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The Room Two PC Review

You are the player trapped in the mysterious Null-based dimension trying to solve puzzle boxes based on the Null element which gives the boxes supernatural properties. You are guided along by help from an unknown and unseen acquaintance known as A.S, your aim… to escape the room you’re trapped in.

The sequel to Fireproof Games’ The Room starts out in a dimly light room with two tables and a box. Things just get stranger from there on out.

The Room Two is a tactile game originally for touch interfaces but has been ported to PC and recaptures that same feeling again with the use of the mouse. You are rewarded by thinking outside the box and checking every inch of the room or item of interest, with every little nook and cranny possibly containing something to help you escape.

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The sequel builds upon aspects of the first game. There is a box like in The Room but to get this one open you need to complete other interlinked puzzles around the room. This change from the first makes it more like an escape room rather than just puzzle boxes. The puzzles are fun, infuriating and challenging all at the same time – overlooking the smallest things being out of place can lead to you searching around the room like a crazed lunatic. Thankfully there is a very useful help system that doesn’t give too much away, but helps subtly guide you to the right area of interest, with clues like “It looks like an electrical component fits here”. This can be turned off for those that really like to knuckle-down and get their thinking caps on.

The puzzles are much large than the first game and tend to encompass multiple areas in the room. One room for example had four different areas around the edge, each containing smaller puzzles that where linked to the main puzzle in the centre. The solution to each of these smaller puzzles where sometimes linked to another area in the room, for example the use of symbols which where found on one table where often used on another. This kind of complex puzzle made the game fun and fair from boring to play. I clocked a time of 3 hours to complete it and that was with some Twitch viewer assistance.

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The audio is fantastic and is used in such a way to help immerse the player in the experience, from the noise of switches and ropes to the firing of a cross bolt into a bag of sand, each has a rich audio profile and sounds great. The joy you get from finding a lever and using it is helped along by the whirring of cogs in an unseen mechanism somewhere springing to life.

The graphics are good but do leave a little to be desired. For some reason the game itself selected the very low graphics setting for my high-end gaming PC running a full HD monitor. This was confusing but quickly fixed. Similarly, there are little things here and there that I found quite jarring. On the top setting everything seems to not be in focus around the edges of the screen, which sometimes makes it difficult for your eyes to focus. The shadows cast by fire move in a realistic manner but are very jagged it’s quite irritating when noticed. Overall not really what I would expect from a graphics setting titled “Amazing”.

There is a kind of story running through the game but it’s very disjointed. Rooms are scattered with notes but these fail to form any kind of cohesive story. A logbook of some kind that actively organised these notes would have been handy to glean the story the developer tried to weave into the game.

The Room 2 ship

The Room Two is an ambitious sequel to a fairly small original game. The developers have pulled it off with fun challenging puzzles that will on the odd occasion have you reaching for that hint button. Overall the game was great fun and the use of audio to set the mood made it even better to play. This isn’t one to be missed if you in the market for a challenging puzzler.

8 out of 10