From Scottish indie game devs Sad Owl Studios, here’s the rather clever and engaging puzzle game Viewfinder. The concept is where you redefine reality, reshaping environments based on an instant camera you have.
It’s a clever and unique premise that’s available on PC and PS4/5. It first launched in July 2023 and has become an indie game cult classic, with engaging flourishes and Scottish accents.
Mapping Photographic Images in the World of Viewfinder
There’s a plot to go with this, even though the game length is around four hours. The story involves a group of researchers using a simulation space to discover ways to revitalise the Earth’s natural environments.
As a genre, the FPS puzzle solver is actually quite oversaturated with titles. The likes of Valve’s Portal 2 (2011) and physics bending Manifold Garden (2019) have been genre leaders. But many indie titles fall into the trap of not offering any new ideas.
Viewfinder is different! And the clue to its unique gameplay mechanics is in its name.
Armed with an instant camera, you can go around snapping pictures. Then use those images to bend reality to suit your needs, warping architecture to create new paths of progression.
It’s very much a game you can watch in action, as opposed to just playing it, as it has a relaxing flow. You can really marvel at how clever it is (whilst some random player figures out the puzzles for you).
The concept and how it plays out is, at its best, genuinely magnificent. Really enthralling and has you hunting around to find how to take pictures and align them with the architecture (and landscapes) around you.
For example, you want take a picture of an open passageway and superimpose that over a wall. Hey presto! You’ve got a passageway into a new era.
Viewfinder overflows with this wonderful little moments and it can be genuinely jaw-dropping.
Whilst that’s great, the story really isn’t. It feels tacked on to add some semblance of extra worth to the title, but it feels irrelevant and could have been left out.
That doesn’t spoil anything, but we did find the interjections of voices (with pretty poor voiceover work, as is common in video games) tedious fast.
However, it’s that puzzle solving bit that more than makes up for minor flaws.
There’s a jazz heavy soundtrack, too, by Scottish music producer Aether (aka Jason Taylor). It occasionally shifts into more ethereal numbers like this. All very nice.
It’s a short game. Some players may feel somewhat sad when the four hours wraps up, but there’s plenty of replayability going on here. You’ll want to return to discover new things and unlock photographic intricacies.
Magical stuff, then, and a the game rightfully won a bunch of gaming awards in 2023/2024.
Due to its short game length, there’ll be hope for a sequel. There’s plenty of new opportunities to explore with this concept, so fans will wait in hope. In the meantime, if you haven’t played it… do so!
