Moss: The Forgotten Relic Review

A fun fantasy story, a wonderfully charismatic narrator, an adorable protagonist and plenty of creative ideas for inventive puzzles and level design. Mix these ingredients together and you have a charming and thoroughly enjoyable puzzle-platformer that should easily win over fans of the genre. But what if you want to take that same formula and make it something truly unforgettable, a game that players will remember for years to come? The answer is deceptively simple: make it for virtual reality.

That was what Polyarc did with the original Moss on the eighth console generation. Its success as a standout PlayStation VR title established the studio as one of VR’s most promising developers, culminating in Moss: Book II for PlayStation VR2 in the next generation.

The Moss series has been a hit on Sony’s VR headsets, but let’s be honest — the virtual reality market is still pretty niche, even after all these years. For a variety of reasons, such as motion sickness, long-term platform support concerns, or simply the cost of purchasing a headset, many players still choose to stay away from VR. And the truth is, it’s easy to see why the developers behind Moss would be reluctant to limit themselves to such a small audience when there’s a much larger market waiting beyond the boundaries of VR.

Moss: The Forgotten Relic is essentially a remastered compilation of both VR entries in the series, giving players a chance to play these two beloved adventures on consoles without the necessity of a virtual reality headset. Both Moss titles are updated with refined gameplay mechanics and enhanced visuals, featuring richer colors and improved presentation for consoles and PC. As such, puzzle-platformer fans now have the chance to experience the full Moss experience in a traditional format; no VR or extra hardware needed.

One of the first things you’ll notice, and one of the game’s biggest strengths, is that the familiar charm that initially made Moss so immersive in virtual reality has been successfully preserved in Moss: The Forgotten Relic. The game makes it clear from the outset that you’re in for a simple, slow-paced fantasy story. As a storybook reader, your task is to assist the adorable little mouse, Quill, in her journey towards her destiny. The game has a great camera that switches between top-down and side views, always showing Quill, her enemies, objectives and the tight quarters of the levels clearly and naturally.

The game’s story is in a constant state of reminding you that you are reading a fantasy book for younger audiences. At the conclusion of each chapter, the sound of a page being turned indicates the beginning of the next part of the adventure. Soft interludes led by the narrator between chapters reveal the main story. It’s a simple presentation, but one that fits the game’s warm, fairy-tale atmosphere perfectly.

At first, everything seems to be just as it should be. The original VR mechanics have surprisingly translated well to a standard controller, making the transition feel intuitive and natural. This is the kind of adaptation that immediately makes you wonder why Polyarc didn’t just make a non-VR version of Moss to begin with.

The gameplay is primarily a mix of platforming and environmental puzzles, with the player taking on the role of the Reader, using special abilities to interact with the world alongside Quill. A light layer of combat has been interwoven into the experience, ensuring the adventure isn’t just a constant cycle of jumping, climbing and moving interactive objects. The action remains simple, but it adds a sense of adventure and dynamism to Quill’s journey.

Enemies are not just to be defeated either. In many cases they are built into the puzzle design, allowing the player to use or manipulate them to solve more complex environmental challenges. There’s also plenty for Trophy Hunters to sink their teeth into, with careful exploration rewarding observant players with hidden collectibles, letting them experience everything the game has to offer.

Both games – or more accurately, both books of Moss – have been faithfully recreated in Moss: The Forgotten Relic. Initially each features simple mechanics, but then introduces increasingly complex puzzles and more challenging level design that pulls players further into the experience. Both adventures are fairly short, so there’s rarely a chance for the puzzles and environments to become repetitive, and fans of the puzzle-platformer genre are unlikely to walk away disappointed. Ironically, however, this is also where the biggest issue with the game begins to rear its ugly head – from the very thing that initially sounded so promising.

To be honest, the gameplay mechanics in the Moss games are not exactly flawless or groundbreaking. For example, the platforming is pretty standard and can be frustrating at times in the harder sections, especially with the fixed camera angles of the game. Similarly, the Reader mechanics – which really shine in Book II – never strike me as particularly inventive compared to the genre’s best games. Combat, too, has always been one of the weaker sides of the experience. Functional, but way too simplistic, it rarely offers the kind of satisfying encounters that make an impression that lasts.

But until now these relatively common gameplay systems have been elevated by the magic of virtual reality. The immersive nature of VR masked a lot of their flaws, making them feel more engaging than they were. Without that layer of immersion Moss: The Forgotten Relic lacks, those same mechanics and the relatively simple level design are much more exposed than ever before.

The collection’s difficulty curve is also impressively well balanced, constantly urging players to move on, hoping for new puzzles and new ideas. Sadly, the road to solving those puzzles is paved with fairly average platforming, simple combat and a level design that rarely reaches the same level of creativity. And as such, while Moss: The Forgotten Relic remains an enjoyable puzzle-platforming adventure, its core gameplay isn’t quite strong enough to make the experience truly unforgettable.

One of Moss: The Forgotten Relic’s greatest strengths is that both Moss titles can now be experienced without the limitations of virtual reality, while also benefiting from noticeably improved visuals. For this collection, Polyarc has moved from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, and the transition is immediately apparent. Higher-quality materials and, most importantly, far more convincing lighting give the world a richer and more vibrant appearance on a TV or monitor. Add a sharp presentation, high-resolution visuals, and a smooth 60 FPS performance, and Moss: The Forgotten Relic becomes a genuinely beautiful game to look at.

That said, the move to Unreal Engine 5—and the accompanying improvements in lighting and image quality—appears to have come with a few compromises. Much like the original VR versions, the game still suffers from low-resolution textures, particularly whenever the camera moves in close to Quill or nearby environmental objects. Fortunately, these shortcomings are relatively minor and are easy to overlook given the overall visual upgrades the collection delivers.

Moss: The Forgotten Relic is a delightful and worthwhile re-imagining that brings one of PlayStation VR’s finest experiences to a much wider audience. Both Moss adventures have been liberated from the confines of virtual reality and are playable on almost every modern platform, giving more players the chance to enjoy Quill’s charming tale, imaginative puzzles and heartfelt adventure.

But ironically, taking away VR also exposes the biggest weakness of the game. Without the extra immersion that virtual reality naturally delivered, the simplicity of its mechanics and level design becomes much more apparent. This is twice as true in the modern day when even smaller, humbler puzzle-platformers place far more of an emphasis on tightening up core mechanics such as platforming, making them interesting enough to keep you hooked from start to finish. Moss: The Forgotten Relic is still fun, but without the magic of VR, its core gameplay just doesn’t feel quite so special.

Score: 70/100