Maquette

65%
Game Brain Score Based on 350 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • music
Maquette Game Cover
While it misses the chance to transcend the sum of its parts, Maquette tells a beautifully relatable story with a gorgeous presentation, accompanied by a clever and unique size-bending puzzler.
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"Maquette is a single-player fantasy platformer game with a good plot, compelling mechanics, and a striking atmosphere. Players explore a recursive world where everything is both tiny and staggeringly huge, allowing for a unique perspective that shrinks and grows the player. The game's thoughtful puzzle design reflects the themes of a modern-day love story, where small problems can become insurmountable obstacles."

  • Nintendo Switch
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Steam Deck
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Cloud
  • Play​Station
  • Xbox
  • x_box_cloud_gaming
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

65%
Audience ScoreBased on 350 reviews
story97 positive mentions
stability20 negative mentions
  • Beautiful art style and visuals that create an immersive experience.
  • Clever and mind-bending puzzles that encourage outside-the-box thinking.
  • Touching story that resonates emotionally, enhancing the overall experience.
  • Short gameplay length, often completed in under 4 hours, which may not justify the price.
  • Technical issues, including bugs and glitches that can lead to soft-locks and frustrating gameplay.
  • Controls can be clunky and unintuitive, making some puzzles feel more frustrating than rewarding.
  • story400 mentions

    The story in "Maquette" is a bittersweet exploration of a romantic relationship, characterized by its relatable yet clichéd narrative of love, conflict, and growth. While some players found the emotional depth and voice acting engaging, many criticized the story for being predictable and disconnected from the gameplay, often feeling like a distraction rather than a meaningful integration with the puzzle mechanics. Overall, the game is visually stunning and features clever puzzles, but opinions on the story's effectiveness and relevance vary widely among players.

    • “An amazing puzzle that makes you think outside the box with a story that breaks your heart and beautiful music.”
    • “The story was lovely and a little sad.”
    • “Beautiful visuals and a poetic story about a romantic relationship.”
    • “The story is bland, the puzzles are frustrating and unclear, the mechanics are underutilized, and the controls are incredibly clunky.”
    • “The story is the most generic, bland narrative about a couple you could possibly imagine: a couple falls in love, has problems, and breaks up.”
    • “The story was very boring and not at all suited for the gameplay premise.”
  • gameplay200 mentions

    The gameplay in "Maquette" is characterized by a unique recursive mechanic that allows players to manipulate objects across different scales, creating engaging puzzles that often provide satisfying "a-ha" moments. However, many reviewers noted that the mechanics are underutilized and the gameplay can feel repetitive or simplistic, with some puzzles lacking depth and variety. While the visuals and artistic direction are praised, the overall experience is marred by clunky controls, a disjointed narrative, and a short playtime that leaves players wanting more from the innovative mechanics.

    • “The gameplay is great and the puzzles, while short, were alright and presented enough of a challenge to be a puzzle but not enough to be obscure.”
    • “The core mechanic is great, puzzles have some good 'a-ha' moments, and each level's design is pretty fun to explore for the first time.”
    • “A fantastic and beautiful puzzle game, with a unique recursive mechanic that feels like a fresh new challenge, just like the best puzzle games have.”
    • “Overall, I think at full asking price, there isn't enough gameplay to justify that price; if you can pick it up at 50% off, it's a decent deal if you're into this kind of game or puzzlers in general.”
    • “The story is bland, the puzzles are frustrating and unclear, the mechanics are underutilized, and the controls are incredibly clunky.”
    • “The gameplay is very linear, and the mechanics change a bit, but the game continues its search for raison d'être with one-time puzzles that rely on clunky controls.”
  • music101 mentions

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising its beauty and emotional impact, particularly in enhancing the storytelling and atmosphere. However, some players find the soundtrack polarizing or jarring, leading to a preference for turning it off or down. Overall, while the soundtrack is celebrated by many for its quality and fitting ambiance, it also faces criticism for being inconsistent and at times overwhelming.

    • “An amazing puzzle that makes you think outside the box with a story that breaks your heart and beautiful music.”
    • “The soundtrack is beautiful, the graphics are very pretty, and the story is simple yet touching.”
    • “The music gives me chills every time it kicks in and the ambient sound design is top notch as well.”
    • “I gotta be honest, I turned the music off pretty early on.”
    • “The music choices are very jarring; there were times I was just observing a new environment and music would start, and it'd just throw me out of the enjoyment completely.”
    • “Unfortunately, I hated the music.”
  • graphics88 mentions

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beauty and artistic style, with many reviewers highlighting the polished visuals and charming aesthetics that enhance the overall experience. However, some players experienced technical issues such as frame drops, glitches, and a lack of advanced graphics settings, which detracted from the enjoyment. Overall, while the visuals are a standout feature, they are occasionally marred by performance problems that can impact gameplay.

    • “Beautiful art style and music.”
    • “Exceedingly beautiful art style and amazingly unique puzzles throughout the entire game, all underlined by a very lovely story.”
    • “The visuals are really beautiful, but this game fell flat for me, not only because the mechanics lacked the proper developing and foundation, but also because I got soft locked into an area that was definitely an oversight on the developer's part, and due to the autosave feature I now have to start the game over from the beginning.”
    • “Visuals are not that great.”
    • “My computer can run much more graphically high-end games than this, but Maquette had a choppy framerate and multiple crash bugs for me, and the game stutters when it transitions to cutscene.”
    • “There's no advanced graphics settings, which is an absolute shame.”
  • emotional41 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game has garnered mixed reactions, with many players finding the story touching and relatable, often leading to strong emotional responses such as tears. While some appreciate the heartfelt narrative and its connection to the gameplay, others criticize it for being predictable and lacking depth, suggesting that the emotional weight could have been better integrated with the mechanics. Overall, the game is recognized for its beautiful presentation and ability to evoke feelings, though opinions vary on its execution and originality.

    • “I found the story touching - I don't play 'story-rich' games, so I wasn't expecting anything like that.”
    • “10/10 heartbreaking but hopeful.”
    • “Beautiful game, touching story.”
    • “As it stands though, it's a really good idea for a game that could definitely be more fleshed out in its execution, and a really boring story that seems to be trying to emulate 'Dear Esther', a game that doesn't need it.”
  • stability20 mentions

    The game suffers from significant stability issues, with numerous users reporting bugs, crashes, and soft locks, particularly towards the end. While the aesthetic and potential of the game are praised, the frequent glitches and jerky controls detract from the overall experience, leading many to hesitate in recommending it. Despite some players encountering only minor issues, the consensus highlights that the game's stability is a major drawback.

    • “The game is a bit buggy and even crashed a couple of times, and the gameplay only lasts a couple of hours, so paying $20 for this is like paying $10 per hour of gameplay.”
    • “Unfortunately, it is still very buggy with even some crashing or soft lock bugs encountered by many.”
    • “But what really tips the scale towards not recommending it is the glitches and bugs.”
  • atmosphere17 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its beautiful art direction, atmospheric music, and emotional depth, creating a captivating experience that enhances the storytelling. While some players find the narrative thin and the gameplay occasionally tedious, the overall aesthetic and design elements contribute to a memorable and immersive environment. The combination of varied architectural styles and visual effects further enriches the game's melancholic yet charming atmosphere.

    • “The design and music are beautiful and the game exudes atmosphere.”
    • “It's a bit short, but it has a beautiful melancholy atmosphere.”
    • “The atmosphere and aesthetic of the game is beautiful.”
    • “If I'm being generous to the story elements and atmosphere, I'd say the price of this game should be around $10.”
    • “The game is too short and simple for me to play it again for puzzle reasons, but I will most likely still show it off to friends for its design and atmosphere.”
    • “- unforgettable atmosphere”
  • optimization8 mentions

    The game's optimization is generally criticized, with players reporting significant performance issues, including stuttering, crashes, and clunky interactions, even on high-end PCs. While the environments are visually impressive, the overall experience is marred by these technical shortcomings, indicating a need for further optimization.

    • “The game would also stutter for a few frames whenever I triggered a story event, and my computer is no slouch (i7-8700K, RX 5700XT, 32GB RAM) so it seems to still need some optimizations.”
    • “I only had one performance/bug related problem on the [spoiler] final [/spoiler] puzzle of the [spoiler] penultimate [/spoiler] level, that made it very difficult to solve.”
    • “Fairly good, though pretty poorly optimized and rough around the edges.”
    • “There are some frustrating crash-to-desktop bugs, though, and some weird POV-locking and stuttering that occurs when manipulating in-game objects.”
    • “The environments look amazing (and are definitely the thing that makes me love this game), but there are big problems with the performance (even on a GTX 1080) and some interactions in the game that feel downright clunky.”
  • grinding5 mentions

    Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while the unique puzzle mechanics keep the gameplay fresh and engaging, some earlier puzzles can feel overly simplistic and tedious. The need to replay sections can lead to frustration due to repetitive walking and trivial challenges, although later puzzles offer satisfying complexity that redeems the experience for some players.

    • “The story, a sort of soap opera, seems rather tedious.”
    • “My only other option was to restart the level, and go through all the trivial puzzles and tedious walking (a portal gun or translocator would have been handy) to reach the point before entering the church again.”
    • “I was intrigued by other reviewers that praised the last chapter of the game, so I pushed forward to find out if Maquette was going to become another example of a tedious game with a brilliant final puzzle (like The Pedestrian).”
  • replayability2 mentions

    Users generally feel that the game lacks significant replayability, with some expressing that the cost per hour of gameplay does not justify the limited content available for repeated playthroughs.

    • “In addition, I don't think there's much replay value.”
    • “$4/hour of gameplay isn't worth it, especially with such little replay value.”
  • humor1 mentions

    Players appreciate the natural chemistry and humor between characters, which adds a charming and enjoyable element to the gameplay experience.

    • “When they're getting along, you smile at the unforced chemistry and humor.”
  • monetization1 mentions

    Reviewers express frustration with the game's monetization, suggesting it feels like a cash grab due to poor design choices, such as invisible walls and subpar puzzles, which detract from the overall experience and leave players feeling unsatisfied.

    • “The game feels like a cash grab for them to be releasing this game in this state.”
    • “The monetization strategy is frustrating and detracts from the overall experience.”
    • “It seems like the developers are more focused on making money than providing a quality game.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

76% average critic score

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Play time

4hMedian play time
4hAverage play time
3-4hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 6 analyzed playthroughs

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