Museum of Simulation Technology

When it comes down to it, there is a lack of mind-bending puzzle games on the market and Museum of Simulation Technology comes as a breath of fresh air to the genre. With the rise of remarkable puzzle games like Portal 2 and The Talos Principle, the bar was set fairly high. However, when Portal originally released it was not commonplace to find a first-person puzzle game with no shooting, other than tactically, to make your way through remarkably novel and complex levels. That being said, the original Portal was a still mostly a fun tech demo of the Half Life engine—an opportunity for players to play with technology developers had been having fun with for the past few years. Portal 2 is where it truly became its own entity entirely. In the same way, Museum of Simulation Technology is a wonderful first step towards something else completely new.

It’s All About Perspective

Museum of Simulation Technology is all based around a wonderful idea—the optical illusion of forced perspective—or, that the perspective of the first-person camera can impact the size of objects through depth and movement. For example, if you see the moon through an opening in the roof, you can physically grab it at the size it appears, and bring it down to ground level without its size increasing. Take that idea and stretch it to a puzzle game and you might get mouse-sized doorways plucked from their place and moved close enough that it become doorways the perfect size for the player. Further, the game encourages players a fundamentally different way of looking at otherwise everyday objects: a phone, a child’s stacking blocks, a notebook. Change the size of any and you might have a bridge, or a staircase, or at the very least a clever solve to a clever puzzle.

Familiar Beats for an Unfamiliar World

It is very easy to see the influences for Museum of Simulation Technology. With the testing facility (in this case, a true museum of oddities) or calming ambient music not made to rush the player but inspire patience and problem-solving skills, it feels familiar. But whether it was Portal, Antichamber or Risk of Rain this game finds its own place among them and, further, is able to stand out. In fact, its ability to fundamentally change how players see their environment is perhaps more impactful when playing other first-person games afterward. For example, any first-person shooter you play you might go prone next to another player and suddenly it feels as though your gun is the wrong size for the world—it’s too small.

Your perspective of that can in some ways break the immersion, but in the case of having played this game, you might just suddenly want to change your perspective of the other player or other items entirely. It is, in many ways, surreal.

Pros

• Mind-bending puzzles
• Levels catered to player creativity
• Peaceful soundtrack and compelling design

Cons

• Lack of compelling story
• Basic graphical style