Moss: The Forgotten Relic Review (PC): A Mouse-Sized Dioramic Adventure

As a fan of the original Moss game built for VR, I felt eager to jump back into the game to experience it rebuilt for PC and console and finally be able to play the game’s second chapter: Moss: Book Two. With both games finally making the jump away from VR, I was interested to see how much of a change there would be when using a controller and not being able to peer directly down on the dioramic-style maps. To my surprise, I enjoyed the game a lot more than I did in VR and the sequel title, while somewhat frustrating, was a fun experience that I am ashamed I missed out on the first time around.

Tiny Mouse on a Large Quest

Moss: The Forgotten Relic combines the stories of both Moss titles, in which you play the role of the Reader – a powerful ghost-like entity that influences the world around them. As the Reader, you begin your journey in a castle, reading a story, before being transported into the world of Moss to aid a young mouse named Quill on her journey to defeat the menacing snake Sarfogg and rescue her uncle.

The act of taking on the role of the Reader is an interesting concept that allows the game to play out more like a children’s fantasy tale, as if the campaign is being told as a bedtime story by the fire. It brings a cozy essence to the game that you don’t normally get in action-adventure games such as this.

As you help Quill through the world, assisting her to reach her uncle and progress further beyond in the second chapter, you periodically get moments explained by a narrator, furthering that bedtime story aesthetic, and it makes it all the more amusing hearing the same voice actor narrate the different characters as though they are coming up with voices on the spot.

While the story lacks the complexity of major tales in other titles I have played, the simplistic nature of it makes it more fun and allows it to play out in a way where you feel like a child discovering a new world.

A Dioramic and Dangerous World

In the original Moss, you stood tall above Quill, staring down on her, offering aid as she explored various diorama-esque maps. Similarly, Moss: The Forgotten Relic changes your role, giving you more of a head-on view of each map with an occasional change in camera depending on where you move Quill. This helped with many of the maps, as I always found the original design in VR to be a bit clunky and strange, as you mostly made the camera change by moving your head around the map. The static camera offered a good change in perspective that I found to be helpful for most for navigating the various puzzles, but it also hindered me during certain parts of the story where I needed to navigate behind objects, as depth didn’t translate as well with this choice of camera angle. This caused me to fall at times, get stuck, or miss jumps, and when you need to restart a map when you fall off a ledge, it sometimes became frustrating.

The gameplay of Moss: The Forgotten Relic is split between solving puzzles and fighting various creatures that progressively become more difficult as you progress through the game. Play your cards right, and you can unlock powerful upgrades for Quill that will aid her on her quest. The first game offered multiple upgrades, and surprisingly, they didn’t carry over into the sequel, which I thought was a bit of an odd choice since it picks up directly where the first book ends.

Slight annoyance aside, both games have smooth progression with great puzzle design. The cute aesthetic of the world drew me in, and the tense moments kept me entertained to the end.

Verdict

Moss: The Forgotten Relic does a great job taking the original titles and translating them into a more static, controller-based style, where you can look upon Quill and aid her in her journey. The story, while cute and reminiscent of a bedtime story you’d read by the fire, is short and doesn’t offer as much complexity as I would like. Still, hearing the narrator talk me through the game was a fun addition that I added to the overall experience. The gameplay is simple, but offers a deeper means of puzzle solving as you unlock new items and progress through both books of the story. It would have been nice to move the camera, as the static shots made navigating some of the puzzles a bit more of a hassle than necessary.

Moss: The Forgotten Relic Resynced was reviewed on PC with a code provided by Polyarc. It is also available on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X.

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