I played Tiny Room Stories Town Mystery, a mystery exploration game developed by Kiary Games Itd and rated E for Everyone. The game would be enjoyable for players who are curious and are looking for a game that is played at their own pace as there are no time limits. Although there are hints towards violence like weapons or breaking windows, the narrator naturally deviates from interactions with this violence well – so, I agree, this rating does align with an audience of all ages. The game is available on multiple platforms including Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android, and MacOS. I played the game on my iPad using the most recent iOS version.
Tiny Room Stories Town Mystery uses the mechanics of world exploration, interaction with objects in the world, and chapter-based narration to tell the story of a son who must play detective to help their father. These mechanics foster game dynamics of discovery and challenge which build player curiosity and immersion into the embedded, enacted, and evocative narrative (Hunicke, Robin, Marc LeBlanc, and Robert Zubek)(Jenkins).
The game creates a narrative centered on embedded elements. It introduces small pieces of the world one building and one room at a time. Using mechanics like room rotations and limiting the player to only view one room at a time is a prime example of how the creators used architecture to control the story. This mechanic both reveals and hides information as players experience the narrative. Zooming out, the world and storyline is quite complex with multilayered clues that may be overwhelming for the player to track. The game successfully hones in on the most necessary pieces of information at each part of the plot by using room rotations to hide clues that may be misleading. The narrator also plays a strong role in directing the player’s exploration by explicitly labeling objects as irrelevant or hinting that the player must complete another task before the one they are currently pursuing.
By using these mechanics, the game creators are able to control the flow of the narrative without causing the challenge aesthetics to dominate the narrative. Though players are free to explore and interact with different rooms and objects at their own interest, these mechanics of hiding or blocking information allows the game creators to point towards one, singular way of unlocking the secret. Successfully balancing these two sides allows the player to interact with aesthetics like role-playing as a detective, feeling the satisfaction of completing puzzle challenges, and discovery of different parts of the map and plot.
The narrative of the game also uses elements of enacted and evocative narratives where players interact with objects through which more pieces of the story progressively emerges. The game uses real-life elements and assumptions to create clues in this evocative space. For example, keys are known to unlock locks, crowbars are used to pry open locked containers or windows, and computer passwords are usually written down somewhere (a very human characteristic that nudges players to look at files or notes scattered around a desk).
The setting itself is void of other characters with furniture scattered everywhere – creating an eerie atmosphere. As the only person active in the game space, the player takes on a heroism type of role which motivates solving for clues and unveiling future parts of the story. The furniture in the rooms were also intentionally scattered. This choice in architecture encourages players to mess up the setting even more! The game creators were thoughtful in setting a scene that makes it not only acceptable, but encouraged that the players dig through drawers, shuffle through papers, and push furniture beyond their neat and structured positions. The scattered and messy architecture fuels the player dynamic of curiosity and therefore feeds the aesthetic of discovery.
Each chapter of the narrative is intentionally introduced with an open mystery, and closed with a statement that hints towards the next mission. Though this is scripted, enacted narrative, the creators leave enough room for players to explore the currently-available world as much as they would like to. Players are able to open cabinets and walk back and forth between rooms as they please. Because of these freedom, it is likely that players will pick up tools and items that they don’t need immediately. The game creators include a player inventory mechanic which allow players to explore freely, collect items as they find it, and then return to them when they need it. This balance of scripted exploration is the core mechanic that makes this game experience challenge and a discovery experience for the players.
The game is designed with text-based narration, making the story understandable and open for engagement without needing voice or sound. The plot unveils through snippets of text at the starts and ends of chapters, but also through text in the speech bubbles of the narrative. The clues themselves are dependent on visual patterns or text-based notes which make the clue-solving process accessible to players who are deaf or hard of hearing. One particular part of the game that may be a barrier to players who are deaf or hard of hearing, would be the auditory sounds of a door opening – hinting at a new room to explore. The game creators address this potential barrier by also pairing the sound with narration like “Something unlocked.”
For players who are blind or have low vision, this text-based narration and clue-finding process then becomes an accessibility barrier. While screenreaders may be able to read aloud the narration and speech bubbles, the setting descriptions may limit engagement with the game. As a vision-dependent game, descriptions of the setting would have to be very detailed and long. Despite the world being limited to one room at a time, the player would be expected to memorize the initial descriptions of each room as they progress. The initial descriptions would already be heavy cognitive load. Describing the setting after there has been a change, or after the player moves a piece of furniture would be even heavier cognitive load. I was not able to find a video of a player who was blind or had low vision playing the game. However, I anticipate that if the creators were to design specifically for blind and low-vision individuals, they would need to consider how the text-to-speech descriptions of the setting, objects, and clues may interact with or clash with the text-to-speech readings of the narration.
Hunicke, Robin, Marc LeBlanc, and Robert Zubek. MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research. Northwestern University, 2004. https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf. Accessed 24 Apr. 2025.
Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan, MIT Press, 2004
