Lights, Camera… Action!

Action Hero casts you as an actor/stuntman playing the lead on various movie sets, a clever premise that should breathe new life into Superhot’s time-manipulation mechanics. The game unfolds across five distinct “movies,” each broken into four acts. Each Act consists of five or six action-packed vignettes. Your director then encourages or chides you through sequences ranging from high-speed battles atop a moving train to Matrix-inspired showdowns.

The Hollywood setting proves genuinely inspired, offering a natural justification for the game’s segmented structure and repeated attempts at perfection. Each “movie” pays homage to different action genres—you’ll find yourself channeling Indiana Jones one moment and Neo the next. The aptly named “The Code” sequence, with its cyberpunk aesthetic and reality-bending set pieces stands out as a particular highlight.

While the concept and setting work well, there is definitely room for improvement. You can choose between two directors at the beginning of the game, but this choice seems to be entirely limited to the voice-over that pushes you through the game, which is a real missed opportunity.

Had the choice between the directors been integrated into the actual gameplay mechanics, the option between two distinct personalities could have been transformative rather than merely superficial. Had the stricter director imposed time limits, restricted the number of retakes before “firing” you, or demanded specific style points for a scene, the game would have been much improved. Similarly, the other director could have offered more generous conditions but lower score multipliers.

Implementing such mechanics would have perfectly aligned with the movie-making premise while adding meaningful replay value and, at the same time, offering the game at least one gameplay addition to set Action Hero apart from its inspiration. Instead, we’re left with little more than a voice pack selection.

A Time-Tested Formula

Let’s address the poignantly static elephant in the room: Action Hero‘s core gameplay is virtually identical to Superhot. Time moves only when you do, creating a strategic dance of bullet-dodging and precision shooting. This “bullet ballet” remains as engaging as ever, with each vignette playing out as a spatial puzzle where plotting your path through enemies requires both tactical thinking and physical prowess.

The game shines in its moment-to-moment gameplay. Consider a sequence atop a speeding train, where motorcycles leap through the air amid explosive chaos—time crawls to a stop as you map out your response, each movement a calculated risk. When scanning your surroundings, you learn to move with exaggerated slowness as any quick head turns accelerate the incoming threats. Players will use these temporal mechanics to master each scene, eventually blossoming from a cautious planner to an action hero who can handle real-time combat with practiced grace.

Individual scenes can be completed in seconds, but perfecting them becomes an addictive pursuit. The game includes a “normal speed” toggle that lets veteran players attempt runs without the time manipulation crutch, adding another challenge for leaderboard chasers. It’s the kind of game that can steal minutes or hours as “just one more try” becomes your evening’s mantra.

However, where Action Hero falters is in its reluctance to innovate. While Superhot’s mechanics were revolutionary, their direct reproduction here feels safe to a fault. The game could have explored new variations on the time-manipulation theme—perhaps scenes where time moves backward, where maintaining momentum is crucial, or where particular objects remain in real-time while others slow down. Instead, it settles for being an exceptionally well-produced clone of an exceptionally well-made original.

Blockbuster Flair

The most significant departure from Superhot comes in the visual design. Gone is the stark white-and-red minimalism, replaced with vibrant, colorful environments that pop in VR. The movie set themes allow for varied locations and spectacular set pieces—exploding barrels, mid-air motorcycle jumps, and Matrix-style environmental effects create memorable moments.

However, this shift comes with tradeoffs. While Superhot’s minimalist aesthetic achieved a timeless elegance, Action Hero‘s more conventional approach, though polished, feels less distinct. The blockbuster styling is well-executed but lacks the iconic visual identity of its inspiration. It’s a reminder that sometimes less truly is more. That said, this will come down to personal preference as there will doubtless be many who prefer the bombacity of the blockbuster aesthetic. I prefer the context and flair given by the action movie set motif, but I know that others (Ed.) will not agree.

Setting the Scene

The sound design effectively serves both form and function. Slow-motion explosions and gunfire sound satisfying and provide crucial spatial awareness cues. A barrel exploding in slow motion to your right naturally draws your attention. The audio mixing cleverly balances the needs of both slow-motion and real-time gameplay, ensuring important sound cues remain clear regardless of your temporal state.

The sound design also pulls double duty, simultaneously selling both the action movie experience and the “behind-the-scenes” setting of a movie set. The addition of director voice-overs adds personality, though as mentioned earlier, the two-director system feels like a missed opportunity for more profound gameplay variation. The overall soundscape successfully reinforces both the action movie premise and the core gameplay mechanics.

Cut! Reset! Let’s go again!

Action Hero presents a challenging dilemma for reviewers. Viewed in isolation, it’s an exceptionally well-crafted VR action game that delivers satisfying gameplay in digestible chunks. The movie set premise is clever, the execution is polished, and the core mechanics—borrowed as they may be—remain compelling.

Yet it’s impossible to ignore the game’s derivative nature. This isn’t merely inspired by Superhot; it’s essentially Superhot with a fresh coat of paint. While the original broke new ground, Action Hero seems content to merely redecorate it. The additions it does make—the movie set premise, colorful visuals, and director system—feel more like surface-level changes than meaningful evolution.

For players who have never experienced Superhot, Action Hero offers an excellent entry point into this style of VR action. Those craving more of Superhot’s unique gameplay will find a pseudo-sequel on offer and will likely relish it for its familiarity. However, veterans of the original may find themselves wishing for more innovation beneath the Hollywood glamour.

Concept: 4
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 7.5
Longevity: 8
Overall: 7.5

Color by numbers Superhot

Woof, Woof, Mankind

Humanity has you controlling a dog, a Shiba Inu to be precise, as you shepherd human beings across its levels and lead them to the..well, to the light. Take the vaguely religious and intellectual conceits away; what you seemingly have, at least initially, is a game with much in common with Lemmings or Kartoffl. As a result of this ‘guide the idiots’ to their destination gameplay, Humanity reduces the agency of its throngs of humans to that of potatoes that barely have control of their limbic system. But let’s not get insulted on behalf of the human race; any god that may exist knows we’re scarcely worth the carbon it takes to hold us together.

When I said throngs, by the way, I wasn’t exaggerating. If there’s one thing Humanity impresses you with right away, it’s the sheer number of humans it can casually fling on screen simultaneously. Masses of humans emerge, and they keep coming, hundreds of them, sometimes thousands. The game appears to be able to push them out in limitless quantities. I remember first playing this game on PSVR2 when it came out and thinking it took the power of a PS5 to throw around this many animated bodies. When I heard it was coming to Quest, I had my doubts about whether this turbas flagrantes could be accomplished on Quest. Well, guess what? The teams Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Yugo Nakamura led have somehow done the job. Humanity, meet Quest. Quest, meet masses of human sheep led by a Shiba Inu.

Essentially, each level is a challenge to solve, and there are plenty of levels broken down into chapters. Some exposition between the chapters reveals the grand narrative that serves as a backdrop to all this puzzle-solving.

Your Shiba Inu has an evolving and sometimes diminishing set of powers; you can order them to turn, you can order them to jump or jump high, you can place markers that make them light as feathers, etc. Each level is a three-dimensional grid, and you can mark squares with those commands, making humans follow them whenever they reach those squares. It’s well-designed and quite elegant. Most levels also contain some larger-than-life golden humans called Goldys. These serve the function of stars, in the sense that if you can collect all the Goldys in a level, you can consider it well and truly finished, and in the sense that you need a certain amount of Goldys to unlock the final level of each chapter.

As you progress past the midway point of the game, the stakes increase, but I won’t say much about that since it would constitute a spoiler within the game’s narrative. Let’s just say that Humanity does a fantastic job of constantly evolving the gameplay to the point of breaking genre and almost making its way halfway to another genre as the game progresses. But hey, spoilers…

Spatial Computing

The overall design of Humanity gives it a lot of its appeal. The menus are elegant, the art direction is uniformly excellent, and the controls are quite intuitive, with one button switching between commands and the other placing command markers. The right grip button allows you to fast-forward through time, and the game doesn’t try to needlessly punish you. If you mess up or want to try again, perhaps to catch more Goldys, the game lets you restart a level with all your command markers intact.

Humanity also rewards you with frequent unlocks. Most of these come in the form of skins that you can unlock for the characters; one that’ll dress your humans in 70s-style clothing, one that’ll make them blocky, one that’ll make them spherical, another will make them shiny, etc. The other unlocks are more statistical, showing detailed stats on your performance history throughout the game. None of these impact the gameplay, but they add to the experience and give some sense of accomplishment.

Another thing that needs to be mentioned is that Humanity has a good deal of longevity built into it; the game features a level creator, allowing players to design their own puzzles.

To Err is Human

Humanity has a distinctive style, which I enjoy, but some might consider it relatively bare and even drab. The people are colorful, but the levels are primarily grey, and some players might tire of that. If there’s anything about its overall presentation that I didn’t enjoy, it’s the soundtrack. There are a few different tracks, and once you get past a certain level, you can switch between them, but they’re all the same sort of minimalist electronica. I understand that the music in the game is supposed to be ambient and unobtrusive, but it didn’t really do it for me.

The biggest issue with Humanity might be that it doesn’t justify its existence in VR at all. When it first came out on PS5, it was playable in pancake and VR modes. So, some people may prefer to play it flat. Having said that, if you don’t have a console or simply like the immersive nature of VR, then that’s not an issue.

To Forgive, Divine

Humanity is a cryptic puzzler with a lot of atmosphere, a great set of evolving mechanics, and a wealth of levels and challenges. It has a distinctive style that minimalists will like but might seem drab to others, and its execution on Quest is excellent so long as you’re okay with a graphical downgrade from the PS5 or PSVR2 version. It straddles a fine line between being challenging and rewarding, and if you’re a fan of puzzle games, it will keep you hooked until you get to the other side of the light. The game has been nominated and won more awards than you can shake a significantly large stick at, and I can’t say it’s undeserved.

Dive in and enjoy.

Concept 8
Gameplay 8.5
Graphics 7.5
Audio 6.5
Longevity 8

Overall 8

Bedazzled

Taking to the skies as a mighty superhero or wandering through an apocalyptic wasteland killing zombies with your best good boy, for example. Hell, even fishing in an idyllic setting or cooking up a storm in a demanding fast-food restaurant can fulfill otherwise unachievable fantasies.

Within the boundless possibilities available through the wonders of VR, it’s never occurred to me that I might want to don my escapist goggles to role-play as a mid-level bureaucrat. Could it be possible that Border Bots VR has found a way to make professional purgatory a viable recreational pursuit?

Go stand in that queue, and I’ll have the answer with you in 5-7 working days… 

ROBO RED TAPE

Border Bots VR sees the player embody the first human to re-enter a previously automated workforce to help regulate an influx of erratically behaving robots. There is enough of a narrative set up to justify why you have been granted the honour of manning the robotic equivalent of a customs booth, but it is rudimentary at best. Nonetheless, the plot unfolds as you progress through your career, offering occasional narrative devices that will have you navigating hostile colleagues and mechanised mobsters along the way.

In between work days, players retire to an apartment with various interactive components and house bots with which to engage. These sections are doubtlessly designed to add character depth to the game, similar to those found in the fantastic Startenders. However, Border Bots’ implementation of these activities misses the mark as there is little reason to engage with them. Sadly, in the end they prove to be utterly pointless.

In fact, after about an hour or so the story and home settings become less of a vague distraction and settle into annoyance. There are a few minutes of mandatory time-wasting between the levels that separate you from playing the game. Dialogue scenes are unskippable which compounds the frustration, and eventually, the well-intentioned world-building that the developers set out to deliver just ends up detracting from the core gaming experience.

ACCESS DENIED!

The core gameplay loop of Border Bots VR sits somewhere between a time management and a job sim-style game. Each day, the player returns to work to find a line-up of robots trying to enter the city. Your job is to check that they are eligible for entry by checking several criteria before dutifully stamping their documents. 

Initially, you will just be checking simple things like the expiry date on their passport or their designated classes, but as you progress further the checks become more numerous and time-consuming. From removing counterfeit badges and testing for fire resistance to searching for contraband hidden in secret compartments – there is a broad range of ways for rascally robots to evade detection. 

New requirements are continuously added, and rules will change daily, keeping you on your toes and keeping the gameplay relatively fresh. By the time you hit about day 15 of your career, there is so much going on that trying to move quickly requires some fervent concentration. For gamers who enjoy games like Traffic Jam, Startenders or Job Simulator, there is some good, clean casual fun to be had with Border Bots VR, especially when played in smaller doses. 

JOBSWORTH SIMULATOR

Where Border Bots really trips over itself is in some fundamental design choices that effectively rob the game of tension and create strangely apt “art imitates life” scenarios. 

Seven minutes are allotted to each level, during which the player attempts to correctly process as many robots as possible. Points are rewarded for correct assessments and compounded for streaks of accurate work. At the end of each day, a score is determined and a place on that level’s leader board assigned, but herein lies the game’s undoing.

After a several hours in the game, I have yet to find any way to return to these missions to either check my place on the leaderboard or try the level again to compete for a higher score. What this does is effectively remove any impetus for you to work swiftly.

Work fast and achieve great results? Who cares!?!?!

Without the chance of meaningful recognition for being successful, I quickly found myself going through the motions, riding out the clock until my shift was done. Pedantically luxuriating over each detail with no care for how that impacted my queue of patiently waiting robots. Soon enough I actually felt like a jaded frontline bureaucrat, effectively becoming what they call in the UK, a Jobsworth.

And what reward awaited me at the end of my day? Token appreciation before returning to my small apartment with nothing exciting to do but take a nap, shower, and go back to do it all again the next day. Sorry, but even with cute mechanics and zany bots, a few hours of this cycle had me walking right up to the edge of a virtual mid-life crisis.

COLORFUL CAPERS

Border Bots VR is a bright colourful affair that uses a vibrant cartoonish style that is an excellent match for the game’s tone. The art direction and overall design of the game world are thankfully clear and distinct, a necessity for the attention to detail required for the gameplay. The futuristic cityscape that adorns the game is compelling despite being pure window dressing. 

The audio is solid, offering a satisfactory range of bleeps and bloops to sell the futuristic setting. The voice work is well delivered, with a tone and delivery akin to a Saturday morning cartoon. This all works well in the context of the game’s character and despite not offering anything exceptional the game’s audio-visual components are resoundingly adequate.

COMPUTER SAYS NO

Border Bots VR is a unique twist on the Job sim/Time management genre that offers a casual, `fun for the whole family’ experience. From a technical standpoint, Border Bots VR achieves what it sets out to do, delivering a light-hearted gamification of frontline bureaucracy. Despite a variety of novel mechanics that do their best to add some frivolity into the proceedings the reality is that even in a colourful, whacky, robot-filled setting, being a low-level civil servant is just not that much fun.

Click here for our video review of Border Bots VR.

Mixed Reality Features

Today’s update introduces two groundbreaking mixed reality features aimed at seamlessly integrating the game’s puzzles with the real environment. The first feature allows for the use of Quest’s Space Setup to incorporate your real table or desk into the gameplay, making it a natural part of the Cubism universe. The second feature enables puzzle persistence using Quest’s Spatial Anchors, so the most recently played puzzle will be available at its last played physical location when you restart the game. Both features aim to enhance immersion and blur the lines between the virtual and the real world.

Quality of Life Improvements

Several quality of life enhancements are also part of the update. An improved render scale is introduced to take advantage of Quest 3’s higher resolution and computing power, providing a sharper visual experience. Additionally, a new recenter button has been added to allow easier positioning of the puzzles within the game environment, simplifying the experience for users.

Evolution with Technology

As Cubism continues to evolve, the new features announced today reflect the game’s commitment to leveraging emerging technology. Whether it’s providing table-top haptic feedback or allowing the puzzles to become a real part of your environment, Cubism aims to stay at the forefront of mixed reality gaming.

Online Multiplayer

The update introduces an Online Multiplayer mode available to all Quest players, irrespective of their device version (Quest 1, 2, 3, or Pro). This addition allows players to engage in two-player puzzling sessions with friends across the globe. The Puzzling Places team has also mentioned that support for Pico and PS VR2 multiplayer will be added at a later date.

Local Mixed Reality Multiplayer

Exclusive to Quest 2, 3, and Pro players, a Local Mixed Reality (MR) Multiplayer mode has been incorporated. This feature utilizes Passthrough mode and Meta’s Shared Spatial Anchors technology, letting two players in the same room interact in a mixed reality environment. Quest 1 users are not left out, as a manual setup feature will allow them to participate in this MR experience.

Hand Tracking

Responding to user feedback, full Hand-Tracking support is another highlight of the update. The feature offers a controller-free experience, enabling players to interact with puzzles using just their hands. A quick in-game tutorial will help users get accustomed to the hand-tracking gestures and functionalities.

Quest Pro Eye-tracking

Quest Pro users can now enjoy an Eye Tracking Selection feature, initially available on the PS VR2 version of Puzzling Places. When paired with hand tracking, it promises an even more immersive experience, allowing players to select puzzle pieces with their eyes.

1000-piece Puzzles

In collaboration with Gerpho3D, Puzzling Places is launching a new downloadable content (DLC), Monthly Pack #18: French Chateaus. This DLC includes six puzzles, two of which feature a staggering 800 and 1000 pieces, a first for Quest players. Note that Quest 1 platforms will have a limitation of a maximum of 400 pieces due to performance constraints.

Gameplay Features:

• Action-adventure sequel with a Metroidvania-style environment.
• Unique VR movement mechanics: swing on ropes or navigate using jet nozzles.
• Combat opportunities against hostile drones.
• Engaging puzzle-solving elements.

Cosmic Clarity Update: On August 17th, Gamedust, the developer, released a major update for the game called “Cosmic Clarity”. This update, which will be included in the Steam version, features:

• Enhanced map navigation and improved player guidance.
• Revamped visual elements including a totally revised skybox.
• Improved in-game lighting and aesthetics.
• Miscellaneous gameplay optimizations and bug fixes

Media Resources: An official launch trailer for the game has been released. You can watch it right here:

Did you like the first Yupitergrad? Excited about the sequel?

The iconic mystery game that chilled you to the bone in the 90s, the 7th Guest, has been brought back to life with cutting-edge VR technology that delivers an atmospheric and haunting story.

Explore the foreboding mansion, solve challenging puzzles, and uncover its dark secrets. The 7th Guest VR is the ultimate mystery adventure, and it’s time for you to experience it for yourself.

Six guests have been welcomed to the foreboding mansion. But something sinister is at play…

• The Aging Illusionist : A life devoted to pretense, but yearning for real magic. Real power.
• The Vain Heiress: Always looking back and growing more bitter by the minute.
• The Ruthless Business Man: All business, no remorse. Out for glory and no one to watch his back.
• The Failed Actress: Manipulative Martine, why cultivate skills when you have the looks.
• The Penniless Husband: A never was, arrogant and selfish. And out of luck.
• The Penniless Wife: Weak willed and always afraid, but with a dormant power.

We’ll have a review up for you when the game gets released. You’ll find it right here on our site or over on our 6DOF Reviews YouTube channel!

FROM RUSSIA WITH GLOVES

Ah, I see that you’re still here. Probably want a bit more detail about the mission before pitching yourself headlong into the risky business. Well, fair enough. Here’s the briefing proper. I Expect You to Die 3: Cog in the Machine is the latest instalment in a series by Schell Games, dependably solid developers who have a very good handle on what constitutes a solid VR title. Just like the other I Expect You to Die games, it’s a puzzle-based escape-the-room type of affair that you’re expected to play seated, interacting with the levels using a nifty virtual telekinetic implant that allows you to grab, manipulate and freeze items in place while you work out how everything fits together. It’s a very well-wrought and designed system that feels intuitive and right and has remained largely unchanged since the first game. 

YOU ONLY LIVE THRICE

Two things really define this series for me; the first is the satisfying and clever puzzles, which are beautifully realised and a pleasure to mess about with. The second is the setting; a really likeable 1960s retro-but-current James Bond parody, which also pulls in aspects of all the other well-loved parodies of such things, like Austin Powers, Despicable Me and Get Smart. And perhaps of all the possible influences it channels, The Avengers is the most apt of all. (The wonderfully wry 60s TV series, not the unrelated modern superhero extended cinematic universe shite bearing the same name). There’s a joyous confidence to the whole thing, from the voice acting to the utterly wonderful Bond-style intro sequence and bombastic theme song which puts a lot of actual Bond efforts to shame. Honestly, A Cog in the Machine features the best VR credits sequence yet, even compared to its sister games, and the song is a classic. The setting and atmosphere are absolutely crucial to what makes these games sing so beautifully, and it’s safe to say that Schell haven’t put a foot wrong here.

DOUBLE OH BLOODY HELL FIRE

The spy game environment may have a cuddly, stylised feel but there are some outlandish, sudden and shocking player deaths, as you may – ahem – expect from the title. This will really be the only bone of contention here for some players. The puzzles are superbly designed. You start every level with no real clue what you should be doing and the game centres around reaching an understanding of each setting and the objects and gadgets within. While you’re doing that and being made to feel very clever when you start to comprehend, there will be moments when you do something that will lead to you dying. Quite a bit.

With no mid-level checkpoints, you may find that dying repeatedly leads to quite a bit of frustration. But it’s not an oversight, it’s a deliberate design trope of the game and one I really enjoy. Sometimes it’s funny when the game sort of tricks you into self-destruction, and sometimes it’s enraging. But you’ll find yourself clicking restart with determination and the desire to be just that little bit more clever and mindful next time. The feeling of reward when you perfect a level is immense, because it’s been so hard won. And don’t think that because the game plays as a seated, escape room-style affair that it will not have thrilling action sequences because it does. No spoilers here, but some of the levels will have you grinning at the clever way they weave that spy action into the game’s structure. It’s truly excellent stuff. 

DR. YES

There’s not much more I can say about I Expect You To Die 3 without spoiling something. And there’s very little I feel I can criticise about it, because it does everything it sets out to do with style and finesse, and for the core audience that love these games it’s more high-quality spy puzzle action that manages to have both a lovely sense of humour and a genuine sense of danger. There are no doubt some people who might say ‘It’s still just like DLC for the first game’, but this would be to demean the amount of work on display here, and the fun to be had. The first game hit upon a genre-defining formula which hasn’t been bettered and won’t be any time soon – it shouldn’t be denigrated for trying not trying to reinvent the wheel, any more than Tetris should be criticised for always using the same blocks.

Schell Games also debuted a mixed-reality trailer, giving players a taste of how the game will immerse them into a world of complex puzzles and exciting espionage with a bit of hilarity thrown in to round out this fun-filled adventure. Check it out here:

I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine is the latest title in Schell Games’ award-winning spy-themed VR puzzle series. Players will travel to action-packed locations, wield complex gadgets, engage robots, and harness their telekinetic powers to solve tricky puzzles and stop Dr. Zor’s plans. Players encounter Dr. Prism, her sidekick Robutler, and her various robot agents as they work to save the world once again.

Key features include:

Race to Beat Dr. Zor: Assignments take place in some of the most dangerous and expansive locales to date, and each one will require agents to deploy their most advanced covert skills. These six, fast-paced missions will leave even the most seasoned players breathless.

Meet a Brilliant Mastermind: Dr. Roxana Prism, scientist and former Agency inventor, believes she can create a better agent, one that’s superior to humans. The mission: stay alive long enough to defeat this new escalating threat. * Go Undercover in Style: Agents can show off their style (undercover, of course) with an imaginative array of Agency-approved attire. Now they can choose their hat, watch, and gloves before embarking on any of their top-secret missions.

Eager Agents can order the game now on the Meta Quest Store for $24.99 USD. Agents can also find the game on Steam for PCVR.

Are you excited about I Expect You to Die 3? Have you played either of the first two games? Let us know in the comments!

Now if you’ve seen our impressions video or any other video about the game, you’ll know that its core selling point is its unique locomotion system that, as I said before, reminds me of the Impossible Spaces system used in Tea for God. The idea is that the entire game is played without any artificial locomotion. You don’t use thumbsticks to move, and you don’t use free movement or teleportation. It’s all done in room scale, cannot be played sitting down, won’t work if your space is too small, and relies entirely on messing with your head using moving blocks and rollers, making it feel like you’re traversing all kinds of distances while you’re really just taking small steps to the front, sides, and back. 

Does this system work? Yes. It works brilliantly and, I’m tempted to say, flawlessly. It works so well, in fact, that you have to be careful since stepping off of moving blocks and off rollers subconsciously tempts your body to try to overcompensate for inertia and, more than once, almost had me fall over. I repeat, I’m a VR veteran and I almost fell over a couple of times. So, you’ve been warned; be careful.

The result of all this is that the game passes the ‘Yeah, but is it immersive!?’ test with flying colors. The movement system is, indeed, very immersive.

Step By Step

The gameplay itself is relavitely simple; you navigate your way around the temple, solving puzzles, unlocking doors, and activating a set of seven beacons to allow you to finally enter the inner chambers of the temple, where you can finally confront the great darkness, and save mankind from all kinds of evil things. 

In your adventure, you’re armed with the whip I mentioned earlier and a torch. Did I mention Indiana Jones? I did in the impressions video, so I promise I won’t again. I’m sure every other video about this game has already hammered the Indy angle hard, so let’s not waste time on that. 

Your whip, the developer promises, is ‘physically simulated’, and it does act more or less like you’d expect it to, but only unfurls, so to speak, when the game decides it would be of use. Although I don’t doubt the mechanics behind it, in practice, it’s a bit hit-and-miss, and chances are you’ll only get good at using it by the time you’ve reached the final levels. Initially, the whip is mainly used to pull levers that are too far for you to reach yourself, and the torch is mostly used to light up braziers, some of which unlock gates, activate mechanisms, or reveal parts of the backstory. There are a couple of sequences where you’ll also use it as a weapon, but this is not an action game. 

There’s a cool blue bird – I think it’s a falcon – that follows you around throughout the game, and as the story progresses, you’ll grow to appreciate why. Enough of that! This is a no-spoiler zone. 

As the game progresses, you’ll unlock one extra thing your whip can do, and it’s pretty cool and helps Eye of the Temple offer some variety in its puzzle design.

Hello Legoland

Visually speaking, the game’s graphics are good but not remarkable. There’s nothing here to compete with some of the better-looking games on Quest, but the art style is consistent and attractive enough to keep you immersed. However, it’s too consistent, the South American style that the game relies on is unchanged throughout. This is logically consistent since the game does all take place in ONE temple, but I would’ve appreciated some variety in overall style and textures. A few areas with distinctly different themes would have made a huge difference and surely could have been explained by some narrative device.

The audio design is very good, and the soundtrack by Claudi Martinez is very fitting, although somewhat generic. Although generally sedate and relaxing, it’s triggered by the context and gets more energetic and upbeat when more action is called for. Overall, it serves the game just as it should, as does the sound design.

Matters of Scale

Eye of the Temple takes about 4-5 hours to complete but squeezes out some extra longevity by offering speedrun challenges to gamers who enjoy those, and secret treasures to be found for completionists. 

At $19.99 it’s about par for the course for this scale on Quest. As a puzzler, it offers a unique experience, but I also have to mention it has its ups and downs. It was great fun at the start, then started getting a bit dull as the gameplay and the environments started feeling samey, then it became more fun again when the whip gained an extra feature about halfway into the game, offering a little more variety in the nature of the puzzles. I’m also tempted to say that since the game has a couple of action sequences, perhaps a few more would also have upped the ante.

Eye of the Beholder

Eye of the Temple is an immersive puzzler that perhaps relies a bit too heavily on its locomotion system to keep you entertained. It’s rewarding, but brief, and could have used more variety. Having said that, I had a great time with the game, and despite a bit of a lull mid-run, the latter half kept me going, and I felt compelled to play it to the end. 

Good stuff.