Viewfinder Review

The arrival of a brand new brain-bending first-person puzzler is often cause for celebration, and Viewfinder had me reaching for the party poppers just minutes in. Much like the forerunners of the subgenre — think Portal and Antichamber— a physics-breaking central mechanic forms the foundation for the rest of the game to build upon. This time, it’s an instant camera that can completely transform your surroundings. 

Viewfinder’s world is a joy to step into, all pearly abstract architecture and vivid plant life. Inspiration from The Witness is strong, and while some consider the aesthetic to be a little overused at this point, I’m a sucker for it and welcome the eye candy. Early in the game, it becomes clear that this environment is actually a sophisticated simulation used for scientific research, which means realism need not limit visual creativity. Nor mechanical creativity, for that matter. 

In the first area, you learn that you can rewind the simulation, along with any mistakes you might have just made, at any time. What a clever idea, you think. How seamlessly integrated! Knowing full well — because you’ve seen screenshots and maybe, just maybe, a review — that this quaint little mechanic is about to get drop-kicked out of the limelight by the real star of the show. 

On an unassuming little table, you find a black-and-white photo of a paved walkway. It doesn’t look like much until you hold it up, click a button, and hey presto! That 2D scene gets instantaneously transplanted, in 3D, into the world in front of you. And while that foreign terrain is now miraculously just another fully interactable part of the scenery, it retains the monochrome palette of its original form, which is a stark and constant reminder of just how beautifully batshit this concept really is.

Even if you’re aware of the premise beforehand, it’s a real trip the first time you step in and around a superimposed area for yourself, with all that perspective and parallax where only a slanted image could be found before. I’m not sure the novelty entirely wore off throughout my six-hour playthrough. And when you find the Polaroid camera that allows you to snap and bring to life any scene you lay eyes upon, the freedom is initially difficult to grasp.

The game is broken up into zones that serve as isolated puzzles, tasking you with manipulating the environment in whatever way necessary to reach the exit teleporter. Pictures can be rotated before you place them, which should give you an idea of how wacky the solutions can be. You might grab a shot of a clear blue sky and use it to erase a wall blocking your path. Or spin a pillar on its side to act as a bridge. Or, heck, throw a few snaps around at random angles to summon pure geometric chaos. It’s art, don’t you know.

It’s a good couple of hours before the puzzles become genuinely challenging, but that’s not actually an issue in Viewfinder. Those leisurely early stages feel like a stroll through the best modern art gallery ever, one that you can transmute and transmogrify at will using only the pictures you find within. And that analogy is apparently not lost on developer Sad Owl Studios (SOS), who has sprinkled classic artworks, preschooler scribbles, and even playing cards around the simulation for you to 3D-ify and explore like deployable exhibitions. 

SOS keeps things fresh throughout the game’s runtime with new mechanics and props that change the rules just enough to turn previously established logic on its head. You’ll have plenty of eureka moments and probably even more “wow, I’m so dumb” ones. If you’re a hardcore puzzler looking for the ultimate test, this probably isn’t it, but if you’re content to mess around with some extremely cool toys while solving moderate to tricky head-scratchers, it’ll keep you well occupied.

OK, so that’s a fair bit of gushing. Now I have to address the trouble in paradise. Viewfinder’s plot is passable but pretty shallow. It occasionally looks to be setting up a big twist but then barely manages a bump in the road. The more damning problem, though, is the manner in which this story is conveyed. Your end goal in the simulation is to discover a solution to apocalyptic climate change threatening the outside world. You follow the trail of a team of scientists who used these artificial spaces to research a device that might reverse the damage to the environment. They left audio logs of their conversations and discoveries and plastered sticky notes here, there, and everywhere. This could be a touching way to piece together an emotional and intellectual journey of discovery if only those brainiacs had anything interesting to say. 

There are no stunning revelations, very few character developments, and the banter between researchers is a bit too tame to be entertaining. I would have merrily frolicked through the entire game ignoring the expository distractions if it weren’t for a niggling paranoia that they might suddenly become incredibly compelling or useful if I did. Tragically, they didn’t, instead detracting quite heavily from my overall experience. Viewfinder’s premise is mind-blowing, its artificial world exquisitely crafted, so much so that I felt creatively inspired just witnessing it. The whole thing speaks elegantly and enthrallingly for itself, and yet its voice is routinely drowned out by the humdrum chit-chat of the scientists and your colleague back at HQ. 

Still, a proper cute AI cat follows you around the levels, so it could be worse. Their voice-over performance stands out as the ideal tone for Viewfinder’s serene and thought-provoking ambience. Also, you can pet them whenever the mood strikes, their purr gently rumbling your controller if that’s your input of choice. We’ve talked about our love of meaningless interactions here at GameGrin before, and SOS is on the same page. You can scribble on whiteboards, collect rubber duckies, and have a little sit on any chair you come across. Wonderful, comforting pointlessness.

These are the real takeaways. Those charming details, the spellbinding abstractions, and,   of course, that baffling, brilliant central hook. While the persistent plot interruptions undoubtedly hold Viewfinder back from achieving its profound, transcendent potential, this is still a memorable and valuable puzzler that I’d recommend to anyone.