Compass Review – Fly Me To The Moon

Compass is an open-world VR flying adventure that peacefully recreates that feeling of space exploration to much success.

Getting lost inside a virtual alien world feels like a luxury nowadays. Not every game we pick up will connect with us. It could be too easy. It could be too hard. The mounting indecision may paralyze to lose precious time deciding which one to play instead of actually spending time immersed in them. All of this came to mind when playing Compass. There was a time in human history when we were hopeful about space exploration. The Artemis II briefly brought that excitement to explore uncharted territories. And this adventure is all about that.

Charting New Territories

Embodying the capable paws of a scout, your task in Compass is to chart safe routes for your Caravan to go through. Your anthropomorphic crew is counting on you at all times. While the beginning feels peaceful as you grapple with the controls that feel surprisingly great, the true enemy of the game reveals itself. A giant whale who has lost its Egg is angry about the whole thing and is summoning a mist that corrupts any matter of electronics. The cartoony graphics don’t let this become much of a stressful situation, but at least there is a driving plot.

Compass only has one goal in mind, and that is to navigate its open world freely. Using its virtual reality medium to the fullest, there’s two options for movement: using a grappling hook to latch onto debris and flying in your spacecraft. Your scout not only grapples to move around, but can pull crystals to unlock ruins to improve your spacecraft. From faster acceleration to a boost, getting used to the ship’s quicker response is a thrill. 

For a game like this one where 80% of the time is spent flying, it is crucial that the mechanic itself feels great. And thankfully, it does. Moving the hand controllers at the front of the cockpit to the left or right turns it to either side. Pulling the control wheel towards the character will point it upwards, and vice versa. The left joystick helps move to a desired side, whereas the right strafes the ship when floating.

Find Your Compass

Each open area consists of several main and side quests. In the first sprawling level, the main mission is to obtain Urns to locate your missing companions. In that process, some NPCs will ask to recover cargo scattered across the skies. Because the game is mostly peaceful, it would be easy to assume that there is no friction, but the more you progress the more you will find a bit of a challenge. 

Swinging through the ruins for ship upgrades introduces slight puzzles. As the ship’s energy provides a laser that runs through orbs that you grapple from, clicking and switching them to progress is a must. Later levels ask for swift movement to reach a button before the laser runs out of energy. When propelling through the air, certain robotic enemies will lock on to your ship, and you have to quickly move to a piece of land or face the consequence of a damaging attack. 

Verdict

Compass is imbued with an infallible whimsy that is noticeable as soon as you start playing. Its relaxing gameplay loop to explore every floating archipelago is joyful. To have the game slightly increase in complexity alongside powering up the spaceship itself ends up making the progress feel real. What sparks that curiosity for the unknown is present here, albeit in much lower stakes. A welcoming experience, it is easy to get lost in its wondrous universe for hours.