Transpose is a puzzle adventure game that requires an intricate amount of teamwork between multiple versions of yourself. You’ll feel as though you’ve been transported to a dream and the only way to wake up is by solving the increasingly difficult puzzles spread over the three different worlds that will have you traversing through space and time. Developer Secret Location has constructed a world that has a strange sense of peace even as the challenges become more and more difficult.
They do a great job of easing you into the game, allowing you to initially watch an unknown being led the way. Though mute, you’ll follow their example and slowly begin to grasp what must be done in order to advance through the thirty plus levels that make up Transpose. As you complete each level a beam of light will connect to an object in the sky and, once all the doors have been sealed, you can leave the world behind and advance to the next.
The story is about as loose as they come, and each world is tied together with an ongoing string of phrases that feel as if they’d be right at home in a Kingdom Hearts game. As the game progresses one thing becomes clear, you must work together with your past and future self in order to complete the levels and carry on.
Puzzles are solved by completing a piece of the puzzle and then starting over in order to complete the next step. Once you’ve completed a step, you begin again while your past self retraces your steps as you complete your piece of the puzzle. Sounds complicated right? Yes and no.
At first, you’ll get in your way and will have to use some trial and error in order to complete the puzzles. For example, as you start a level you may need to climb a hill and pull a lever moving a platform to the other side. You then complete that by returning to the start of the world and beginning the next step. As the former version of you climbs again in order to pull the lever, you’ll stand on the platform so that you can go with it once you pull said lever. Upon reaching the other side, you can throw the cube that you’ve been sent to recover over to where you started enabling you to end your “turn” and return to the beginning. At this point, while the two previous versions of yourself complete their tasks, you wait for the cube to be thrown – at which time you’ll pick it up and place it where it belongs in order to complete the puzzle. If this sounds time consuming, it can be, but by pulling a lever on your left arm you can speed up time – cutting your waiting time a bit (this feature is nice, but we can’t help wishing that it sped things up a little faster at times).
The puzzles constantly get harder and harder as you make your way through the three worlds, but the dreamlike state and mesmerizing soundtrack will keep you at peace. This helps to limit your frustration and helps you stay engaged regardless how long it takes to complete the puzzles.
Each path you travel is recorded on a ring that you wear around your wrist, one ring for each path, and once you run out of rings you must decide which version of you to delete in order to continue solving the puzzle. Sometimes this means having to completely start over when you accidentally delete a key step that inhibits you from completing your current goal.
Controls
The controls take a little bit to get used to but, once you master them, they feel solid. Using the Move controllers, you’ll walk by pushing the move button on the left controller and tilting your head to move in different directions. The right controller will be used to transport to areas that you can’t walk to and both controllers allow you to push Square and Triangle in order to move a quarter turn at a time. Though a little challenging, getting used to the controls really is one of the strong points of the game once you become comfortable with the configuration.
There are a few motion related controls that you’ll learn about along the way too. Pulling levers and sliding switches with the Move controllers will become second nature to you while solving various types of puzzles.
Recommendation: Transpose is an innovative take on the puzzle game. The fact that it is in VR only enhances the innovation. Puzzle games always come with varying degrees of difficulty but having to work with multiple versions of yourself to complete a puzzle just takes it to the next level. If you have access to any of the big VR hardware and love puzzle games then do yourself a favor and play Transpose when it releases on November 6th for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PSVR at a price point of $19.99.
*Transpose was provided to the reviewer by the publishing company but this fact did not alter the reviewer’s opinion*
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