The Room non ha alcuna storia particolare. Semplicemente è un gioco che ho tenuto d'occhio per molto tempo e per altrettanto ho "dimenticato" di acquistare, perché c'era sempre qualcos'altro che sul momento mi colpiva e la mia mente non aveva davvero intenzione di ricordarmelo.

A poco sono valse le Liste Desideri delle Liste Desideri che mi sono fatto.

Quando alla fine mi sono ricordato di acquistarlo, ho capito perché l'ho messo nella lista dei giochi da acquistare e cosa mi aveva intrigato. Nessuna delusione, anzi!

Adesso sto aspettando di acquistare il resto della saga!

The Room was born in 2012 as an iPad-exclusive 3D game and then completely reworked to offer an HD experience to PC players. The ambient lighting and almost every single asset have been redesigned to take full advantage of the potential of modern graphics.

The story is really minimal and it's difficult to explain without spoiling it all: let's say that you are called to solve puzzles contained in mysterious stronboxes full of bizarre gadgets, strange engravings and complex mechanisms, to discover alchemical teachings and dangerous truths through letters, clues and the boxes themselves.

I can't really say how much I love the graphics in this game. There is such a quality to the realism and the details are an incredible boost to the atmosphere that, together with the soundtrack, perfectly convey the environment, the story and its occult mysteries.

The Room is a fantastic puzzle game, in the form of 3D structures within which all the puzzles, clues and solutions are contained.
These "structures" are in fact large and complex strongboxes, full of crevices, keyholes, words, engravings, hidden notes and a multitude of mechanisms to activate.

It's probably redundant to say but I LOVE games of this lkind and the challenges they bring. For me, it's definitely one of the most attractive video game genres.

For this reason, when I came across it while looking for some games during a sale event on Steam, I only needed to understand the premise and a few moments of the trailer to be immediately captivated and buy it right away.

It's not a recent game, true, but even if I'm a lover of this genre, I've been away from video games for a long time, without really being interested in them. So I didn't know many of them and I still don't know them (but the enjoiment is the discovery, right? No matter how late).

The graphics are what won me over right away. I immediately understood that 3D would be spectacular (in my opinion, of course), with that infinite amount of very fine or tinyl details and a beautiful environment. The lights and the atmosphere they create in each level are so dramatic and evocative that I obviously couldn't help but dive head first into it.

All the safes are made of wood and metal, so the beautiful lighting work creates a spectacle in itself and it is inevitable to spend time analyzing how the game manages the light when you turn the chest, and playing with the decorative elements and the way they shine through their textures.

If I had to give a quick opinion on the game, I would say that it has two extremely strong points and one of these is graphics!

So, there's a few things to say here, so grab a drink in the meantime.

To begin with, in The Room each "level" has the shape of a strongobx and each one is completely different and independent from all the others, so when you complete one and move on to the next one, you start all over again from scratch.
This means that you'll not keep any objects, keys, clues or elements in general from the previous one.

The only exception is the "eyepiece" which is given to you at the beginning and which is used to see hidden clues. But this is, after all, an instrument linked to mechanics and not to the strongboxes.

The game has 4 different boxes, including the one that is presented with the tutorial. Tutorial which is simply the first box of the game with the initial explanations regarding the mechanics you will find, to give you an idea of how you're going to play.

In my personal perception, the puzzles are complex but not too complex, difficult but not too difficult. Each box has handles, knobs, levers, gears, panels, drawers, movable and non-movable decorations, etc.
Each item could be something useful or not, so my best suggestion here is "touch, pull, push, open, close, etc. everything you see". This way you will discover and find various objects and clues that will help you understand which part of the box to focus on or where you could go to look for something else, or where you should start solving puzzles.

The main mechanic here is to find various clues and pieces and find out which puzzle they belong to, solve it and access more pieces and clues to rinse a repeat until they've all been solved and the strongbox completed. Until you've completed all the boxex.

In addition to this, there is also a "curious eyepiece" which will open up a further level of mysteries (and puzzles).

One of the wonders of this game is the impressive range of different puzzles and the attention which they are designed with, the connections between different parts where to solve one you must first solve another. All this, combined with the graphics, creates this magnificent, very immersive environment, where it's really easy to get lost.

It must be said that there is a lot to understand in order to solve the puzzles. Every part of every safe is complex and made of many other parts, both physically and in the sense of the puzzles themselves.

I don't consider them painfully difficult, but they certainly require a fairly high level of attention and at least a decent level of logic.

However, if you think you might like this (kind of) video game but are worried that you might need some help or an explanation, don't despair: the game not only has the classic "hints on request" system but also a series of "little considerations/observations" when you click on something.
An example might be "A circular indentation. It seems to connect to the mechanism inside " suggesting that something must be inserted there to activate something else, such as a key or something with a similar function. Or "there is something strange about this key. I should take a closer look" suggesting you to go into your inventory and check out what you've just found.

But, if you really have no idea what to do, there is a big "?" for you, in the upper left corner of the screen. It is not always active, but when it is, it'll always be announced by a small sound.
If you want you can click on it and you'll have 3 helps to use, which will help you in an increasing way: the first is quite generic, the second will be a bit more specific/detailed, the third will be very useful/decisive.

Or at least that's what I understood from trying it out during the tutorial to start testing it. I never used any hints during the actual game.

I know that some people criticize the transition from iPad to PC, arguing that while on a tablet the way of interacting is much more sensible and immersive, on a PC it loses much or even completely its meaning.
From my point of view, having not played it on a tablet but only on PC, I didn't feel this at all and, in fact, I still liked it a lot.
Then, that it could be much more intriguing on the iPad, I don't doubt that at all!

In this game, music is a pretty odd theme.

Why, you might ask.

Well..because there is no real music!

I must say that this is an interesting concept, for a puzzle game like this.

I have to admit that I didn't even notice it at first, but then I got this weird feeling, like something wasn't right.
Or rather, I felt this "non-sensation".
Then, when I realized that this sense of strangeness came from the absence of a soundtrack and music in general, I actually appreciated the choice.

Since the story is a mysterious one, involving alchemy, magic, and other supernatural concepts, the idea of ​​being locked in a dark room, with a few completely artificial lights, while trying to solve the riddles of these enormous safes, is perfectly aligned with hearing only the sounds coming from its mechanisms and my movements to activate them.

And not only is this great for immersion, but also and above all for giving the player the ability to hear other mechanisms activating in other parts of the case. In fact, it really happens that you interact in one place and hear something moving in another, as a consequence.

But there is actually a small soundtrack, in the distant background and the tracks are all very basic and monotonous. "Monotonous" in a good way, because they don't distract but at the same time give a "dangerous" vibe to the scenes, underlining that we are there to discover unspeakable mysteries and not to tinker with strange contraptions for fun during a sunny Sunday outing.

On the other hand, I found an excellent sound library. With the "almost silence" of the background, the sound quality is high (at least for my ears) and every click, tick, ding, swish is very clear and well audible.
In short, it's not at all difficult to hear everything you need to progress with the puzzles!

The Room è un gioco fantastico con puzzle complessi in mezzo a grandi misteri: alcuni possono essere risolti immediatamente, alcuni altri invece sono connessi al risolverne altri prima. Per questo, il gameplay è stratificato e quando ci si ritrova bloccati ad un puzzle, è bene chiederselo, se può essere collegato a qualcos'altro e a cosa.

The solving process is extremely enjoyable, requiring you to stay focused and keep in mind everything you have discovered up to that point. The knowledge gained will help you speed up your understanding of what you are supposed to do or where you should look.

The story is intriguing and makes you want to buy the entire series of the franchise just to find out more (which I probably will!).

If you like spending hours racking your brain, this is made exactly for you!