Entertainment

Games: Slushy puzzler Maquette will make your brain hurt and stomach churn in equal measure

At Maquette's centre lies a tiny model of the entire world – any interaction you have with this doll's house is replicated in the surrounding large-scale environment
At Maquette's centre lies a tiny model of the entire world – any interaction you have with this doll's house is replicated in the surrounding large-scale environment At Maquette's centre lies a tiny model of the entire world – any interaction you have with this doll's house is replicated in the surrounding large-scale environment

Maquette (PS4/PS5/PC)

By: Annapurna

IF LOCKDOWN has turned your brains to mush, Annapurna's cranial workout will get those neurons firing again in a next-gen puzzler that attempts to engage your head and heart.

From the team behind What Remains of Edith Finch – one of the last generation's best games – comes a lesson in spatial awareness let down by its syrupy, romantic plot.

Set inside a dream-like world, Maquette's recursive hook is like nothing your poor brain has ever dealt with before. At its centre lies a tiny model of the entire world, and any interaction you have with this doll's house is replicated in the surrounding large-scale environment.

Central to its puzzle-solving is working out how to manipulate this miniature neighbourhood. A normal sized key, for example, is big enough to act as a bridge in the model, which in turn will appear in giant form in the 'real' world. The entire model, in fact, can be moved around, as you lift the entire universe you inhabit. Far out, man!

Maquette encourages players to literally think outside the box – and then outside that box – as they grind through its three-odd hours of lateral logic. As a puzzler, it's a genuine gasp of fresh air, yet the whole enterprise buckles under an insipid plot that drags players along the ups and downs of a blossoming romance between Michael and Kenzie, a couple of simpering San Francisco hipsters given fragile, affected voicework from Bryce Dallas Howard and her real-life hubbie, Seth Gabel.

This irritating pair avoid the usual bars for dates, collect old guitar plectrums and make pinkie-swears in a cloying narrative that would embarrass Radio 4. While it's an admirable attempt to breathe some humanity into a traditionally cold genre, the greatest puzzle will be how to keep the bile from rising in your guts.

The grating, sickly-sweet blatherings of our unseen leads are your reward for completing each level, backed up by an authentic, if overpowering, Bay Area soundtrack for that 'Frisco vibe.

When Maquette works, it works really well. If you can avoid drowning in the treacle, its actual spatial awareness concept is solid, while conquering each scale-shifting puzzle makes you feel quite the clever clogs.

Like playing Tetris with Love Story on in the background, Maquette is a slushy stumper that'll make your brain hurt and stomach churn in equal measure.