The Atlas Mystery: A VR Puzzle Game Review – PC VR

The Atlas Mystery: A VR Puzzle Game is the latest VR escape room title to get added to the pile of similarly designed games in the genre.  It is one of those games that doesn’t necessarily require VR to exist; in fact, I think it might have done better if released as a non-VR title with better graphics and access to a much larger audience.    The VR implementation comes off as more of a gimmick and even a hindrance at times due to some unwieldy controls that affect both movement and interaction with the environment.

The one thing Atlas Mystery has going for it is presentation and atmosphere with its 40’s era architecture and art deco design elements that do a reasonable job of transporting you back to 1951 where you have just been hired as the manager of the Atlas Theater.  Your first day on the job not only requires you to find a way out of your locked office; you’ll also need to solve a murder mystery while exploring every square inch of the theater for clues, combinations, codes, and all sorts of items to solve a myriad of puzzles that stand between you and the truth.

The theater is sectioned off into a few main areas including the initial office that serves as a tutorial area before moving on to the concession stand, lobby, projection booth, and finally the main auditorium.  Each area is loaded with puzzles that require thorough examination of the area for instructions and hints at what to do followed by interesting interactions with those environments to complete the required tasks.  The first area, the snack bar, gave me flashbacks to that VR Job Simulator game where you worked in fast food, only here I had to prepare a specific combo deal, figure out the price, and ring up the sale.

Moving into the lobby has you looking for three dials to a safe along with other items; many of which are unlocked by solving combination clues that sync up with actors, dates, and movie posters.  Later you move to the projection room upstairs where you splice filmstrips to complete a movie that unlocks your path to the main auditorium with even more cryptic puzzles.  Puzzles vary in difficulty, and if you are a fan of these 3D adventure games or even real-world escape rooms and know how they work then you should have no trouble with most.  The game limits your interactions to only useful items, many of which can be stored in your backpack for later use, and the occasional note, news clipping, or sheet of paper with instructions or something that adds to the story.

The Atlas Mystery: A VR Puzzle Game can be finished in 2-3 hours; perhaps even less if you are good at puzzles since a secondary playthrough only takes 45 minutes when you know what you are doing.  There is no replay value to this at all.  I played the game on both the Vive and the Rift S and found no major differences aside from the usual claims that Rift S looks better, and Oculus Touch feels and controls better.  The darker nature of this game only enhances the visual flaws that are part of the aging Vive tech.  You have smooth forward movement and the option for smooth turning.  The smooth walking speed is painfully slow, but thankfully you can use the right stick to teleport forward to increase your speed and possibly avoid any VR sickness.  The game allows for seated or standing play, but the seated height seems too low and crouching felt like laying on the floor.  Setting the game to standing mode while playing seated seemed to work okay.

You can see the game in action in my blind playthrough of the first hour that includes some major struggles in the concession stand and a quick tour of the lobby.  I found the game rather exhausting due to quirky controls where you can’t accurately interact with objects.  Pushing buttons and moving combination dials requires you to brush against them with your virtual hand which seems imprecise.  Objects have no weight or physics applied to them and things just get knocked around; another reason this game would have been much better in non-VR.

In the end The Atlas Mystery: A VR Puzzle Game is a short and simple escape room packed with puzzles that will carry you through a surprisingly weak narrative that leads to a disappointing ending.  Seriously, what is up with that ending?  The game might be worth a look if it ever goes on sale, but I honestly don’t think this trip to the theater is worth the $15 ticket price.

Author: Mark Smith
I've been an avid gamer since I stumbled upon ZORK running in my local Radio Shack in 1980. Ten years later I was working for Sierra Online. Since then I've owned nearly every game system and most of the games to go with them. Not sure if 40+ years of gaming qualifies me to write reviews, but I do it anyway.

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