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If you are looking for an incredible mixed-reality experience. Look no further than Shattered, a horror slash escape room. Developed by PlaySide Studios LTD and published by Oculus Publishing, released on the Quest 3 and 3S back at the start of December. You can grab it from the Meta store for £15.99.
Escape From My Own Room!
It’s no shock that I love mixed-reality games on the Quest 3. I remember seeing the trailer for this and being super excited about it. So when I was offered the chance to review it, I just had to snap it up. Read on to find out what I enjoyed most about Shattered.
Gameplay
Shattered is essentially one large escape room experience. And as with all escape rooms, you are tasked with solving puzzles to progress through. It sounds straightforward enough, and possibly even simplistic. However, when you get into the game it is anything but that.
You are trapped in a mental health facility called Greyvale, and it’s your job to expose the secrets. To do so you turn your physical space into an investigation room. Putting your shattered memories onto one wall acts as a portal into the other world. Once done so you can pull specific elements of the virtual world, into your play area to investigate further. Whether it’s drawers that you can search through or a floor hatch. All of it is interactive and there’s always something to find to help progress your mission.
It’s interesting to drag a body-less head in some SAW contraption into your front room. Thankfully Shattered does a great job of keeping you immersed even if you can see your own front room. At one point I was clambering on my sofa trying to see into a secret room that happened to be behind a painting. Pretty interesting right?!
Graphics & Audio
Graphically Shattered is very impressive. The way that the two worlds combine seamlessly into this one experience is superb. Being able to drag elements into the real world and manipulate them was just something else. The graphics inside the fragmented portals are incredibly detailed.
In the audio department, there are some great voiceovers. They do a great job of increasing your knowledge and guiding you through the story.
Longevity
Depending on how astute you are at solving puzzles will make this different for everyone. What I will say is that Shattered deserves to be played carefully. There are several puzzles that took me longer than they probably should have. Mainly because I didn’t read the clues and messages properly. So when you unlock something new, whether its a picture or a memo, make sure you read them properly. This will definitely make your experience of the game miles better.
Final Thoughts
Shattered is a game that I honestly believe all Quest 3 owners should have in their library. It’s both mesmerising and mind numbing at the same time. The only proviso I would add is make sure you enjoy puzzle games. Otherwise your time with Shattered will no doubt be short lived.
Shattered receives the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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