For this week’s critical play, I explored The Room. The Room is a virtual escape room puzzle game from Fireproof Games, targeted towards gamers of all ages and probably specifically escape room enthusiasts! I played the Room on its Apple App platform.
The Room was a good game to follow up last week’s critical play that I did on Samsara as the two games were both mysteries and puzzles, and had the same aesthetics of narrative, challenge, and exploration, but with very different mechanics and dynamics to help achieve this aesthetic.
One notable game mechanic was the choice to walk users through the first few steps of discovery in the game puzzles. A black text box would come up that would prompt you towards the right next step for solving the puzzle (opening the safe box). If the hint wasn’t enough, the game would give you some time first before they disclose an even more direct hint towards the next thing you should click on or how you should have two items interact.
This was The Room’s way of handling discovery and helping players to move the game along without getting stuck. After playing Babbdi and Samsara for my walking sim and mystery critical play, I was accustomed to not having this involuntary hint and direction mechanism, and therefore spending a much longer time trying to advance the game. Although these moments could get frustrating, it emphasized the aesthetic of discovery, as I was forced to interact with every interesting element of the game setting, room, or items to understand how to play the game and how to interact with the game. The Room’s way of guiding users felt a bit too “hand-holdy” and compromised this element of discovery a bit. Still, gratification from advancing in the game came sooner.
This influenced the experience of the game as advancement came quicker. Another way this influenced the experience of the game is that as a result of relying on hints too much, I don’t know if I payed as much attention to the details of the game, thus also missing chosen game art, design, and storytelling mechanisms that help to bring a user into the world of the game. This is to say, unlike other mystery games I played that didn’t have this involuntary hint mechanic embedded, it was hard to forget that I was just playing a game.
The Room however almost makes up for this element with its leading graphics and interactive touch, pickup and play, and haptic designs. I was impressed by how much these graphic details added to the experience of feeling like I was in the room interacting with real objects. These mechanics added realism back into this mystery game in a way that was very enjoyable and captivating!
