Viewfinder (2023)

Viewfinder is a first person puzzle game that focuses on shifting your perspective and altering the world around you. At first you'll be placing pictures or posters you find in front of you making you able to enter them to solve puzzles, to quickly taking pictures of a tower then flipping that image around to cut off pieces of the environment and make items fall down to where you can interact with them. The sense of progression and learning is very well paced, making sure you understand the mechanics and how to utilize them to solve the puzzles before introducing yet another layer to the game. Unfortunately, these puzzles are never too difficult, with only one really stumping me and making me take a step back to look at everything again from another perspective. The creativity here though is incredible, with how many little bits they added which could be easily missed as they aren't required for progression. Through my 8.5 hours it took to 100% the game, I almost always had a smile on my face as every facet of this game just oozes creativity.

If you like puzzle games especially around shifting perspectives or altering the game world around you, this game is a no brainer!

Starts slow but gets more engaging as it goes on. Chapter 1 and 2 worried me the game was too easy but Chapter 3 and 4 kept me engaged, when given the camera.

Never really gets hard. Stumped only a couple times but the solutions always felt good. The optional watermelon puzzle had me hard stuck for a long long time but the solution was great. Want more puzzles like that one, or ones that utilize physics.

I rarely enjoy pure puzzle games, but viewfinder has such a unique mind melting mechanic(s) that I was thoroughly hooked. It had the same effect on me as the first time I played VR - that surreal awe.

But beneath the expert coding is some really really fun puzzles. The kind that are remniscent of portal - not impossible, but takes a minute for your lateral thinking to catch up. Each one made me feel creatively challenged, and it would reward you with more incredible mechanics.

The main mechanic is using a camera to take photos and then place those photos in the world. When you place them, they project out into 3D space and meld with the environment. There’s a lot more to it than that, but that alone has such a unique feel.

The story and lore are the only parts not as strong as Portal 1/2, I rarely took the time to read all the notes or care about the context. But the rest of the game is perfect, and I super super recommend it.