The recursive puzzle game Maquette was first revealed at GDC in 2011, where it made quite a splash: According to Gamasutra (opens in new tab), the presentation of scale-based puzzles in a world-within-a-world "drew numerous outbursts of applause from the audience." After that, though, it kind of fell off the radar—until today's announcement that publisher Annapurna Interactive has picked it up and will release it "soon."
It's fair to say that Maquette has come a long way over the past decade. The basic gameplay design remains—solve puzzles by manipulating and changing the scale of objects "to find creative solutions in a world nested inside of itself recursively"—but the Gamasutra report described it as taking place in a "drab 3D dome world" and that's clearly no longer the case. (There's still a dome, but "drab" is about the last word I'd use to describe it.) The gorgeous puzzles are also now tied together with a narrative layer telling a seven-chapter tale of "love, loss, and acceptance."
It's not a whole lot to go on, but the fact that Maquette is coming from Annapurna Interactive is interesting in itself. Annapurna has a well-earned reputation for handling top-notch indie games, including What Remains of Edith Finch (opens in new tab), Gorogoa (opens in new tab), Donut County (opens in new tab), Outer Wilds (opens in new tab), Sayonara Wild Hearts (opens in new tab), and more. That's a pretty remarkable run, especially for a publisher that was only founded three years ago, so if the Annapurna folks think Maquette is up to a similar standard, I'm interested.
More information about Maquette can be found at insidedecay.com (opens in new tab).
