Game Review: The Room

Ever since I purchased the Humble Mobile Bundle, I have been slightly obsessed with one game in particular: The Room.

The Room is your typical point and click cryptic puzzle game that most people have probably played before. This isn’t a new formula. Find hidden objects, use those objects and solve puzzles to unlock more items and secret areas.

The story that unfolds as you progress through the game and this story is delivered through a series of notes hidden throughout the game. While these notes don’t actually help you solve the puzzles they help to keep you engaged in the story which adds to the entertainment value.

Essentially, you are placed in a room with a safe that contains “something” and you need to solve the puzzles to unlock it. I don’t want to give away too much but the first note reads:

You came.

I knew your curiosity would get the better of you.

The answers you seek are inside this box; along with something else. Something they said could never be built. It is the only one in existence, and it is the key to incomprehensible power. This safe was constructed to keep it from lesser minds. I have every faith in you solving its mysteries. You always were the smart one.

With the enclosed key I gift you one parting favour. Keep this eyepiece with you always. Without it, you are as blind as the rest.

Some of the puzzles are obvious, even as you get towards the end of the game, but others will have you wanting to throw your phone or tablet across the room or searching for a walkthrough as I did on a couple of occasions. If you do resort to walkthroughs, you will soon realize how obvious the answer really was, and I would certainly recommend taking a very brief look to see if you can get a hint and then putting the walkthrough away. You will get more satisfaction from solving the problem yourself.

The visuals are very dark which adds to the atmosphere but everything is lit up just enough so you won’t have any problems seeing what needs to be done. The controls are intuitive and you are given a nice tutorial to get you started.

The Room is currently available on the Play Store for AU $1.87 which is well worth the money even if the game is quite short. It is also still available on the Humble Mobile Bundle if you pay more than the average which at the time of writing is $5.56 which is excellent value for 9 games.

[app]com.FireproofStudios.TheRoom[/app]