UNTITLED Review - Taking Puzzle Games into the Virtual Space

Introduction

Even though it's been around for some time, VR still feels like it's in its early stages. We've moved past the era of quick demos, but there's still a sense that a VR can be virtually anything. An excellent example of this is UNTITLED, a game that isn't quite what you'd expect from a standard video game, but that feels at home in the virtual space. Figuring out if it's worth your time, though, does require taking a closer look at what makes the game work.

Concept - 3

UNTITLED is a puzzle game. More than that, though, it's a series of very different puzzles that have been created to challenge the brains of the game's players. While this is certainly something that's has been done before, it's also something that seems very well suited for the world of virtual reality. If you put this game on a 2D screen, you'd get something more akin to a cheap Flash game. By placing the player right in the middle of the puzzles, though, the game feels a bit more special than it otherwise might.

The only bad thing about this puzzle game is that the concept is a bit thin. There's no story here, nor is there anything to keep you playing but the desire to solve more puzzles. That's not a bad thing, but it does hurt the game on the conceptual level. There's nothing here that, at least in theory, you haven't seen before.

Graphics and Audio - 2

The name of the game here is minimalism, at least when it comes to presentation. You're only going to be looking at the puzzles themselves, most of which are rendered well but aren't exactly going to blow your mind. It is a bit of a double-edged sword in the world of VR on the one hand, it means that the game is going to run very well and that it won't enter the uncanny valley, but on the other hand, it means that the game looks unambitious compared to much of what's out there.

It's unfair to criticize the audio simply because it doesn't exist. There's no background music here, no soundtrack to help support the game. Some basic sounds are associated with the puzzles or movement, but it's less than what you would've expected from an arcade game in the 1980s.

Gameplay - 4

It's straightforward to tell that the real work in this game went into the gameplay. While none of the puzzles rise to the level of the competition, there are no Portal-killers here. The puzzles are varied and fun, each one feels fair, and you'll figure them all out if you take your time and apply your brainpower. Though the puzzle mechanics aren't always as polished as they should be, the ratio of good puzzles to bad puzzles is definitely in favor of the former.

Conclusion - Replayability - 2

UNTITLED is, at least to some degree, very indicative of a specific type of VR game. Being in the game is what brings people to the table, not the game itself. That isn't to say that the puzzles are not good or that you should avoid the game, but it's essential to go into UNTITLED understanding what you're going to get. UNTITLED is a basic VR experience as you're going to find outside of demos, but there's at least enough here to qualify it as a real game.

TLDR

UNTITLED is a simple VR puzzle game that's fun, but not particularly groundbreaking.