Moncage Review: A Delicate Lens

Moncage feels like a final product completing one's true vision. While Moncage strikes a delicate balance in its gameplay and crushing yet subtle narrative, it sets itself up to succeed in nearly every facet of play as all its parts complement another. Moncage is a visually stunning experience, whether it be the glossy cube presenting your challenging perspective puzzles or the eye-catching poetic art that makes up those same puzzles. Still, overall, it's a strangely familiar yet ambiguous tale wrapped in an intriguing bow of perspective puzzles that can amazingly be completed in one sitting.

Gameplay

Moncage invites players to think both in and outside the cube, searching for clues. In this puzzle adventure game, you explore many different environments that make up a man's memories. Such environments include a secluded island, a long-abandoned factory, a warzone, a nursing home, and more. While exploring these illustrated scenes on each side of the cube, you do your best to uncover connections between the scene in terms of perspective. For instance, one side of the cube featured an unstuck truck. Another side featured a stuck truck. I simply matched the front of the unstuck truck with the back of the stuck truck, and the car became one unstuck truck, completing that particular puzzle. 

That particular puzzle is the first thing you come across in actual gameplay and is hugely surface-level. The fifty scenes and sixty interactive puzzles in total become much more challenging as you progress. The puzzles themselves can prove tricky in terms of maneuvering said perspectives as the controls and touchscreen inputs aren't as solid across the board as they maybe should be. Sometimes the touchscreen inputs irritated me when attempting double presses or zoom-ins. I had several occasions where the game zoomed in on something I no longer needed thinking I was telling it to.

However, a mechanic allows you to highlight what elements in the imagery you need to focus on. This mechanic proved crucial to my play time and saved me from playing the guessing game for the bulk of my experience. Additionally, Moncage has a hints system. Thank you, devs. Without hints, I can confidently say I would not have been able to complete the game. That said, the hints system has a timer. So, if you are struggling to progress, you can click on the top right corner and enter the help menu. A timer of between two and four minutes will be displayed. Once it runs out, you can click on the layers of hints the game provides for you. Some puzzles will have one hint implicating a lesser degree of difficulty, while others will have three. Yet, every puzzle has a video provided by the game itself that you can watch if you are still struggling.

Story

I mentioned above how the truck was the first puzzle. Well, a camera is the very first thing the cube presents to you. I forgot this initially until it reappeared later in a scene, but originally the cube was just a glossy case containing the camera. As you explore the puzzles and scenes, you can uncover and collect photos that reveal an ambiguous relationship between a father and son. I struggled to follow a solid throughline, but it's clear that something traumatic has happened between them. Some themes I caught onto were war, regret, PTSD, perspectives, and acceptance or lack thereof.

Like the musical elements enhancing key moments between puzzles and the narrative, an achievement-like system called Medal Rewards unlocks a unique medal designed to represent these moments of the narrative. These medals, as well as the photos you uncover, can be viewed in the album section in the menu.

Presentation

To put it simply, Moncage, even on lower settings, looks incredible. Its glossy cube pairs well with the mysterious art and imagery that make up the game's overall perspective puzzles. Even if the art doesn't wow you, it's more than serviceable at worst and portrays a poetic journey that could catch anyone's eye. On top of that, musical cues will enhance the experience in terms of critical dramatic moments paired with soothing tunes and accomplishments in terms of progress. 

Breakdown

Game: Moncage

Developer: Optillusion

Availability: PC, Android, iOS

Reviewed on Mobile (Pixel 6)

Pros:

+ Complementary systems

+ Art and imagery

+ Delicate yet crushing narrative

+ One sitting

Cons:

- Touch inputs

Final Thoughts

Moncage is impressive and sets a precedent for perspective art and puzzles alike. The game itself didn't leave me begging for more or pleading that everyone plays it, but I can confidently say that those who play Moncage won't regret the time spent. The game itself strikes a delicate balance in its art, puzzles, and narrative, all of which seem to complement each other in terms of an overall tone. The game's narrative leaves a little to be desired in terms of organically telling the story, but what gets across connects and hits you in the feels. You understand it's all about which scene hits you or, rather, which lens you see through.

Reviewed by Austin Ernst