Review — Moss: The Forgotten Relic for Switch 2

Of all the trends in gaming over the last few decades, the one that always seemed just outside of my reach was virtual reality. Not because I wasn’t interested in the technology — I thought it looked like a lot of fun and I was intrigued by the possibilities — but because it never felt accessible to me at the right time. It was a pretty hefty investment for a long while, and by the time it wasn’t, I felt like the moment had kind of passed me by and my money was better spent elsewhere. Because of this, there are plenty of great games I’d read about that were VR-exclusive that I never had the chance to dive into. Luckily, as time marches on, some of these titles have been making their way into our reality by way of boring old screens. A few such titles are Polarc’s Moss and Moss: Book 2, now packaged as one game, Moss: The Forgotten Relic, and releasing for several non-VR platforms, including the Nintendo Switch 2.

 

Mice to Meet You

 

Moss: The Forgotten Relic stars Quill, an adventurous little mouse whose exploration of the woods outside her home has led her to discover a hidden bit of power in a small piece of Glass, granting her a connection to the player. Known as the Reader in Quill’s world, the player can interact with Quill’s environment via a floating orb of light, controlled with the right control stick. Not to be outdone by the Reader’s orb-y abilities, Quill also carries around a sword, with which she can pretty proficiently dispatch enemies along her path.

 

 

As you boot up Moss for the first time, you’re treated to a series of storybook scenes that tell you the history of Quill’s world and the mysterious piece of Glass she discovers. An evil force known as the Arcane has taken over the kingdom of Quill’s ancestors, and a few heroic individuals were able to escape the castle with the secrets to the power that the Arcane are looking for, and are able to hide deep in the forest. Quill’s uncle Fargus is one of these heroes, and when Quill returns home to him, accompanied by the Reader, to show him the Glass she found, he sets out to ensure that Quill’s discovery doesn’t bring the enemy to their doorstep. Not content with sitting around, Quill and the Reader embark on their own adventure, following after Fargus, heading towards the castle.

 

An Im-mouse-ive Perspective

 

Beginning my own journey with Moss: The Forgotten Relic, it was immediately visually apparent that this used to be a VR game. This is to be expected, of course, since Moss and Moss: Book 2 were designed around all of VR’s capabilities. The storybook opening takes place in what looks to be a huge library or cathedral with a lot of depth, and the book you’re reading from has pages that look like they should have a little perspective to them, kind of like when you see a movie that was shot for 3D without any of the 3D effects. There’s also a fair amount of immersive scene-setting as you travel through Quill’s world that I’m sure looked incredible in VR, but fell kind of flat when viewing it on a 2D screen. Though the noticeable non-VR-ness of it all was jarring at first, over time I got used to most of it. The game still looks very nice, and the translation of a lot of the VR elements to traditional gameplay is still very well-done.

The entire game is broken up into small, mouse-sized stages or rooms that look like little dioramas and they are a sight to behold. You’re often looking down into the room from on high, as everything Quill interacts with is mouse-sized, but there are sections where Quill will round a corner or head into a tunnel where the camera zooms in to follow her, or ends up in an open area where a larger animal is looming over her and the camera will zoom out, showing how minuscule Quill is in comparison, and the level of detail and immersion on display in both instances is wonderful.

 

 

Mousing Around

 

The diorama-like rooms you venture through usually feature an intricate puzzle, requiring your abilities as the Reader to be used in tandem with Quill’s own abilities, melding into a satisfying puzzle-platforming experience. You’ll move blocks in and out of walls, or take control of enemies to drag them over switches, while also controlling Quill as she finds her way into nooks and crannies around the room, jumps up and down ledges and across gaps, and hits switches of her own to navigate these puzzles. Quill’s skill with the sword (and other weapons in the Moss: Book 2 half of the game) come into play as well — you’ll fend off enemies in plenty of the rooms, often contending with them while you solve puzzles or even as part of of the puzzles in some of the more complicated areas.

The combat is simple but also has a satisfying weight to it. Quill has access to short combos and can usually make quick work of individual enemies. Once they start grouping up though, you’ll have to be a bit more creative and cautious, utilizing the Reader’s ability to grab hold of enemies to stun them, turn them around, or keep them away from Quill as she fights off their buddies. Puzzles are definitely the main focus here, but the sections where combat takes the spotlight offered a nice change of pace.

 

 

Quill’s movement did take me a while to get used to. Her steps feel slippery, and the depth of field sometimes felt a little off as I was navigating the world. This led to a handful of times when I slipped off the edge of a platform while trying to solve puzzles, sometimes leading me back to the beginning of a bigger room and requiring me to take more time than I’d have liked to navigate back to where I fell, especially if it involved a few intricate steps in the room’s puzzle. I’m not sure if these depth of field issues are leftover relics of the game’s design in VR, but I felt like I never quite got the hang of easily finding the edge of smaller platforms or narrow pathways.

 

A Storied Tail

 

Moss: The Forgotten Relic is presented as a storybook that you, the Reader, are reading. It’s a really fun way to encapsulate the way the story is being told, and it has almost an audiobook quality to it. There’s one narrator, who, by and large, does a good job in the role. She tells the story, and voices all the characters, doing her best impressions of gruff old men, mysterious warriors, elderly wizards, and more. Of course, she provides Quill’s voice as well, which is perhaps the most endearing voice she makes as it fits our adventurous little mouse perfectly. On the other hand, it was tough to take some of her male voices as seriously as it seemed the game would have liked. I loved the narrative choice of having someone tell this story to me, but some of those voices just took me out of the experience a little bit.

Moss: Book 1 only entails the small first bit of Quill’s journey leading her to the castle, and ends on somewhat of a climactic cliffhanger. Thankfully Book 2 is a part of this package and picks up right where Book 1 leaves off and shows us so much more of Quill’s adventure to save her world. Even with both games in one package, Moss’s story is not a long one. You’ll likely be playing for about 12 hours, and as a whole it doesn’t have the most unique or wide-reaching story, but like its starring character, it’s small and powerful.

 

 

Scurrying Along

 

In a year that seems to be chock-full of mouse games like Mina the Hollower and Mouse: P.I. For Hire, Moss: The Forgotten Relic is another great mouse-themed choice for players to pick up on Switch 2. It won’t take much of your time, it looks adorable, the environments and camera work are immersive, it has compelling puzzles, and Quill is about as cute as protagonists come. There are certainly bits that are a little rough around the edges thanks to the transition from VR to a more traditional format, and the narrator’s voice choices may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m glad I spent my time guiding Quill as her Reader, and I’d happily do it again.

 

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