Microsoft may soon welcome the first-person puzzle game Maquette to its Xbox Game Pass Platform. This news is still unconfirmed, and Maquette's already-delayed Xbox port still doesn't have a confirmed release date. However, this would not be the first time that Xbox Game Pass quietly added a new game without much fanfare.Described as a "recursive puzzle game," Maquette takes players to a world where everything is simultaneously tiny and massive. Players solve puzzles by manipulating miniature versions of the world their character inhabits. Publisher Annapurna Interactive and indie developer Graceful Decay released Maquette on PlayStation and Steam in March 2021. The game's Xbox port was supposed to be released last winter but has never materialized, and there has been no word on its release until now.An official statement on when Maquette will finally come to Xbox has not been made yet. However, the upcoming port was recently teased by a notification on the Xbox Game Pass App, which encouraged users to try Maquette and Plethora Project's Common'hood on Game Pass. This notification may have gone out by mistake since, as of this writing, only Common'hood is on Game Pass. There also haven't been any other mentions of Maquette's Xbox Port. However, assuming the leak is real, this is a strong indication that Graceful Decay's unique puzzle game will hit Game Pass very soon.
In the art world, a maquette usually refers to a scale model that serves as a rough draft for a larger sculpture. In the case of Graceful Decay's Maquette, the title refers to the scale model that players manipulate to affect the full-scale world. This includes both moving objects within the model and placing full-sized objects inside of it to create giant versions of them. The world the player character occupies is also contained within a larger version of itself, raising the question of just how many layers there are.
Unfortunately, Maquette doesn't seem to have met quite the reception that Annapurna Interactive and Graceful Decay were probably hoping for. The game has a "Mixed" score of 6/10 on Steam, and its Metacritic scores are similarly mediocre. While reviews of Maquette acknowledge the innovative concept, one gets the impression that the game didn't entirely use the idea to its fullest potential. The game's story has also proven divisive. Still, the right players will probably get a lot from Maquette, and the concept alone might make it worth checking out.
Maquette is out now on PC, PS4, PS5, and Switch, and in development for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
