The Room VR: A Dark Matter review: superb puzzle boxes, over too soon
An AI-written assessment of The Room VR: A Dark Matter from official game details and published reviews: tactile puzzle boxes, a creepy atmosphere, great audio and comfortable teleport play; a short run time, a thin story and puzzles that can turn into hunting for interactive objects.
Вердикт
The Room VR: A Dark Matter turns Fireproof's puzzle boxes into tactile, atmospheric VR set pieces that are easy on the stomach. It is short and its story is vague, but reviewers agree it is one of the better puzzle games in VR.
Разбор оценки
Сильные стороны
- Tactile, intricate puzzle boxes
- Creepy, polished atmosphere
- Excellent sound design
- Clever shrinking puzzles
- Comfortable seated or standing play
- Built-in hint system
Слабые стороны
- Short, around two to six hours
- Thin, poorly explained story
- Hard to tell what is interactive
- Some puzzles can be brute-forced
- No free movement option
This review is an AI-written assessment. It is based on official game details and on what published reviews broadly agree on, not on hands-on play.
What it is
The Room VR: A Dark Matter is a puzzle adventure from Fireproof Games, the studio behind the four mobile games in The Room series. It released in 2020 for PlayStation VR, Quest and PC VR headsets including Rift, Valve Index, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality, at $29.99 / €29.99. Fireproof has since brought it to PlayStation VR2, with a free upgrade for owners of the PS4 version.
You play a police inspector in 1900s London investigating the disappearance of an Egyptologist, and the case quickly turns supernatural. The game spans a handful of locations, including the British Institute of Archaeology, a church and a witch's hovel. Each is packed with puzzle boxes and contraptions you manipulate by hand: pulleys, dials, keys, hidden drawers. A special eyepiece reveals hidden clues and traces of the past. Movement uses teleport points and snap turning, with no free locomotion, and a hint system offers up to three hints per puzzle.
Strengths
The core puzzle-box design suits VR well. Game Informer, which scored it 8.5/10, said the series' mechanics "translate perfectly to this medium", and enjoyed working out each machine with its own hands. IGN, at 7/10, singled out a mechanic that shrinks you down to solve puzzles from inside, such as picking a lock pin by pin from within the keyhole. Gaming Trend found the puzzles varied and never overused, and God is a Geek called it "a well constructed puzzler".
Atmosphere and presentation are widely praised. Game Informer called the atmosphere unnerving and "almost worth the price of admission alone", without the game ever becoming horror. UploadVR praised the voice acting, grounded environments and visuals, and rated it one of the best-looking games on Quest. God is a Geek said the audio makes every crank and mechanism feel real.
It is also very comfortable. Gaming Trend said teleport-only movement rules out motion sickness, and that puzzles sit at torso height so it plays the same seated or standing.
Weaknesses
Length and price are the main complaints. IGN finished in just over two hours and Gaming Trend in just over three, and Gaming Trend called $30 "a bit much" for five levels. UploadVR, which took five to six hours, is the outlier, so length depends heavily on how quickly you solve puzzles.
Several reviewers found the puzzles more about finding what can be touched than about logic. IGN said many props are fixed in place and that most of its stuck moments came from not knowing an object was interactive. Gaming Trend found many puzzles could be brute-forced because only relevant objects respond. The story is thin: IGN found it poorly explained, and Game Informer noted unresolved threads. UploadVR noted some pacing and difficulty frustrations, and God is a Geek felt rooms ran a little long and found the fine detail tiring on the eyes. Players who want free movement will also miss it.
Who it suits
It suits fans of The Room mobile games, escape-room players and anyone who enjoys tactile, self-contained puzzles in a spooky setting. It is a good choice for VR newcomers or players sensitive to motion sickness, as it can be played seated with teleport movement. Puzzle veterans looking for a long or very hard challenge may finish it quickly.
How it compares
IGN measured it against Half-Life: Alyx, saying that game's hacking puzzles alone can be more challenging and interesting than some of The Room VR's. That is a high bar: Alyx is a full action game, while The Room VR is a pure puzzle game with better tactile puzzle boxes and a steadier atmosphere. Next to other VR puzzle games, UploadVR found it less mind-bending than titles like Transpose but stronger on story and production values. Critic scores cluster around 8, from IGN's 7/10 to Game Informer's 8.5/10.
Sources
- Fireproof Games: The Room VR: A Dark Matter
- UploadVR: The Room VR: A Dark Matter Review - Supernatural Sherlock Holmes
- IGN: The Room VR: A Dark Matter Review
- Game Informer: The Room VR: A Dark Matter Review – An Atmospheric Powerhouse
- Gaming Trend: Puzzle boxes galore – The Room VR: A Dark Matter review
- God is a Geek: The Room VR: A Dark Matter review
