PlayStation VR has had a long run that’s about to come to an end. Releasing in 2016, it was a niche hit as it added a more approachable virtual reality headset into the mix. Moss was one of PS VR’s earlier successes and gave Sony quite an endearing title that worked well within its technical limitations. And even though the PlayStation 5 has entered its second year and PS VR2 is on the horizon, Moss Book II is still coming to PS VR (and other platforms eventually) and, by extension, the PS4. But that’s not holding back Moss Book II as its bigger scope and added mechanics mean that it’s ready to be the PS VR’s swan song.
Moss was widely praised, but some did take issue with its four-hour length, something that jumps to five hours with its free Twilight Garden expansion. Still, it’s on the shorter side and is a complaint rooted in the idea that people wanted more Moss. Polyarc is addressing that criticism by making Moss Book II a lengthier game — Environment Artist Coolie Calihan claimed it was around one and a half times longer than the original — but also a more dense one, too.
Moss Book II has bigger rooms that are linked together by multiple cameras. Essentially, instead of always going to a new space to solve a large puzzle, players can just slide around the same one. Designer Doug Burton said that this came to the team after some experimentation. They wanted more complexity and layers, but some of that was getting lost as it could be hard to remember what switches did what if they were in separate rooms. So the answer was to put it all in the same room. The array of new cameras within the same room also had the side effect of not making players physically move to get around the larger areas. Polyarc didn’t show this new approach in action, but spoke highly of it.
“We thought it would work really well if the rooms were larger and that way you could see the switch in the same room you are in,” he said. “From that, things just sort of grew. Once we found out what really made that work, we were able to play around with the language of the doors and keys to be able to do that over larger distances.”
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It grew from there, as well, as the team added more secrets to the rooms to give players a reason to revisit them. Some are even locked behind a later ability, which is another incentive that pushes replayability. It’s not a Metroid game, but it’s a nice way to make sure players will be rewarded if they comb through an area again later on.
“We got an inventory for [the protagonist] Quill that allowed us to do more things where you can come back to rooms with new abilities or items that you collected and change the rooms,” said Burton. “A lot of those pieces coming together made it easier to make these rooms more complicated and layered.”
Combat is also more layered. Polyarc showed off the hammer that was in the reveal trailer. Players can use it as a weapon, and some enemies even have protective armor that must be smashed first. The hammer also doubles as a puzzle-solving tool as its charge attack can be manually triggered to hit objects like switches. This opens up the possibility for more complex puzzles while also giving Quill another choice in combat without turning her into Dante from the Devil May Cry series. The two even combine as some of its more complex enemies have to be crushed by the hammer before they show their weak spots. While Polyarc didn’t go into specifics, there will be more offensive gear that will have similar dual purposes. After all, weapons are still tools, according to Burton.
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Puzzles and combat are substantial gameplay pillars that have seen noticeable upgrades, but Moss Book II is also expanding upon the interactions between Quill and the player. She now has more reactions and will comment on or respond to how the player plays. For example, she may react to a particularly difficult puzzle or combat scenario or point out a hint if the player gets stuck. It’s all meant to immerse the player and further bond them to Quill and is building off what the team succeeded at the first time around. Polyarc didn’t specifically show off these new interactions, but assured that there were a lot more of them.
“We made sure that she was always responding to something in the room and that she is aware of what the room state is and what you’re currently doing and what your goal is,” said Burton.
The story will also have more characters and more of a cinematic flair, but Polyarc is still staying silent on the narrative. That’s a big reason why the studio hasn’t revealed much since its announcement. Burton said that the game has plenty of surprises and they want players to experience them first-hand within the headset and not through some trailer. Regardless, he also stated that the story would not be done with Book II, heavily implying that the studio is already thinking about a third entry.
Looking ahead to the future seems ironic for a game coming out on a console and VR headset from the last generation. But it appears as though this sets up Moss Book II to be PS VR’s last big hurrah before presumably being swapped out by its successor. The sequel looks just as cute as the first game with all the same charming animation style, simple yet effective art direction, and intelligent use of virtual reality, but with a thoughtful approach that is aiming to build out and improve those systems. Expanding upon on those tenants is not only usually a good move for a sequel, but also for a game that’s poised to sunset a whole piece of hardware.
