Viewfinder Reviews

Nice Story, good puzzles, was over way too quick.

walking sim in a bad way. asking 25 dollar for <5 dollar worth of gameplay. no way to mute the player character without disabling the story

Fun game, with some low points. The game's biggest selling point is that the main mechanic is inherently fun to mess around with. It is always at least a little delightful to apply a photo and see how the geometry of the level has changed to accommodate the new reality. It's not a long game (I got all the collectibles, all the camera filters and most of the achievements in ~6 hours), and it felt like very little of that time was spent actually being stumped by a puzzle. There were only two puzzles where I really had that "wait, I genuinely don't know what to do" feeling. There are some low points as well. The game can be cloying at times, both towards itself, and towards you. It praises itself -- having a character being wildly impressed with the photo mechanic, and again when a monorail arrives, even though neither of these things are inherently impressive in the context of a simulated reality. It also offers you praise that feels exaggerated and unearned: saying things like, "witnessing your creativity is a marvel to behold" after executing what is clearly the intended solution for a basic puzzle. Most of the dialogue and supplementary worldbuilding grated on me, with pseudo-scientific nonsense strewn about. I didn't need four chapters of "the people who lived in this space previously were super super smart science genius smarty people." I didn't need to find six post-it notes per puzzle saying things like "account for variables??" and "try revising prototype!" I had to take a break from the game after finding a journal that insisted "sound travels faster than light," only for a character to repeat that a minute later. All to set up the game's worst puzzle mechanic, which had nothing to do with sound traveling faster than light. Despite each world being based on one of the game's main characters, supposedly showcasing their personality and interests, I never really felt like I got to know them on more than the most superficial of levels. At least it ends on a high note: I really liked how the very final puzzle in the game broke away from tidy little solutions and instead simply gave you resources and then let you spend them across puzzles as you saw fit. And the ending did the best it could with the build-up it had. All in all, I think if the mechanic looks like you'd enjoy just playing with it, and you don't mind a short game or putting up with "cringe" dialogue, I can reccommend this game to you. If you want hard puzzles, or something more mind-bending, or something with an engaging plot, or with likeable characters, you can do better elsewhere.

Pretty short game completed in 4 hours and ignoring the optional puzzles. A really unique and beautiful puzzle game. Wish there was more to the story.

Not a bad game, fun mechanic, tried to play multiple times but just cant handle the voice acting, Its just so bad.

Viewfinder is a very solid, fun first person puzzle game. The main gimmick is interesting and the game doesn't overstay it welcome. I'd compare it to games like Qube, The Entropy Center, or Superluminal - it's not perfect but it's solid and definitely worth playing if you like these types of games.

If you're looking for a puzzle game to really sink your teeth into, look elsewhere. This game is closer to a walking simulator than a puzzle game. You know how in good games the player will be introduced to a mechanic in a very basic scenario, and then the game will gradually add more difficult sections that utilize said mechanic? In this game, the whole thing feels like the "intro" section, a tutorial for the "real" game that never comes. Seriously, the first 3 worlds of the game, of which there are only 5 worlds, were so easy I barely had to think at all. I kept waiting for the levels to become more difficult but it never happened. A few of the "optional challenge" levels were tough, as well as some of the normal levels later in the game. However those only make up a small fraction of the game, about 20%, where the other 80% are incredibly easy to the point of boredom. A small percentage of truly engaging levels is not worth the price of admission. Did I mention the whole game takes about 5 hours to complete? $25 is a ridiculous asking price for that amount of content. I got it for $10 and I still feel ripped off. There's a story but I didn't care for it. Mainly because NPCs are talking at you virtually non-stop and it's incredibly annoying. I suggest muting the voice audio if you want to play the game in peace. Is the gimmick cool? Yes, obviously. But once the novelty wears off you're left with a shallow game full of missed potential. There are good levels, but you have to wade through a sea of boring ones to get to them. Overall it felt like a big waste of time. If you're a serious fan of puzzle games I would not recommend this one.

Great mechanic. Bad game. [list] [*] Lots of annoying narrative [*] Too short for the price, ~3h of gameplay [*] Puzzles are too linear. Most of the time it is too obvious how to solve them [*] Half or maybe even more of the puzzles are "teaching the new mechanic" that's gonna last for about 2-3 next levels [*] A lot of unnecessary walking.Character is slow and puzzle elements are often widely spread [*] You get the camera only by second half of the game. Literally [*] Last level is time attack for no reason in a trial and error game [/list]

The core concept of spatial manipulation with photographs sounds intriguing, but the execution is incredibly superficial. The game relies on repetitive and basic actions that quickly become monotonous. Also, most of the challenges can be solved requiring little to no brainpower, which is a major letdown for a puzzle-focused title.

Cute and simple, but very short. I have seen the beginnings of the unique mechanic of this game on Twitter back in early 2020s, glad it actually materialized as a game. The puzzles are never really difficult. There are some cool mechanics, and none overstay their welcome. I feel like it could've been taken further. I liked the art direction & level design, the lighting looks really nice for a Unity game. Also liked the smooth transitions when placing photos and changing levels. I didn't like the voice acting/direction of Jessie, especially in the beginning of the game, it's very cringe inducing, it just sounds off. The story/narrative is almost non existent, definitely feels like it's there just to give the game a structure.