Every so often, a game comes along with an incredibly simple concept but with absolutely brilliant implementation. This year, Viewfinder is that game.
Developed by Sad Owl Studios, Viewfinder is a breath-taking, technically amazing first-person puzzle game that will have you scratching your head, not merely on how to solve the puzzles, but also wondering how they did that.
Set in a not-too-distant future, Viewpoint throws you into the shoes of a scientist who has been tasked with spelunking the depths of a virtual world to find the research of a former team. Why they developed this world, the tools that make it run, and why they finally abandoned it are just some of the answers you’ll find across your reality-bending journey.
Unfortunately, the simulation is bugged and navigating between the various levels is almost impossible. Luckily, thanks to a breakthrough from one of the former members of the team, you can use pictures of any kind to navigate this world for your answers. Whether it’s a photograph, birthday card or a screenshot, if it’s there for you to pick up, you can use it to get around the level.
This is where Viewfinder‘s pure brilliance comes into play. Whatever image you’re holding, be it a photograph or a birthday card, you can hold it up before you and, with the click of a button, pop that card, its geometry and depth, into the world before you. Is there a gap between one part of the level and another? Then just rotate that photograph of a pillar, align it with the ledges and bang, a bridge is borne. A gate blocking your path? Then use a photo of an arch to cut through the gate by popping that arch in over it.
How Viewfinder pops that geometry in and out, cutting seamlessly through existing geometry is nothing short of game development magic. And if you’ve messed up? It’s as simple as rewinding to the last image you used like you’re using a VCR, in real-time. Seamless resetting. That seamlessness applies to moving between levels as well. It’s as simple as activating a teleporter and stepping through a portal as in, well, Portal.
The goal of each level is to make it to the teleporter to get to the next level. Of course, it’s not that simple. The puzzles start off simple enough and slowly ramp up to head-scratching spatial inventiveness. And then become even more complicated once you’re given a Polaroid camera to take photos of your own with. Especially when each level starts to limit you on the number of photos you can take, leaving you to really utilise that grey matter.
Beyond the technical genius, Viewfinder‘s puzzle genius is in getting you to think outside of the box. Need two batteries to power a teleporter? Then simply photograph the existing one and pop it into the level as an exact working, though grey-scaled replica? But what if the teleporter is on the side of a building and you need two batteries and a copy of the teleporter to work but only have one shot left in the camera? Or, if you’re just lazy, how about popping the geometry in above you and letting the battery drop down to you instead of placing it in front of you and having to walk on over it?
How much you can play around with the tools provided is down to your imagination. It often left me wondering whether or not I’d used the method intended by the developers to clear a level or had I come up with something somewhat unique. . .
Viewfinder‘s story initially left me unimpressed. The reasons for going into this virtual space, to prevent or attempt to undo an ecological disaster, didn’t quite matter when I was reading the various post-it notes around the environment. The voice recordings left behind began to liven it up somewhat but it was only when the artificial cat, Cait, rocked up that the story came to a more personal semblance of life with its views on the scientists and their relationships. And yes, you can pet him anytime you want!
Viewfinder’s brilliant spatial puzzles and use of technology make it a breath of fresh air in the gaming world. And while it’s a journey that’s over far too quickly, it’s one that inspires me to return to the levels over and over again just to see the different ways in which I could solve it, or just to play around with its “Polaroid Effect” technology. It’s beautiful, brilliant, thought-provoking and sublime and you need to play it.
Viewfinder Trailer
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