

… I noticed some of these houses had unusual details like spires, and all sorts of gingerbread house-style filigree,” he said. “One thing that really connected was how San Francisco and Victorian architecture actually have a storybook feel to them. Usually stopping at Randa’s Market first for a snack or a soda, he would find himself wandering aimlessly around the adjacent neighborhoods for miles as he fantasized about the game that would eventually become “Maquette.” Lemoore, who grew up in Sunnyvale and Mountain View and later moved to San Francisco in 2010, said he spent weeks exploring the city from his apartment at the corner of 16th and Valencia. In the past year, thousands of people sheltering in place have caught onto the renewed popularity of puzzles, and this game scratches a similar itch with its dazzling visuals and concepts that challenge the player’s sense of spatial awareness. Instead, animated drawings from their sketchbook dance around the screen as the flashbacks play, kind of like the opening credits of a Pixar movie.įor Lemoore, the founder of San Francisco-based independent game studio Graceful Decay, his newest project couldn’t have come at a better time.

Kenzie and Michael, who are played by real-life couple Bryce Dallas Howard (“The Mandalorian,” “Jurassic World”) and Seth Gabel (“American Horror Story,” “Fringe”), are never really shown. To progress through this storyline, the player explores and manipulates the puzzle version of the city.īut this isn’t just another run-of-the-mill romance.
#PS5 MAQUETTE PS4#
Released by Annapurna Interactive on Tuesday for Steam, PS4 and PS5, “Maquette” is a first-person, story-based puzzle game that brings an animated version of San Francisco to life, inviting the player to follow the fictional couple as they experience a meet-cute in a coffee shop, fall for one another and move on. While he revisits the memories they shared, you approach a landmark that’s highly reminiscent of - but not quite - the Palace of Fine Arts. He discovers the sketchbook that he and his former girlfriend, Kenzie, used to draw in together during afternoons spent at backyard patios in the Mission District. The game begins in an oddly familiar moonlit garden.Ī mellow cover of Eric Burdon and the Animals’ “San Franciscan Nights” softly plays in the background, and visible dialogue from a character named Michael appears in the scenery around you.
