Developer: Fireproof games
Publisher: Team17
Platform: iOS, Android, PC, Switch
Tested on: Switch
The Room – Review
Once in a while, you find a game that challenges you in ways you do not expect. The Room isn’t filled with numerous adventures and hordes of enemies, but you get to explore the unknown and hidden mysteries. Mysteries that will forever change the world, mysteries that maybe better stay hidden because of the power they harbor, mysteries that will captivate your mind even if you aren’t in the game. Dive into the story of The Room for a wonderful, frustrating and mysterious challenge. With the help of Team17, this awesome game is brought from the original, which was the iOS version, to the Nintendo Switch after six years. Let’s dig in shall we!
Story
When we walk into the story of the Room, we don’t have a lot to talk about. The only thing you know is that you are in a room with a strange looking box in the middle of it. In each layer of the box, you can find a few letters from the previous person, A.S., who succeeded in breaking all the puzzles and was doing research about the Null element. He left you the first clue and it leads you directly to an eyepiece, at first it doesn’t do anything special because you need to find the lens to complete the piece. When it is completed, you can officially start your adventure and unlock piece by piece every secret this box contains. But after a while you can more and more sense the madness of A.S. throughout the letters, so now our question is, will you be able to keep yourself sane?
The flow of the storyline is given to you in the form of letters, with each letter you discover, you get a glimpse of how A.S. is falling deeper into insanity.
Graphics
The graphics of the room are simple but good enough fora Nintendo Switch release. You won’t see much besides the room and the boxes that will harbor numerous clues and hidden objects. They paid much detail to every inch of the box to make it beautiful, captivating and inviting to keep searching for hidden levers, spaces and objects.
Sound
When you reach the menu and the intro of the game, you get some mystical background music that you might quite enjoy. Sadly, this music only can be found in the menu. In-game you can only hear the squeaks, pushes and other actions you execute. It is completely silent if you don’t count the actions you undertake and some environmental sounds like the wind that blows through the room and after a while whispers which can give you chills and an eerie feeling.
Gameplay
The Room is a three-dimensional puzzle game which starts off with the choice of how you want to play, handheld or TV mode. This is pretty important because you have to use the Joy-Con in TV mode and touch screen in handheld mode to actually play the game. It is not possible to use the Joy-Cons in handheld mode, which is a shame because the mechanics can get a bit tedious. Still in our opinion handheld is the way to go as the Joy-Cons are even more annoying to work with. If you do opt to use the Joy-Cons, be prepared to twist yourself in impossible angles to accomplish anything in this game.
When you enter the game you are only left with a box, which you can spin, touch and rotate in every way possible. At the top of the box is a letter left for you, which contains a clue for finding the eyepiece. You soon discover that you need the lens to complete it and when they are joined it reveals hidden symbols or messages throughout every layer and even inside puzzles.
Also we get that there are a lot of ways to get stuck in this game, although you need to puzzle together piece by piece to discover the next puzzle. But don’t worry, they got you covered and give you three clues to find each puzzle if you are stuck. Those will normally suffice enough to get through your current puzzle.
In-between puzzles you can find a few items, like keys or weirdly shaped objects. Those can be stored in your inventory and used in the puzzles that are yet to come. The box itself exists out of five layers, each with their own strengths and weaknesses in the design.
Conclusion
The Room has its merits and demerits like every other game with the tedious controls being the biggest flaw of the game. If you can look past the odd control schemes, the game turns out to be very enjoyable. It lets you feel like you are playing a big part in a Leonardo Da Vinci mystery. Each layer makes you wanting more and more of this game. They really found a good way to keep what is locked inside interesting enough to make players search for it hours on end. This is truly a fun indie game which deserved its remake on the Nintendo Switch.
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