Moss Book II - Review

It has been four years since Moss first released and the adventure of Quill the little mouse first kicked off. With how the game ended, a sequel was quite likely to happen and thankfully the game sold well enough that Polyarc were able to dedicate the time to making it. The game released a few months ago for PlayStation VR, but is now coming to Quest 2, so strapping on my headset, I was ready to read the book of Moss once more.

If you have never played the first game, Moss Book II does open with a recap of the adventure, which is also handy for someone like me who played the first one, way back in 2018. With the story caught up, the next chapter of Quill’s adventure was one I was ready to enjoy and while there are some big moments in it, the basic story sticks true to the outline that was set up in the first game. There are five pieces of glass, each with a power to them and in a time long since passed, they were united by someone who evil intentions and that caused the world to break. The world was saved, but in order to ensure that nothing that like that would ever happen again, the pieces of glass were given to different groups and hidden away. Quill has a piece of glass, it was something she found in the first game, which lets her see the reader, which is your and with that she undertakes a quest to get support from the groups that hid the glass, in order to stop the new threat.

Like the first game, much of the story is told through books that you turn the pages of and narration by an unknown entity. Quill will speak with you in two ways, the first is with the narrator telling you what Quill is saying and the second and more interesting way, is that Quill uses real sign language to talk to you. There are a few new characters that Quill meets on her journey and some returning ones, however I won’t say anything more, because the story has a few beats that are best experienced for yourself. I will say this however, there was one moment when the game got me, Quill was pleading for her reader, which is the player, to help her and I could do nothing. It was honestly gut wrenching, hearing those pleas and not being able to do anything about it, it was also something I was not expecting to encounter, which also helped hit harder.

On the gameplay side of things, there are some good and some weird, but let us focus on the good first. The game being on the Quest 2 means that there are now two independent control orbs, something that the PlayStation VR version didn’t have. The dual control scheme means that you can interact with the world using one hand, whilst still assisting Quill with the other. This cuts down on a lot of the waiting that the first game had, because while you are moving a block with one hand, you can be growing some vines with the other, and still moving Quill about the place. This speed also translates into the combat, which feels faster than before, with it being expanded upon as the story progresses once Quill obtains new weapons. The game also has some really inventive puzzles to enjoy, some are pretty straightforward but still manage to make full use of the world and others can be quite a challenge to solve, but they are never too frustrating.

Along the journey, Quill will get some new abilities, the first is that you can now make paths of vines, in certain locations, with their uses being two-fold, sometimes for puzzles and others for progression. Another ability that Quill receives is tied to her sword, she can charge it up and then unleash the power, causing her to dash forward. Any enemy that is in the way, will be sliced in two, however the dash also lets her leap across large gaps, gaining access to harder to reach places. Two additional weapons that Quill gets are the Chakram and a massive Hammer, each offering new ways to get around and solve puzzles, with both also having the ability to charge up their attacks as well. Combining all that in some boss fights, as well as puzzle solving, can be exciting but sometimes, the game isn’t too helpful if you get stuck.

That is where the weird comes in, there were a few puzzles that had me stumped, most of them were just me forgetting that I could move an object or two, but there was one that just made no sense. I won’t explain the puzzle, but I will say that it required me to use the Chakram in a way that the game hadn’t explained before and without that explanation, I was stuck trying every other conceivable option to progress. Something else that is a little weird, were the number of times that I fell off the map, so to speak, when Quill went behind items, there are no lives to lose – so it was just more annoying than anything, but still weird.

Sadly, there were a number of times when the game delivered some performance issues, for the most part it was the game not registering enemies being attacked, but occasionally, Quill would climb up onto surfaces that didn’t quite exist. Neither issue stopped my playing the game but seeing them did break the immersion and as I literally had a headset strapped to my face, that was quite the feat. There was an instance where the game itself essentially soft-locked, and restarting the checkpoint didn’t do anything, so I had to hard quit out of the game, in order to get it to work again, thankfully, that was the only time it happened.

As far as the games looks go, things are quite pleasant across the board, this isn’t a game that is filled with ray tracing and particle effects, but the entire art design is done in such a way that it enhances everything. Quill herself, is still adorable from her animations when you accidentally send her into water, or when she is scared and looking for some reassurance from you. The enemy design is a little repetitive but is justified by the fact that they are machines, made in a production line and while there is some variety towards the end, they still have a consistent look between them. The boss fights are great, mostly because of the design of the various bosses that you have to face off against, it is however the last realm that you enter, that looks the best, purely because it is broken at the seams and literally breaks all expectations.

On the sound side, the only voice work is done by the narrator, who also provides different voices when adding speech for different characters and it is done very well. The game is not narrated from start to finish, only during the story beats, so when they are not around, you can enjoy the games sound design and music. The music is pretty simple, a lot of the tracks are perfect to listen to when you are looking to relax, but there are a couple of melodies that ratchet up the tempo, but are reserved for those times when you have to fight.

Moss Book II takes the formula from the first game and turns the page, adding more depth to it, but still keeping the same charm that the original had. Combat is now more varied, thanks to the new weapons and abilities and while some of the puzzles will stump players, they are not major roadblocks, though a help system would be ideal for new gamers. The story ends in a somewhat satisfying manner, though a more rounded out tale would be ideal, but it isn’t bad overall. If you played the first game and fell in love with Quill like I and so many others did, then Moss Book II is a game for you, however if you have never experienced the series before, then you really need to play it.

The Score

9.0

Review code provided by Polyarc

The Pros

+Keeps the heart and charm from the first game, but makes things richer across the board

+Interacting with the world is much easier now, thanks to the two Quest 2 controllers

The Cons

-Some puzzles are not as simple as you might think, including one that relies on a mechanic that the game does not explain

-There are a lot of holes hidden behind things, so those attempting to locate all the scrolls will like find themselves falling a lot.