Viewfinder

Viewfinder stretches its entrancing central mechanic in delightful ways, constructing an engrossing, yet brief, puzzle-adventure that shouldn't be missed.

Viewfinder’s innovative, clever puzzles and the satisfaction that came with solving them left me eager to face each challenge head on. Although the optional puzzles somewhat extend your time spent in the simulation, the experience felt relatively short overall. However, I can appreciate the time and effort that must have went into the thoughtfully crafted puzzles that are present in the game. Viewfinder’s unique gameplay mechanics encourage you to think outside the box, and the aesthetically pleasing spaces, intriguing lore, and surreal image manipulation left me wanting more. Despite its brev...

This mind-bending puzzle game is ready to change your whole perspective.

It must be fiendishly difficult to design a puzzle game like Viewfinder. Sometimes, it is all I can do to wrap my head around it. It takes an inconceivably mad genius to come up with this game conceptually. Some of the challenges totally consumed me. Others were dealt with simply. While solving each I was struck with a question: In the face of sharp gameplay, does a puzzle game need an additional something? Perhaps not!

While slightly too short, what content Viewfinder does have is top notch and occasionally mind bending, matched with a bittersweet but relatable story about friendship, failure, and hope.

“Viewfinder is an ingenious puzzle game that wows at every turn, even if its sci-fi story stretches to find deeper meaning in its mind-bending photo hook.”

If you’re a fan of first-person puzzle games, Viewfinder should be considered essential. Sure, its story leaves something to be desired, and some of its puzzles don’t quite hit the mark. But even the worst of the bunch keep you engaged enough to see this clever little puzzle game through to the end. Never outstaying its welcome, Viewfinder has left a lasting impression on us.

Though the narrative setup did little for me and the occasional orientation issues mildly frustrated, Viewfinder still manages to shine through as a resolutely interesting, smart and enjoyable three-dimensional puzzler that feels like it was cut from the same, ingenious cloth as Valve's legendary Portal games. What's not to like?

When first starting the game, it is clear that while there is a story to be followed through gameplay, this is more of a level-based game with a primary focus on just creating interesting and weird puzzles. Aside from the talking cat character, there really is no reason to dwell on any part of the storyline in particular. This is not a bad thing, as the levels themselves can more than carry Viewfinder with how interesting and immersive they are. Players are forced to create their own solutions to puzzles rather than find the one that the developers force on them, and even though there likely i...

Viewfinder is a short, but sweet mind-bending puzzle games that is perfect for the Steam Deck.

Viewfinder is fun while it lasts and has more than one moment that will leave players with a smile on their faces. It doesn't live up to its full potential, but it's still a solid game and one that will hopefully inspire others to explore similar concepts. It's easy to see how Viewfinder's picture-to-reality idea could be huge for something like a horror game or even a first-person shooter. Applying the brilliant idea at its core to something with a better story and more content would be the makings of an instant classic. What's here is still certainly worth the price of admission, however.

A photo can capture victory, defeat, love, hate, a dog at the beach, or a sassy cat stretching in the sunlight. It’s a medium that speaks simply but can have a strong effect. Viewfinder makes that effect literal as its photos shift and warp the real world in all sorts of ways, which the game uses as the basis for its puzzles. And even though it’s an impressive mechanic, the rest of the experience is almost as two-dimensional as an actual photo.