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I’ve played every installment of The Room, the puzzle/adventure game series from Fireproof Games. Some of them I’ve even played twice, involving my daughter as she got old enough.
So when I recently got an Oculus Quest 2, I was downloading The Room VR: A Dark Matter even before my fellow puzzle enthusiasts suggested it. It was the first experience, after showing my daughter Tilt Brush, that I tried out with the headset.
I can not describe how magical it is.
This episode doesn’t make any radical gameplay changes: you’ll have to fiddle with knobs and put things in their proper place and solve some somewhat tricky puzzles while using magic lenses to see invisible things, all while following a story about people discovering the deadly Null element.
But as well-executed as these games are on mobile devices, it is so different to solve them in VR that the familiar mechanics feel fresh and alive and awe-inspiring. After the tutorial room, the game transports you to a room at the British Museum. And you’re there. You’re in the room, moving around (via a teleport option that should help prevent nausea for those prone to it). While there are only four or five spots you can actually be in, you can look all around the large workroom and take in the statues and the storm raging outside the high windows.
