The Room series (not to be confused with the infamous movie) has made a name for themselves on IOS and mobile for being a great puzzle/adventure game and has won numerous awards. Developer Fireproof Games has ported a remastered version of the first game already, and has recently done the same with The Room 2. Moving a popular mobile game to the PC can be a risky prospect, but The Room 2 is a quality game regardless of platform.
House Hunting:
The story of The Room 2 continues from the first game. Without spoiling things too much, you are trapped in several mysterious rooms with the only way out is to solve a variety of puzzles. Each room has numerous areas for you to look at and puzzles.
The puzzles are logic-based and built around using the items and clues to solve them. Solving a puzzle will usually give way to another one in the room until you hopefully find your way out. One interesting touch about The Room series is how the puzzles tend to occupy a physical space within the game. Objects open up and change to reveal puzzles like a Russian nesting doll.
The game’s mystery helps to keep you motivated to keep going, and you can choose to ignore it at your leisure. While the game does go for a slightly creepy factor, it never gets scary or mature.
Puzzles in the game are all built around the design of the environments and objects
With the PC remastered version, the developers have touched up the graphics compared to the mobile version. If you get stuck, the game features a multi-part hint system to help you out.
For its price, The Room 2 delivers an afternoon’s worth of puzzle solving, but it’s stuck between being a mobile game vs. a PC adventure title.
Split:
The Room 2 much like the first game was built first for the mobile audience. This means that the interface was ported from a touch UI for the PC. While the game doesn’t need complicated controls, I would have liked a little more guidance from the cursor to let me know what can and can’t be interacted with. There are a lot of “hot spots” in the game to find, and some of them may not be easily seen by the player.
I like the puzzle variety of the game, as it strikes the middle ground between being clever and tricky. I don’t think there was one puzzle that I was stumped with for too much time; the hint system also helped with that regard. The biggest point I feel against The Room 2 for PC audiences would have to be the length.
Like the first game, The Room 2 is a very short title; taking me about two hours to complete. That’s fair for the price, but just like the first one, it felt like the game ended just as I was getting into the groove of playing. There is no real replayability with the game: No hidden puzzles, additional challenges or alternate endings here.
Can’t show too many screenshots, as anything would be a spoiler
The developers are using The Room 2 to gauge the response on the PC, and will decide whether or not to port The Room 3.
I would love for them to experiment with a longer version of the gameplay; perhaps a PC exclusive. The reason is that the gameplay is solid, but again, it’s just short for the typical PC adventure games.
Renovations:
The Room 2 is a great little adventure game. I can see why the developers have earned accolades for the mobile version. If you don’t mind a short trip, The Room 2’s design and mystery should keep you engaged for an afternoon. Here’s hoping that we see #3 at some point, and whatever is next for Fireproof Games on the PC.
For more on The Room 2, you can watch my look at the first chapter of the game on the Game-Wisdom YouTube channel.
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