Puzzling Places is absolutely lovely — that’s the best way to describe it. A puzzle game best described as a 3D jigsaw, this is far and away the most relaxing time you can have with your PSVR2. The game leans into its unique appeal, allowing you to put together 3D dioramas of things that under normal circumstances would be challenging, or outright impossible to make as traditional puzzles.
You’ll get around 20 puzzles out of the box. These feature locales and settings from around the world, including coastal towns in Italy, castles in Sweden, and so on. The variety is impressive, meaning you’ll feel like you’re building something new all the time. It should be noted that there are a number of pricey DLC packs available as well, and it would have been nice to see some more of that content included with the main game.
Fortunately, solving what there is available is delightfully relaxing. You find yourself in a softly lit void, which you can customize to tweak the colours, lighting, and more. The ambient music is perfect, offering a soothing backdrop and fun audio cues. Depending on which puzzle you build, if you move your face closer to the environment, you can hear diegetic audio of what is going on in the image, be it a choir, church bells, or the white noise hum of a crowd. It’s all quite magical, and everything in the game works in concert to put you at ease.
And you can extend this feeling for quite a while, as you can change the size of puzzles from between 25 to 400 pieces. Should you choose 400, you’ll be occupied for a few hours, but it’s worth it, especially on PSVR 2. The resolution bump makes a huge difference here, as you can actually see details on the puzzles in a way you couldn’t previously. We were especially stunned to go inside one of the environments to find that we could read one of the sticky notes clearly.
You just have to hope the game cooperates to let you finish! We had multiple hard crashes, one of which corrupted our save, wiping away nearly an hour of puzzling. Still, we're going to assume the developer will issue a patch promptly, and as long as it does, this is PSVR2 at its most relaxed.
Comments 20
Fantastic review, Graham, this really is a lovely little game. It's got that "Animal Crossing" miniatures appeal to it, where everything is so densely detailed and pretty.
I really enjoyed doing a couple of the puzzles and can't wait to get back to it.
I tried all PSVR2 demos and this was my favourite. Only 2 levels are available, but with options 25, 50, 100 and 200 pieces I spent hours on this.
Ah, it wasn't just me then. I didn’t have any issues with the PS4 version, but the PS5 upgrade came bundled with a few bugs that have crashed the game a couple of times. I do hope there’s a patch soon because the game is truly lovely when it works properly.
@Amnesiac Yeah, I never had any issues with crashing on the PS4 either, but a few hard crashes in a relatively short period of time was surprising. Was especially annoyed to have lost about an hour of progress cuz my save file got corrupted too!
@misak192 It's well worth the money! I love this game! So relaxing!
@get2sammyb I bought this back on the old headset too, and I just love how unique the idea is. I already like puzzles as it is, and this is just such a cool way to do them! Especially when it leans into diorama type stuff that wouldn't be feasible as a regular puzzle.
This is one of those games I tried the demo expecting to hate it and ended up loving it. I almost bought a bunch of dlc out of the gate, until I realized I could make the 25 piece puzzles into 400!
Theres also a PS5 exclusive one with 1000 pieces! Idk that I'm that brave but you sure don't need the dlc. They also release free puzzles sometimes. I thought I missed Christmas and lunar new year but they added them to the game anyway. I started the Baltimore Christmas one at 400 pieces and am still a looong way from completing it lol! Fantastic game, and very Zen.
I've been having tracking issues with my PSVR2, and this game is where it is most notable. Every few seconds, the world sort of shifts slightly, as if the tracking is trying to self-correct. It pretty much ruins the experience by creating this wobbly environment thus inducing severe motion sickness.
I've tried the headset in different rooms with different furniture and lighting conditions, but nothing so far has had the slightest impact. And no, it's not the TV and there are no mirrors in the rooms.
Has anyone else noticed this?
@Art_Vandelay yes this game does have a slight wobble effect but not as bad as the original psvr. That being said I’ve also noticed the wobble in games where you can remain mostly stationary, such as Star Wars and the kayak game. Hasn’t made me sick but did make me feel a bit uneasy. Overall though the puzzle game has been one of my favorites and is a great chill vr experience.
@Art_Vandelay I've had tracking jitters like that a couple of times across all the PSVR2 games I've been playing, but definitely nothing as bad as that, yeah would make basically anything unplayable at that point. Usually when messing with my lighting setup though. Hmmmm. Have you tried a factory reset? One of the firmware updates might have gotten corrupted during installation or something
@Dalejrfanfreak It's definitely more noticeable in some games than others, but it's always there. It is especially bad in stationary games where objects are close to view, because any slight shift in perspective is immediately noticeable. Another example is the cockpit view in GT7's VR Showroom.
I'm struggling with the decision if I should return this unit, but I really don't want to. This could well be a widespread software thing that gets ironed out in the future. But at the same time, I haven't seen many people complaining about it.
And yes, Puzzling Places is great. Perfect for VR.
@gbanas92 Thanks for the reply. And kudos to you and the team for the excellent coverage of PSVR2's launch.
No, I have not tried a factory reset, though I did clean the console's cache. The thought of reconfiguring everything and redownloading all my games sounds a bit like a nightmare lol. But it might be worth it.
The last update went smoothly, but the wobble might have gotten worse. Hard to say with confidence, though.
@Art_Vandelay could be a defect. Or could be something in the room messing with it. Too dark? Is there a TV or screen on in the room? That can mess it up (there's an option for a bordered mode if you have your vr content on the screen so it doesn't track it.). Otherwise you can use your tv as an extra tracking device, there's a setting for that too.
I will say I haven't had that happen once. Have a fairly bright area. And a very cluttered area so lots of geometry to track on. You might have too sterile environment with not enough geometry to track on?
@NEStalgia I feel like I have tried everything: low light, bright light, natural light… I have done the crosses on the walls with tape… I've tried with the TV on and off… I have covered reflective surfaces… Hell, I have even tried it in the kitchen (seriously). And yes, the "tracking support" option has been enabled from the very beginning. Oh, and disabling eye tracking doesn't have any effect either. And I have reset camera calibration a dozen times.
Now what do you mean by "use your tv as an extra tracking device". Isn't it the aforementioned "tracking support" setting that applies the border around the screen? As I understand, this is supposed to cause the tracking to ignore the image on screen to avoid confusion. But yeah, doesn't help either.
The most annoying thing is that the issue is bad enough to ruin the experience but subtle enough to make me doubt my judgement. Maybe I'm too sensitive and this is expected. Or maybe there's some crazy interference plaguing my house.
If I had to guess, I'd say that there could be some sort of mismatch between the information being fed by the tracking cameras and the data from the gyros/accelerometers. I have some experience with with IR/NIR computer vision development and that is what it feels like when I play. It's like the image is constantly adjusting itself slightly as the data from all sensors doesn't quite match when I turn my head.
Oh well, I guess the only way at this point is to request for a replacement. Thanks for the help.
@Art_Vandelay Oh, yeah, the tracking support is using the TV. I think it's more than "ignoring the TV" and is also using the TV as a guide, (like the old light bar/camera in VR1 but reverse.)
But yeah, it sounds like you've been through the gambit with different rooms etc (a PS5 in the kitchen.....why have I never thought of this?! VR would be great, play a cooking simulator while holding real knives!! Takes Soulsborne to a whole new level!)
If it's reaaaaly subtle, it could very well be a sensitivity to it that you have that I don't and just haven't noticed...but....I'm pretty sure I'd have noticed if I was having an issue like that. Especially in games like Puzzling Places or Townsmen where you're really eyeing objects carefully and closely with minute head angles. Or Moss for that matter. And I've definitely not had it at all. On a not so subtle scale I know the effect well from VR 1 where I'd constantly be out of camera tracking range and get that jump. but even in Pistol whip when I'm flailing on the floor....I don't really experience that kind of issue at all. I can't say it's not something to do with your environment, or just being sensitive to an effect that I'm not....but it's sounding like it may be an actual tracking defect possibly. Could be, like you said, bad gyro/accel data, or maybe even one of the tracking cameras is totally out. But yeah, it's definitely not normal behavior for VR2 in my experience, and I've spent a LOT of time in mine since getting it across over 30 games because I have no impulse control when it comes to buying VR2 games
That sucks, though, sorry to hear yours may well be broken...but....the up side is hopefully when you get your replacement it'll seem that much better without that issue plaguing it!
I dabbled with this demo, and I thought it was chill and alot of fun. I burned so many hours accidentally on this.
@NEStalgia It is quite subtle in games such as Horizon or Village, but a total showstopper in Puzzling Places. And since you mentioned, I actually saw someone describe the exact same issue on Reddit, stating that Moss was simply unplayable. Though I haven't got to Moss just yet.
Funny thing is, in the few threads on Reddit that describe a similar issue, no one has been able to find a solution. Which leads me back to the theory that something is amiss with the device itself. Or the software, of course, but for some reason it only affects a few people.
@Art_Vandelay Yeah, it's definitely sounding like a hardware defect, and such defects have a way of turning up with only a few here or there online (warping Switches, XSX power supplies (I was one of those!)) Hopefully that's what it is, much as one doesn't one to ship it away and do the swap it's better it was just a lemon than the device just not working well for you by design
@Art_Vandelay Happy to help! Launch stuff like this is always so fun and exciting to work on!
Oop sorry, I should have clarified. I meant roll back the updates specifically for the headset itself and try updating it again. Possible the Sense controllers too! I didn't mean resetting the console entirely, THAT sounds like a nightmare haha— very much a last resort.
Agreed with @NEStalgia though, your judgment sounds spot on. Definitely should not be doing what it's doing for you haha.
And with extra context, it does sound more like a factory defect than anything else, but you've tried so many things to fix it already, there's not much left to try!
@gbanas92 @NEStalgia I've just returned it and will report back here when I get a replacement unit. Might be useful info to others.
Thanks a lot for your help.
@Art_Vandelay Good luck! Hopefully that's all it was!🤞
@Art_Vandelay Probably the right call ultimately. I hope the one you get back works right away and stays that way!
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...