Parents' Guide to

Moss

By Marc Saltzman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Charming VR story immerses players in a living fairy tale.

Game PlayStation VR 2018
Moss Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

Community Reviews

age 12+

Based on 1 parent review

age 12+

Truly immersive and challenging game

We found the introduction to this game with our PS4 VR disk and I was hooked right away. So glad the full game sooner than hoped! My daughter (9, ASD) LOVES watching me play and begs me to play on her own. The surrounding scenery is worth exploring. This game uses the VR technology to good effect. There are puzzles where you need to look around corners to find the solutions. You use dual controls for this game. The left stick moves Quill around and the motion sensor for the controller moves a blue ball around. Use L2 and R2 to interact with an object with your blue ball (heal Quill, move puzzle pieces, move enemies, turn pages, and more). Quill is an admirable main character. She is brave and determined. She gives the player encouragement along the way as well. The only potential downside for some is that she goes against direction instructions to follow her uncle into danger. In my mind, this is a good quality, but younger kids might not be able to make a distinction on whether that's good or not. I'm thoroughly enjoying myself and expect I'll play through it several times.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Easy to play/use

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (3 ):

This is an adorable adventure filled with puzzles, platforming, and some combat, but the addition of virtual reality makes this 3D world even more engaging and immersive. While Moss only runs for about three or four hours, those looking for a bit of a different VR experience will no doubt fall for the game's charm. The first thing players will notice is the majestic set pieces you play in. Truly, this looks like a polished animated movie, and it's a thrill to move your head around (and use motion controls on the DualShock controller) to peek around the level and instruct Quill to move about. It's like you're "in" the adventure with this quiet little mouse. You get a nice sense of scale as part of this awe. The sweeping soundtrack adds to the overall immersion. Of course, you'll soon develop a rapport with Quill, since you must interact with her in many ways while navigating around the levels to perform tasks and solve puzzles.

As an example of a puzzle, you'll find yourself in a jungle cave around statues of heroic warrior mice, which you must move for Quill and place on pressure plates to open up a dungeon door. Once inside, you'll need to destroy five red beetles to reveal a winding staircase. You'll rotate the staircase so that you can climb it to a higher level. Some environmental puzzles are more challenging than this, but that's a sense of the tasks at hand. As hinted at already, the game's VR production values are extraordinary, between the animation, set pieces, and music and voice talent. There are a couple of little glitches that temporarily break the spell -- like adversaries who sometimes get stuck in a wall or a camera that obscures your view until you move around a bit -- but overall, Moss is well worth your time and your money.

Game Details

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