Chris- 0 Comment
- January 5, 2022
Moncage is a charming puzzle game,all about giving you a fresh perspective and to not only look at the bigger picture, but change your viewpoint entirely. As the player you are spawned in a beautifully designed room, with this eye-catching look going on for it with this minimalistic vibe.Nothing Infront of you but a cube on a desk, a magical cube like no other. You will see multiple scenes on each face of the cube, your job is to find the perspective that connects and combines these seemingly unconnected scenes to make a moving narrative.The narrative may be delivered in a unique way, but remains a bit weak and lacks some substance.
" An Optical Journey, That will twist your mind "
As you start your journey through moncage, the first scene you will encounter is a simplistic one. The game is very helpful at the start and will tell you how to manipulate the cube. You must align a truck with another truck in a different scene to get it moving, for the first few puzzles you get walked through it in a slow paced nature so you can work out what is supposed to be done.
Even though the first few puzzles are not difficult in nature and are made as a learning curve, you still feel accomplished. There is something nice about working something out by simply combining two different vignettes. The difficulty will quickly ramp up and just like every puzzle game, it will make you think a lot. This is where their unique concept comes into play. While other games take an approach of solving a puzzle, just in one 3D environment, moncage makes you think in different environments, which can make for an interesting time. You would never think that a lever on one face of the cube can actually be opened by aligning it with an oil pump on the other.
The scenes on each face of the cube are so different and unique, that sometimes you can not simply see the connections at all. Which becomes an issue when the scenes get so busy and so many details are in the scene, that you do not know what to align to progress and on top of the the fact, if some of the alignments do not play well, i noticed myself knowing what to align and trying multiple times, only for it to catch on finally when i moved it a slight pixel down.When you do get things aligned, and either a piece you need falls into the other scene for you to use it there, or it could open a door which lights the box up letting you know that the scene has changed. I found this accessibility option useful but sometimes the game could confuse you as you now have a new scene. that seemingly was connected to the one before but not in an obvious way.
"Head Scratching Puzzles"
The puzzles in moncage are all different and range from simply aligning two faces of the cube, to the more complex puzzles. where you will need to quickly align multiple faces, to move the object throughout the cube.The whole point of this is to tell you a story through pictures while the concept is so refreshing to see and I loved it a lot. The issue of the narrative sadly becomes apparent very quickly, as I got lost and did not know what the story was about. I think it is a shame because the delivery system of the story is so spot on. I personally think even adding a few dialogues boxes at the bottom of the screen dictating what is happening in the picture after you complete your puzzle, would make it feel more complete and less confusing to the user.
"Accessibility For all"
Moncage actually has a host of accessibility options for the user if they are struggling, some are very handy, like if you hold a spacebar to highlight the objects that need to be manipulated and aligned. I used this throughout.It also gives you a hint system which can feel a bit patronizing when it gives you the hints for parts of the puzzle you have already solved, but it still for the most part works and will be a great help for those struggling.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time through moncage and I found it charming, casual and fun. The game’s concept was so refreshing and a welcome addition to the puzzle genre, But i went away feeling like maybe if the story was more hard hitting or slightly less confusing then, it would be one to remember.
- A Unique Outlook on a puzzle game.7.8
“Moncage offers the player a unique and interesting way to look at a puzzle game. You will literally need to think in multiple scenes to solve a puzzle,Although the narrative can be weak and confusing at times. The delivery system in which they give you narrative is perfect. "
