The Room Two iPad Review

By , on December 12, 2013
Last modified 10 years, 3 months ago


The Room Two
Download on the AppStore
5 out of 5

PROS

  • Another collection of intricate and inventive puzzles to solve.
  • Touchscreen controls provide a huge sense of immersion.
  • Skillfully expands on the existing rules of the universe.
  • Looks, sounds, and feels incredible.

CONS

  • We'd still love these games to be a little longer.

VERDICT

Though perhaps not quite as tough as the first game, The Room Two's increased scope, effortlessly elegant mechanisms, and thick atmosphere make it another dark delight, and a game that should be on everyone's App Store wish list.


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There were few games released last year so perfectly tailored to touchscreen as The Room. Like the mysterious wooden box at the heart of the experience, the game was beautiful, intricate, tactile, and full of secrets.

With The Room Two, Fireproof Games has opened the door, both literally and metaphorically, to another dimension of gameplay. Instead of making you focus your sleuthing skills on a single puzzle box, The Room Two has you flitting between numerous contraptions at once. And, instead of being trapped in a single room, you'll find yourself being catapulted between seeming disconnected locations by a weird, otherworldly force.

Lets get this out the way up front: The Room Two is brilliant. Everything which made the first game an iOS classic is back for the sequel. You interact with every item in the game as you would its real life counterpart. Drawers must be pulled open. Keys must be turned in their locks. Switches are flicked, chest lids are lifted, and cogs are spun.

Even though these motions are carried out using your finger rather than your whole hand or arm, the immersive power of these one-to-one interactions is a potent as ever. During the game's 3-4 hour running time, you'll often feel like you're reaching through the screen and into the unsettling spaces between dimensions which the game seems to inhabit.

The puzzles themselves are as clever and well-crafted as before, too, albeit slightly less microcosmic. By creating multiple rooms, each housing more than one puzzle device, the team have allowed themselves a broader canvas on which to paint their world.

The claustraphobia of the first game still creeps in as you search frantically around the darkest corners of every object is seach of that overlooked button or hidden message. This time, however, victories are punctuated with hallucenatory glimpses of Lovecraftian horrors, an an inescapable jaunt to another time and place, and another room full of terrible revelations.

Though we'd say it isn't quite as tough as the first game, The Room Two's increased scope, effortlessly elegant mechanisms, and thick atmosphere make a dark delight, and a game that should be on everyone's App Store wish list.

Screenshots

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