Review: Mosa Lina
by William Hernandez
Mosa Lina is a weird, unassuming, little game available on Steam. As a puzzle, physics-based platformer, it's not exactly the kind of game that'll pop out in any significant way. It's just hard to appreciate the game off of visuals alone; it can't possibly convey to you how the game will make you feel. It definitely has an air of quirkiness to it, but it's impossible to fully appreciate it for that until you've booted it up. The game knows exactly what it wants to be and it's impressive how much personality it can convey. Mosa Lina's design is all fully intentional and the game has a lot of value in the relatively unique experience that it offers. The philosophy behind the concept can absolutely be felt and is integral in making this game feel truly different from the rest. With its realized concept, there comes both ups and downs. True randomness can put you in some really confusing and impossible situations, but it's easy to look past the negatives because of everything else. Mosa Lina is an easy recommendation that I'd make, but let's get into the specifics about the game and fully explore what might make it a good or bad fit for you as a player.
Enjoyability: 10/12
You get as much enjoyment out of Mosa Lina as you want to get out of it. There's not much more to the game than what's on the surface. You solve random puzzles again and again and again. How long that'll stay interesting is pretty much up to you. It's something that could have your undivided attention for 2 whole hours on end. It could also bore you in 10 minutes if you're getting some especially bad RNG. It effectively comes down to what you're willing to put up with. This is the main fault of the game. It can't guarantee you anything. It was purposefully designed to be that way for what it's worth, but knowing that doesn't change how it feels. When you're not getting stuck in an RNG nightmare, the game can really be addicting in its own way. All it asks of you is to formulate some relatively simple strategies (they can get pretty complex, though) and actually succeeding gives a quick, little rush of joy and accomplishment. You won't be getting anything super strong, but it is what it is. And hey, it's easy to laugh at your own failures as well. Not many games can say that they do that.
Gameplay: 10/12
The gameplay can be defined pretty simply. Your main objective is to collect all the fruits available within a level and leave through a vortex when you're done. The 3 tools available to you on any given level will be randomized - either completely or dependent on the assortment of tools available to you in a cycle. The levels available to you are random, but the contents within them are not. Any success that'll come from a level will be solely through your ingenuity and willingness to reflect on your situation. Having a good selection of tools will always be of great help, though. The very solid amount of tool variety is what really makes this game playable. Because of its depth, you legitimately do have a near infinite amount of ways to complete a level. There's more than enough ways to elevate yourself. You can shoot fruits down with some tools. You can even use frogs to assist you with their jumps. The simplicity of everything is charming and it's just fun to explore the physics to their fullest. While there's definitely a right way to use some of the tools, there's so many different kinds of interactions that can happen that you'll constantly be discovering new possibilities and techniques to use in your puzzle-solving.
Atmosphere: 11/12
Mosa Lina is just surreal. Idiosyncratic. Very much out of the ordinary. It emits weird vibes and doesn't really have much need to elaborate more on it. Part of its weird charm comes from the sound design. Its sound effects are direct and impactful; they have a weight to them that lasts a while. Meanwhile, the background music playing has this dream-like quality to it that is very relaxing. The two things are almost discordant, but they combine surprisingly well. There's a realism to the physics and yet everything just feels abstract but in a cohesive way. There's random interruptions to your gameplay that throw you into a liminal black-and-white space. Game's just weird. That's all it really boils down to. It's pretty unique and it definitely has its place. If anything, you can just leave the game on just to keep the music playing. I know I've certainly done that a few times.
Design: 10/12
While the concept behind the game was very well-thought-out and well-documented, it doesn't exactly make the game feel as good as it can be. Mosa Lina was designed specifically to counter the "lock and key" philosophy that has plagued immersive sim games more and more frequently in recent years. The game definitely feels interesting for doing so and proves that this kind of design can work, but it has its undeniable flaws as well. Players can get a bad assortment of tools and end up with an impossible-to-beat level. That can happen multiple times. Consecutively in a row, even. What might bother a player might not even be the fact that it's unbeatable; they could very well have complaints about the complete lack of engagement in those situations. Or alternatively, too much engagement for no payoff. There's no higher objective within the game either so you basically just play until you're bored. That has its benefits, but it's not exactly a great way to get people to form strong, favorable opinions. But hey, I'm here giving a positive review so what do I know. The design has its flaws, but given the small scope, it's not likely to be all that uninviting to players.
Direction: 10/12
Being easy to pick up and put down will always be a big boon to any game. Those are your Candy Crush's of the world. The kind that are addicting on the surface level and don't need much more to keep you playing. Mosa Lina is basically that. There's nothing too deep. There's nothing that requires too much commitment. If all you want is a level, that's more than fine. After all, the next one you didn't get to just would have been random anyway. Or well, mostly. There's no pressure on you whatsoever and that's part of the appeal. You can learn at your pace. You can even try and speedrun through some levels if that intrigues you. There's nothing you ever fully figure out so you can't exactly complete the game either. It'll just be there. Waiting. Not much to forget. No way to get lost. Easy to come back to. That's Mosa Lina.
