Moss: The Forgotten Relic review — two classic VR games finally land on flat screens

Moss: The Forgotten Relic launches July 16 on PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and Windows PC. Developer Polyarc has packaged both Moss and Moss: Book 2 — previously VR exclusives — alongside the Twilight Garden expansion into a single flat-screen release, no headset required.

The game casts you as the Reader, a mysterious presence who guides mouse hero Quill through puzzle-platformer levels built like dioramas from a living storybook. You move obstacles, elevate platforms, and clear paths for her while a narrator reads prose aloud and page-turn sounds mark scene transitions. The combined runtime across both games sits at around 10 hours. Combat is the weakest pillar — early sections lean on repetitive arena waves — but it opens up in the second half as Quill unlocks additional weapons. The puzzles are where the game consistently shines, and the bond between player and character is the real draw: Quill high-fives you after tough sections, breaks into dance when you string victories together, and points you toward solutions when you're stuck.

Moss originally launched as a PSVR exclusive in 2018 and earned a strong reputation as one of the best VR games available, with Book 2 following in 2022. Polyarc's conversion work is solid — reviewers note that without prior knowledge of the VR origins, the game reads naturally as a traditional 3D platformer. The one persistent friction point is camera control: because the original design assumed a VR perspective, the flat-screen version doesn't let you freely move the camera, which causes occasional annoyances during navigation.

Reviews are broadly positive, with both Polygon and IGN praising Quill as an unusually well-realised protagonist and the storybook presentation as genuinely distinctive. The camera limitation and early combat repetition are the main criticisms, but neither is considered a dealbreaker. For anyone who skipped Moss due to the VR barrier, The Forgotten Relic is the version they've been waiting for.