izigame.me

I really tried to like Viewfinder, but I just can't get past over the game-journalist difficulty. 5/10
From a coding perspective, Viewfinder is one of the most brilliant showcases of mechanics in a 3D First Person puzzle game I have ever seen. I was in awe how EVERYTHING behaves naturally and seamlessly. I can't even begin to describe how cool I think that a game like this is even possible in the first place. While Viewfinder is an incredible achievement in programming, it sadly completely fails as a puzzle game, it never explores the mechanics it introduces. It simply skips to the next mechanic before actually doing anything with what you have learned. The entire game feels like a tutorial for game journalists. Even the more advanced puzzles never got me stuck for more than a minute or two. You are also rarely limited in taking photos even though you have a rewind mechanic . So most of the time I only used 1 or 2 of the 5 photos that i had access to.
Viewfinder reminds me a lot of "Manifold Garden" and "The entropy Centre", where these games have excellent mechanics but never does anything with them. It is pretty to look at, but contains no depth. Which just leaves me so disappointed, because I know you can make an absolutely amazing mind-bending puzzle game with these clever ideas. Even if it was on the easier side, I would've been happy with it. But Viewfinder is so pathetically easy that I never really had to think, the solution was already apparent to me the moment I had explored the level.
All in all, I wish these game developers good luck in creating a more engaging experience, because Sad Owl Studios clearly have the technical skills to create something really special. You just need to take more time in designing challenges for the players and you got yourself that masterpiece that will set the standard for all the games that come after it. I still look forward to the next game from this studio just because I know there are some incredibly skilled developers behind this technical marvel of a game. Hopefully, they continue working on Viewfinder and add some hard DLC levels to Viewfinder because I am still down to buy them. Because the concept of the game is just that great.
If you came looking for puzzle games, I have some recommendations for you. I would suggest playing "Portal (1 and 2)", "The Talos Principle" or "The Witness" in the 3D First Person puzzle game genre or "Baba is You" from the top-down 2D Puzzle game genre. And for mystery games I recommend "Return of the Obra Dinn" and "Outer Wilds", I really recommend playing these two completely spoiler free, don't even look at the trailers.