Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Glass Masquerade Double Pack along with the first Glass Masquerade.)

Glass Masquerade 2, like its predecessor, is a Puzzle game that has the player assembling pictures composed of pieces of stained glass. In practice, this is essentially a glorified jigsaw puzzle, but instead of the usual jiggy pieces, you’re fitting together shards of glass. This game was released on PC in 2019 and ported to multiple platforms including Nintendo Switch in 2020.

In terms of presentation, the designs of the puzzles in Glass Masquerade 2 seem more visually-complex than those in the first game, which is a bit frustrating as it can make the visuals a bit difficult to parse. It also doesn’t help that this is a pretty visually dark game, and seeing these kinds of details is vital to playing it. This complaint aside, the actual quality of the visuals is superb, with each of these puzzles essentially being an intricate stained-glass window you’re tasked with piecing together, and the subdued orchestral music accompanying the game is quite nice as well.

I should note that this time around, players are guided through the game’s puzzles with a pointless map screen and a nonsensical non-narrative story. Perhaps some might be amused with the self-important writings that are desperately trying to build a sense of mystery, but for me this just came off as really pretentious, and an annoyance I’d have to put up with between puzzles when I’d much rather be getting on to the gameplay.

As for that gameplay, as with the first game, the core gameplay of this game is fine. It’s a puzzle, you’re piecing it together. Again, not too far off from a jigsaw puzzle. The game complicates matters a bit by having all of the pieces blacked-out, upside-down, and spun around until you pick them up, and you can only view one piece at a time, adding to the challenge. This, also, is fine. What is not fine… yet again… is the controls.

At this point, I have to think the terrible controls in this game are by design, not accident, as I have much the same issues with this game as I do with the first one. The on-screen movement of pieces is atrociously slow and slightly laggy, almost as if you’re playing the game with a “drunk” filter on the controls. And as with the first game, the touchscreen controls don’t suffer this problem at all and are quite nice… except for the fact that the game has you covering up the tiny puzzle pieces with the finger you use to move them… again…

The first Glass Masquerade was disappointing for me because it was a great concept ruined by terrible execution. However, Glass Masquerade 2 manages to disappoint further by making it clear that the game’s designers have no intention on fixing the problems with the game’s execution, and instead they add even more, with visuals that are less conducive to the gameplay, and unnecessary “story” slowing things down between puzzles. If you loved the first game, you might enjoy this one, but for most players I’d say the problems here are not worth putting up with for the gameplay here.

tl;dr – Glass Masquerade 2, like its predecessor, is a Puzzle game that has you piecing together gorgeous stained glass artwork like a jigsaw puzzle. Unfortunately, like the first game, the controls are absolutely atrocious and ruin the whole experience, and this game makes things worse with dark and complex visuals that make the puzzles harder to see, and inane “story” that slows down the gameplay. Do not play this game unless you absolutely loved the first one and are desperate for more.

Grade: D+

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