PaultheBrave09
- Sep 4

The Room | Nintendo Switch Review

The Room was originally released as a mobile game on iOS in September 2012 and then on Android in March 2013. It made its Windows PC debut in July 2014, with the Nintendo Switch release arriving in October 2018. Developed by Fireproof Games and published (on the Nintendo Switch) by Team17, The Room celebrates its Tenth Anniversary with a month-long sale on all platforms with up to 90% OFF during September. We were kindly given a review key for the Nintendo Switch by the folks over at Neon Hive, and I was playing the game in Handheld Mode.

The Room presents you with a series of intricate puzzle containers (I got strong Davinci Code vibes from this one) which you must examine carefully and solve a variety of puzzles. These in turn unlock different compartments and items, that lead you onto the next puzzle, and so on and so forth. As you progress through the puzzles, you uncover a number of research notes from someone who has been studying a mysterious element. The research notes are all intertwined with the puzzles which I thought worked well into the game. Some of the puzzles were real headscratchers, but I think they got the difficulty balance just right. There are also hints available for each clue, should you wish to use them. The music really helps to set quite an eerie atmosphere in The Room, and I loved the whole feel of the game. It almost felt like each time I solved one of the clues, I was getting closer to finding something out that I was not supposed to. The developers did a fantastic job with this.

The Nintendo Switch version offers two ways to play. You can either use the touch screen in handheld mode, or one of the joy-cons can be used as a pointer when the console is in the docking station. I solely used the touch screen in handheld mode and I thought it worked brilliantly. You touch and drag items along the screen with your finger or rotate the camera by swiping the screen sideways. I really didn't have any problems with the controls at all.

The Room’s visuals really seem to make use of the full power of the Nintendo Switch. It looks stunning and runs as smoothly as I have seen for a Nintendo Switch game. Loading times are also kept short which is unusual for the Nintendo Switch, so this was also a big plus point for me. The colours are crisp, the lines are sharp and all the tiny little details on the ornate boxes look wonderful.

Play time on The Room was around the 3 hour mark, and there is little to no replayability incentives, other than maybe to just finish the game a bit faster than your previous attempt. This really wasn't enough content to justify the price point in my opinion, so it definitely drops a point here for me.

Overall though, The Room is a wonderful and atmospheric puzzle game with lovely visuals and a perfect soundtrack to match. I just can’t recommend it at the current price so my suggestion would be wait until you can grab it on sale, like the one running during September for the game's Tenth Anniversary. It is a wonderful game but just lacking in content.

PaultheBrave09’s Rating: 4 out of 5.

For more information on The Room please use the following links...

Fireproof Games - Developer | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Website

Many thanks to Team17 and Neon Hive for the Review Key.

The Room | Windows PC | Nintendo

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