Diorama No.1 : Blocked In (Steam VR)

VR Shop Score – Silver Award

System: Valve Index & HTC Vive
Price at Time Of Review: Free
Comfort Rating: Yellow
Genre: Non-Interactive Experience
Input: Tracked Motion Controllers
Best Playing Position: Standing or Sitting
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: PG

Description: A diorama is NOT a game, nor is it a demo. Simply put, a diorama is a painting you can visit with a simple goal of inspiring a sense of wonder. They are an ideal retreat to think and be somewhere else. In ‘Blocked In’ you will visit the workspace of a Russian scientist to enjoy an extraordinary view of the end of the world by tetronimoes, that will leave you ‘Blocked In’.

Blocked In is the first entry in ‘The Shoebox Diorama’, an ongoing series of fantastical dioramas for VR devices by interactive illustrator ‘Daniel Ernst’. A diorama can be explored as a standalone experience or as an interconnected experience through the ‘Table of Contents’ diorama (coming soon), which serves as the central hub.

Review: Diorama No.1 : Blocked In is an odd VR experience that is for sure. Essentially you get to go into a diorama and watch Tetris blocks falling out the window! While I do like how it looks it is an ultimately pointless app so it is good that it is free as even the smallest of payments would have been too much. But I did like it and looking out the window while listening to the Tetris music playing in the background can be oddly relaxing. But there is no game here, no interactive points other than moving around and you will probably go into it once then never again. But for that one time, this app delivers an oddly magical experience.