The Room and The Room 2

This has nothing to do with the avant garde tour-de-force motion picture by Tommy Wiseau. Rather, this is a puzzle game! And despite being called The Room, the game is much more about a puzzle box. You poke and prod around a strange box full of mechanical puzzles, locks and more. And your reward for opening the box? Another box! It is just you and the box inside The Room.

Find them on Steam.

This game mostly is just that. It’ll take some thinking and a lot of observation to figure out these puzzles. Playing these games for a long time does mentally fatigue me. The game starts simple, but there is a lot going on later on. You need some keen observation because there are a lot of hidden mechanisms. Also, you need to remember all the random devices and keyholes you find for later once you get the actual things needed to solve them. It is a bit of a load on the mind, especially since I don’t take any notes and try to memorize everything.

Controlling the game is simple. Click and drag to shift your view. Double click on someplace to zoom in and interact with it better. You do have an inventory. You can both inspect items, or drag and drop them to use them. The game has a fun tactile feel since you need to to make pulling motions to open drawers, make turning motions to turn keys and more. It makes you feel more a part of what’s going on.

The main standout mechanic is an eyepiece that lets you see hidden stuff around the world. Some basic uses are seeing old smudges which give hints on where hidden switches are. Though the eyepiece soon starts displaying weird properties thanks to the plot of the game. The story is about a mysterious null element and the properties you’ll discover about it as you continue through.

The story is about a mysterious null element and trying to find it. You are following in someone else’s footsteps, so most of the things have been laid out for you to solve. The game does have a hint system if you do get stuck. Neither game is too long, but of course this depends on how fast you get through the puzzles.

The Room 2 pretty much expands on the concept of the first Room making everything more. This time, the rooms are a part of the puzzle. Figuring out the puzzle box part changes stuff in the rest of the room which allows you to dive deeper into the box.

The Room and The Room 2 are some finely crafted puzzles full of mechanisms and strange locations. Finding hidden switches is great and seeing how things change as you figure things out is interesting. Though I’m pretty sure the puzzle boxes aren’t actually physically possible in real life. They are intriguing to play around with, and they certainly have an interesting look and feel with all the gears and mechanisms.

Find them on Steam.