Moss and Moss: Book II were two of those PSVR games that the headset-less among us really wanted to play on lunch. Earlier this year, we learnt that the pair were ditching the headset for a Summer Switch 1 & 2 release (yay!), and today, developer Polyarc has opened the pre-order floodgates.

Moss: The Forgotten Relic, which bundles together both games, is now available to pre-order on both Switch 1 and 2 for £15.99 / $19.99 — and yes, there’s a free upgrade for anyone who buys the former and later wants to swap to the newer system.

“The adventure itself is the same on both systems, but Nintendo Switch 2 gives us more headroom to present the world with greater fidelity,” Moss Engineering Director Cyril Saint Girons tells us of the technical differences between the two versions. This means “higher resolution, a fixed 60 FPS, improved anti-aliasing, enhanced lighting and visual effects, and depth of field that helps emphasise Quill and the scale of the environments around her.” Nice.

“Being able to curl up on the couch with Quill’s story is something we’ve wanted to make possible for a long time,” he continued. Though, of course, the team had to make some pretty big changes to translate the game from its VR origins to a new, distinctly non-VR format (sorry, LABO). “We built entirely new camera systems and cutscenes,” Saint Girons explains, “refined input for controllers and touchscreen, rebalanced combat encounters and puzzles, and thoughtfully redesigned how the Reader interacts with Quill and her world to feel native to the Switch hardware.”

We were keen to find out a bit more about The Reader this time around. In the original game, you (the player) are The Reader, physically navigating the environment with your headset and helping Quill through it. Removing the headset obviously changes this relationship a little, so how is Polyarc spinning things for the new release?

The biggest challenge in adapting Moss for Nintendo Switch was preserving that relationship without the player’s physical presence in VR. Rather than trying to replicate it, we reimagined how the Reader is represented. We also revisited key cinematic moments so those interactions between the Reader and Quill to feel more intentional and emotionally resonant on a TV or handheld screen.

The solution seems to be implementing touch controls in handheld play, peppering in a little bit of interactivity, even if it’s not quite as ‘full body’ as the original VR launch. “Our guiding principle was never to replicate VR one-to-one,” Saint Girons says, “but to preserve what mattered most: the bond between the player and Quill.”

So, does all this mean that we might see more from Quill in the future? Polyarc was never going to tell us that, but, based on the following from Saint Girons, the love for the series is certainly there: “Quill is a character our team loves deeply, and we’re continually inspired by the connection players have formed with her over the years. Beyond that, we don’t have anything to announce today, but we certainly hope this won’t be the last time players step into Quill’s world!”

Moss: The Forgotten Relic launches on Switch 1 and 2 on 16th July.