We really were not sure what the expect when going into Vanishing Grace, as the game sort of came as surprise to us a few days before it’s release. Now we have take the trip through the game, did it surprise us again?
Story
A battered craft turns up at the citadel, that belonged to a someone close to you called Grace. You now have to decide to leave your life at the citadel behind for the time being, as you head to find Grace. The question is can your life at the citadel survive this trip? and can you find Grace?
Gameplay
When it comes to gameplay, the team have attempted to add puzzle elements to the game – but these are not overly complex. In most cases you will be moving on with the game in no time at all, with only a few of the puzzles leaving us stumped for a prolonged period.
They will mainly just range from finding the right objects in the ship to continue with the games narrative and give you some backstory and memories. This can continue with the days on the game, unlock a new object to interact with, or another small puzzle. It’s hard to talk about any of the puzzles without giving away the solution. I think of away to best describe the puzzles is, if you think of Campo Santo’s Firewatch – which for us is not a bad thing, as that game was fantastic.
Outside of the puzzles, there will be parts where you need to charge the battery for the craft by destroying power sources with a boomerang. Once it is charged you will need to place the battery into the control panel, then flip switches, pull levers and turn a crank to get the craft moving.
Presentation
Again, it is hard not to make comparisons to Firewatch, with warm colours and the more shaded look to the visual design. As before, I do not see that as a bad thing, because it really suits what the game is trying to offer – and works great with the standalone device and looks nice inside the head mounted display.
Sound wise it does a great job, with all the environmental audio suiting each day, be it on the craft or out in the parts of the world. The voice acting is clear and easy to understand, however, one issue we found was some lines sound a bit devoid of personality when delivered.
Comfort/Controls
When it comes to comfort the game uses teleport movement with snap turn only, but, it works for what the game does. It also offers the option of playing standing or seated, meaning the game is accessible to anyone. With the controls all you will be using are the analogues and the grip buttons, again making it very easy for anyone to pick up and play.
Longevity
It took us around two hours to complete our play through of the game, but, it does offer a multiple choice ending. However, with already knowing how the solve the puzzles, you will be able to complete your second run through in thirty minutes. Which sort of left us not only wanting harder puzzles, but also the game to last a bit longer.
reviewed using meta quest 2
For the purposes of transparency, this review was created using a review code provided by the company or their respective PR company. The use of a press code does not affect my judgement of the product.
Review Overview
Vanishing Grace did surprise us in what the game offered, and although it comes with bad points, these are balanced out with good points. With a great narrative for the story, puzzles that made sure it did not break up that narrative and doing everything it needed to to work well in VR. However, it did leave us with wanting puzzles that were a little more difficult, a better variation of puzzles and a bit more meat on the bones of the story. With what the game does in most areas, it’s hard not to find similarities to Firewatch – but, it’s a great game to be compared to.
