Escape rooms are a fantastic match for VR. You’ll be able to craft fantastical eventualities and obtain extra convincing environments, all whereas permitting the expertise to happen at house. And that is an concept developer Fireproof Video games has taken to coronary heart, because the fifth title in The Room collection is VR-only. The Room VR: A Darkish Matter was beforehand launched on PSVR, nevertheless it’s higher than ever on Sony’s new headset.
As a detective on the lookout for a lacking Egyptologist within the early 1900s, you’ll go to plenty of areas throughout the title’s 5 ranges. The title begins you off gradual, with a barebones chapter that takes place in your workplace, earlier than introducing the sport’s biggest asset: its problem curve.
The complexity of puzzles from degree to degree ratchets up on the good fee, by no means overstepping or falling into the trimmings of classical point-and-click journey titles with obtuse, nonsensical options. As an alternative, you might be handled to puzzles with logical options, lots of which embody dozens of steps to finish. And in the event you do get caught, the sport has a sturdy clue system, nice for pointing you in the correct path with out fixing puzzles for you.
The puzzles growing in complexity additionally affords the chance to point out off unimaginable environments. Textures look good all through, some environments are large, and in VR, the dimensions is offered in a really convincing means. You’ll normally have the ability to see different clues or steps within the puzzles throughout the room, which can assist jog your reminiscence about the place to go or what to do subsequent in a compelling means.
Every degree being self-contained permits the workforce to dabble with totally different tones, too. An early degree coping with an historic Sarcophagus is especially adept at splicing horror into the expertise, whereas a degree going down in a church makes use of an organ to include musical parts into the sport. It’s all dealt with flawlessly, and vastly enhances the worth of the product, by providing various, distinctive experiences level-to-level.
That being mentioned, in terms of the worth of the product, the worth is among the solely actual gripes we’ve got with the expertise. It merely doesn’t have sufficient content material to match its £24.99/ $29.99 price ticket. In the event you can abdomen the associated fee, although — or benefit from the free improve from PS4 to PS5 — there’s quite a bit to love right here.