The Last Clockwinder

Wow. I just finished the game for the second time after a while of not playing, and this game is incredible. It has everything; amazing mechanics, story, and graphics, plus it runs well on my crappy PC. If you have a VR headset you need to get this game.

To the designers of this game I want to say great job on the game within the game by using those boards showing the number of pieces/number of clones. This was brilliant, a Heaven for anyone with a compulsion for efficiency. I would spend an hour or more getting everything set up to work properly, then decide it could work better and starting over. And none of that was even necessary to complete the game!
The concept of the game was unique and very enjoyable. I spent 11 or 12 hours total. I could have completed it faster but was having too much fun tweaking my clones. In fact, I might go back and try to improve their processes some more, even though I completed the game already. I would definitely recommend this game.

Love this game. It's somehow cozy, even when you have to do some juggling to solve the puzzles!

The premise: you are in a giant tree trying to figure out what happened to your mentor while making everything work. Each room is like a mini-factorio puzzle, where you try to achieve a certain level of production. But instead of having machines you record your actions, which are replicated by a cute robot. The key is trying to achieve a certain level of production using the minimum amount of robots. Many times, the solution that does that requires some juggling between actions. For some people, it can be frustrating to know the solution but having troubles executing it. Don't worry, with enough patience, it's solvable.

Story itself is revealed through some old recordings that you find and some conversations with the guy who carries you to the tree. It's simple but it works. There aren't so many recordings, and they are not hidden, so you can get all the pieces and put them together to understand the relationship between Jules (you, the player) and Edea (your mentor).

Finally, artistic side is cute and warm. The way technology fuses with the tree in a way that doesn't feel intrusive or aggressive, the globe used to move between rooms, the different kinds of plants... Everything is welcoming and looks made with care.

You would like it if you like:
* Puzzles
* Weird plants
* Steampunk
* Juggling
* Factorio

-Preface-
I highly recommend you buy this game if you have VR! I know it's already a couple years old, but I wish there were more VR games like this so I want it to be very successful. -In my opinion- most VR games right now are either shooters/action focused, plain escape rooms, or simulators. This game is a story-rich adventure! It has a larger narrative and character arcs! It's simply a different genre than most VR games you can find right now. (I don't know why it's tagged as simulator, I guess all VR games simulate something, but this is not a real life thing you can do, so I wouldn't call it a simulator.)
Personally, and contrary to popular opinion somehow, I want the largest portion of my VR gaming to be pleasant immersive escapism. I only -sometimes- want to shoot things, be scared sh1tless, do stressful timed surgeries, dance, or get massively motion sick exploring/flying/driving. But that's 90% of the VR genre right now. It's surprisingly hard to find story rich VR games that are pleasant, (or longer than 30 minutes.) I am stressed in the real world, I don't need to immerse myself in a second, fake stressful world! (most of the time)
- What I liked -
This game does a great job of keeping you engaged with goals and puzzles that make you enjoy being in the world. It doesn't hold your hand on how to do everything, but it does still give you hints if you want them. It overall does a wonderful job of showing not telling and building on experience intuitively. It also very cleverly makes use of the same well sized space for every new "room" the player experiences.
The story is engaging if maybe lacking something, and the art and style is unique and nicely supports the gameplay. It's a puzzle game sure, but the puzzle aspect is a fresh and interesting concept. It reminded me both of animating something and of being an extremely efficient factory worker. I felt more like I was learning a dance or how to juggle in a really specific way, which was so much more fun than your bog standard escape room riddles and codes, and utilized the capabilities of VR extremely well.
- What I didn't -
I only have two criticisms. One, I don't love it when I am playing as a voiced character in VR. Half life Alex did this also and I didn't like it there either. I am dubbing this, "possessed-by-the-main-character-syndrome." Even if the story was exactly the same and I had maybe two unvoiced dialogue box options that lead to the same point, I would feel more immersed that I do when a voice that isn't mine suddenly comes from me. It's the one thing that breaks the extreme immersion you get from VR. Railroad me, sure, give me a backstory and a role even hell, but don't just have a character who just possesses me.
And two is that I felt like I needed a whole large empty room to play this game how I wanted to intuitively. You will -want- to be able to make big throwing motions safely in your VR space. It's not necessary per-say, but I was running into and smacking my office furniture constantly trying to throw fruits. This game taught me how to throw and catch better than my own dad, but it also punished me by making me accidentally smack a metal shelf repeatedly. It's doable with less space, but it's easier to be efficient with the puzzles if you can throw and walk. I crave an omni directional VR treadmill or a warehouse. One of the two.
- Conclusion -
Overall 8/10, I am so starved for this genre of VR game and the physical puzzles aspect was really fun! I had a great time playing this and would recommend it to anyone who asked me what to play in VR. My two points removed are for the MC possession/story, and my desire for more space.

I enjoyed planting, trying to throw things towards the correct direction and puzzle solving. the story is short but sweet. very cool game mechanics.

one of those games where you take 2 days to beat it and love every second of it. except those dumbass floaty fruits who decided to make that in the game and on top of that make it fun, other then that music 10/10 gameplay 9/10 gimmick 10/10 replayable 100/10 (i dont see myself rebeating it but the entire point is that you can do anything and make it work.

Tricky and frustrating at times, but immensely satisfying once you complete each level. A bit of exercise without the adrenaline, just the desire to get a good outcome. A few more achievements to pick up, and I'll be back to get them.