It’s your first day at an exciting new company called Puzzl which answers queries from its customers both basic and complex. When a mysterious artifact, the Answer Key – which can solve all of Puzzl’s problems — is found to be somewhere in the building, the CEO tasks you, the newbie, with its retrieval in Floor Plan 2
Floor Plan 2 is an adventure for all ages with a heavy dose comedy and the type of puzzle solving likely inspired by escape room mechanics. From the moment the headset is on the player is immersed in its world, whether it’s navigating the menus, moving conversations forward or meeting new and interesting characters.
The first 20 minutes in Floor Plan 2 are spent as they are in any new company: It’s induction time! Meeting a stereotypical representation of the reception you’re directed toward a side room for training from a company rep. Rather than plain English, the characters in Floor Plan 2 use their own language which fits in with their caricatured, almost puppet like, appearance. Subtitles handily hang in mid-air to help you understand the babbling and rather than button presses you need to make a thumbs up or down to agree or disagree with statements or questions.
Post-induction it’s time to take the hot seat as the public offers various issues for Puzzl to solve. In essence the real tutorial, Floor Plan 2 gently eases players into its way of thinking and the types of puzzles you are likely to come across further in the game. Sometimes the answer is obvious but sometimes the means of reaching it is more complicated.
Given that you might not have an immediate use for an object you have acquired, all Puzzl employees are given a special item storage device – a fanny pack – which defies the laws of physics, and can be used to retain items as you move through the building. Items dropped generally don’t respawn however so if you drop something because you don’t think you will need it again it’s best to do it somewhere easily accessible so you can pick it up again if required later.
Puzzles are often interlinked but at all times there’s a handy intercom system players can use for help from the supervisor, it’s still present in the main stretch although you do need to navigate back to the main elevator to use it. Built for all ages, the signs are there, built into the game, to clearly signpost most things you may or may not need to progress. Whether it’s the clear room entry sign that a police hat must be on to enter a security room or the telltale signs of wall scratches around a painting depicting the likelihood that at one point it’s been rotated; you’ll spot them if you look. If all else fails though, head back to the elevator and ask for help.
Most VR games can be placed into two camps, free movement or static location. Floor Plan 2 falls into the latter and navigation is via teleport points within each level, reducing the potential for motion sickness. It’s interesting though that teleporting to a point can actually sometimes require the player to take a good stride in a direction; to reach or interact with certain objects; so make sure you have some room around you even though initially it may feel like you won’t need it. Player height is set once you load the game up from the menu, so swapping players mid-way through a game might leave smaller or taller players in difficult situations and unable to interact with items needed to move the game forward.
As an experience, Floor Plan 2 is superb, immersive and funny with some smart mechanic based puzzle solving and a community of characters and locations you will enjoy. With experiences of this type the linearity means it’s an investment in a single play through but Turbo Button have delightfully remixed the puzzles so you have an opportunity to play it through again in a slightly different format. As far as puzzlers on the Quest go, most have a single save state but Floor Plan offers up to three different save slots making playing with a family member or friend possible on the same headset without overwriting each other’s progress.
Colourful, smooth, funny and well presented Floor Plan 2 offers around 4-6 hours of solid puzzle solving gameplay for most players and will leave you waiting for a sequel.
Floor Plan 2 is available now for PC & Quest and soon for PlayStation VR.
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