Virtual reality is a fantastic arena with which to explore puzzles – especially when the idea is such a fun and refreshing one. Gadgeteer sees you designing amazing Rube Goldberg contraptions by placing all the missing pieces to complete the machines, while progressing through an abode’s various rooms. What starts with simple domino and marble puzzles grows increasingly more complicated. They get longer, more vertical, and eventually, you have to be mindful of branching paths. The learning curve is a gentle one, with early levels requiring little work, but things quickly evolve into progressively larger tasks. You will be presented with a starting point, and ending point, and the rest is an expansive ocean of obstacles to navigate.

The number of solutions are borderline endless, with the only restrictions being the actual amount of materials you’re provided with. Beyond that, you can do just about anything you want to solve these puzzles. And it’s immensely freeing. No matter how absurd your solution is, if you can hit that button, who cares? If it works, it works. Want to breeze right through the puzzle and ignore all the paths the devs set up for you to make use of? You can. Want to make something exponentially more complicated than required just because of how awesome it would be? You can do that, too.

Seeing these ideas come to life and work is such a satisfying accomplishment. The mechanics are so compelling, that the proposition of removing the headset is a sad one. We were utterly engrossed, and definitely wanted more once we made our way through the game’s 60 puzzles.

Luckily, there is. The sandbox mode allows you to craft your very own puzzles, and share them with the online community. While there’s already quite a bit to pick from, we can’t wait to keep revisiting this area of the game and see what kind of madness players have cooked up.