Moss’ Redwall-style world was an absolute delight to play through on PSVR, where you played the role of the omniscient “reader” and guided Quill to defeat Sarffog. Moss: Book II picks up in the immediate aftermath of the first title as Quill and a few allies must gather the five pieces of glass before her enemies claim them and bring calamity upon the world of Moss.
With a great combination of hack-and-slash gameplay and VR item manipulation, the first game returns in force. One of the biggest changes is the introduction of multiple weapons for Quill, which makes it exhilarating and fun to fight hordes of enemies. A hammer and chakrams have been added to Quill’s arsenal, although switching on the fly in combat is a little shaky: weapon swapping is accessed through the touchpad menu, but we wish the weapons were mapped to the D-pad. Thanks to their charge attacks, each weapon serves a different purpose in puzzles. Hammers can smash metal surfaces, swords can dash, and chakrams can strike at range.
A strong pairing between combat and “reader” powers is evident once again in the level design, which really maximizes both systems. In Book II, the level design may follow the same path, but the complexity has definitely increased. Locking the camera down and presenting environments as dioramas is one of our favorite design choices. Late game puzzles are often more complicated, and solutions are often clever and satisfying. Besides the staggering range of the environment: forested woods lead to a castle, then a factory, followed by an abandoned conservatory. With its five-hour runtime, the game showcases a wide variety of locations that are all gorgeous.
Since Moss had a strong foundation, Polyarc didn’t need to go wild with its second title. While providing more of Moss’ incredible world, Book II tightens up some lingering issues from the first. Polyarc’s Moss: Book II proves it’s one of the best VR developers.
Pros:
-
A brilliant combat system.
-
Variety of environments.
-
A perfect art direction.
-
Great soundtrack from Jason Graves.
Cons:
-
It’s a pain to swap weapons.
-
Tracking can be jittery.
Score is 8 over 10.