Game Review: Maskmaker

I was sent this game as a review code. While I am very grateful for the opportunity, I will not let it sway my opinions. This will be an honest review of the game.

Maskmaker is a VR puzzle game where you explore strange worlds looking for materials and blueprints to make new masks. I played it on the Meta Quest 2, but you can find it on sale on Steam at the moment of writing this.

You find yourself in an old maskmaker’s workshop where you have the tools to make the magical masks that will let you travel to strange new worlds. As you explore new worlds, you uncover the mystery of the old mask maker’s death. It is a pretty solid story with some fantastic voice acting. I recommend this game for the voice acting alone. 

This game is a giant scavenger hunt as you search for the materials you need to get to the next leg of the story. The game runs smoothly, and the worlds you get to explore are beautiful. The developers do a fantastic job at making this an immersive experience. The distances, the sounds, and the tactile feedback you get when you pick up items make it easy to get lost in the world of Maskmaker.

Be aware that this game might give you motion sickness if you aren’t used to playing VR games. By default, the game will do some vignetting around the edges as you move through the world. I turned it off instantly because it took away from the immersion, but it might help if the motion sickness gets too bad. I could only stomach this game for small bursts before I got too sick to keep going. I eventually got my VR legs, and I recommend you work up to this point because it makes the experience more meaningful. 

There are two parts to this game, mask-making, and exploration. Mask making is simple, you follow the directions on the blueprints you find, and the mask will light up when it’s ready. I found mask-making very relaxing. I loved the haptic feedback that exists when you are handling objects in the game. It makes it feel like you are actually holding items. 

You explore the world by putting on different masks. Exploring the world is a leisurely trot through the strange new worlds you get whisked to. I recommend you explore everything so that you don’t miss out on items that are important to your progress. 

Maskmaker runs great! Movement is fluid and everything looks beautiful. If you plan to play this game seated or with the joystick, I recommend you tweak the turning radius. I found that turning with the joystick would make me overshoot my target. I preferred playing this game standing. It didn’t require much room, and I preferred the immersion of physically turning. I also found physical turning to be more accurate anyways. 

The only issue with the gameplay that I found was with the spyglass mechanic. The spyglass was annoying to focus with. I also found that I would often get stuck in spyglass mode, unable to move away. Physically moving my head back seemed to solve the issue, but it wouldn’t always work. Other than that, the game works great.

So is this game worth it? The game is on sale on Steam for $4.99 until 1/5/23. This game is a steal for $5. If you want a chill relaxing VR game that you can easily get lost in, this is a great place to start are someone who likes puzzles and scavenger hunts; this game is worth even for the $19.99 it is originally. For everyone else, I would wait for the sale. This game is an immersive, chill game that looks great and runs well. I recommend you check it out if you are in the market for a new VR experience.

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