you won’t enjoy it as much as I did. But If you do... you‘d regret missing this game.    … Expand
  11. PaddyBoy94
    Apr 26, 2021
    10
    Absolutely adored this game for its amazing perspective puzzles, beautiful soundtrack and touching story. A fantastic debut title for the studio, a game that has stuck with me even after finishing it a few weeks ago. Looking forward to the next game from the Graceful Decay studio!
  12. zwolsa
    Jul 30, 2023
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. If you liked “The Unfinished Swan”, go for it. This game uses its game mechanics to tell a story. I love this but many won’t.… Expand
  13. Skurttish
    May 10, 2021
    8
    A puzzle game with an interesting concept brilliantly executed. Especially the later levels added a lot of interesting twists and turns that gave the game a feel of “I have no clue what the mess could be coming up next”.

    I played this game with my stepson, and there are definitely a few stumpers, but we only had to look up a walkthrough once. Other than that, it was hard enough to spark    A puzzle game with an interesting concept brilliantly executed. Especially the later levels added a lot of interesting twists and turns that gave the game a feel of “I have no clue what the mess could be coming up next”.

    I played this game with my stepson, and there are definitely a few stumpers, but we only had to look up a walkthrough once. Other than that, it was hard enough to spark some fun discussion, but not hard enough to get really frustrated.

    Although the story was interesting and relatable, it was also really predictable, but we didn’t pick it up for the story, so we didn’t mind too badly.

    An easy recommendation to a puzzle game fan.    … Expand
  14. Link_the_garden
    May 24, 2021
    9
    I really enjoyed this game. Great music and a great story. And the puzzles are very well done. Very smart concept. I did find the controls to be annoying at times but didn't affect the overall experience. Only a short game so highly recommend this, especially as it's a free game on PS plus.
  15. piston
    Jan 4, 2023
    10
    It's a 10 for a puzzle game, perfect for a date night. The wife and I are always looking for a good puzzle game to play together, and this is still our favorite.
  16. krzysio290
    Apr 29, 2021
    8
    I loved this game for a great story and for forced me to think when solving puzzles. There wasn't action, shooting or something, pretty simple and very nice to play with my girlfriend, she loves it.
  17. carloh
    Dec 5, 2021
    8
    ALERTA POST EN ESPAÑOL


    este juego no tiene la historia más profunda ni el mejor gameplay tiene varios bugs y cosas por el estilo pero hay algo en el que me atrae
    quizás sea su historia quizás sea alguna metáfora pero simplemente no podía no calificarlo con un 9

Awards & Rankings

91
#91 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2021
46
#46 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 40
  3. Negative: 1 out of 40
  1. CD-Action
    Nov 15, 2021
    65
    Maquette’s central mechanic is brilliant and leads to some cool (but also repetitive) puzzles. The game itself is pretty rough around the edges though and I felt the developers could have squeezed so much more from this great concept. [05/2021, p.60]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 12, 2021
    60
    Maquette is beautifully crafted, and I was really hoping to get to know Kenzie and Michael better over the course of time. However, superb voice acting, a great soundtrack, and some interesting design ideas were just not enough. The gameplay regrettably fails to stand up to its true potential while the rules of the game are frequently broken. And after just two or three hours, it is all over. [Issue#310]
  3. GameGrin
    Apr 7, 2021
    75
    Overall, Maquette is a solid and unique puzzle game with a sentimental, well-performed story that may hit a little too close to home for some, while maybe providing some closure for others. If only the developer found a way to intertwine the puzzles and the story together to feel more complete.
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