Mobile enthusiast players are certainly familiar with The Room,
the Fireproof Games puzzle video game series first released on Android and iOS
and then on PC and Nintendo Switch.
This successful series was one of the first to became
relevant on mobile phones for gamers and not
thanks to its immediate but cleaver mechanics
which exploited the possibilities given by smartphones at three hundred and sixty degrees.
With The Room VR: A Dark Matter,
the Guildford team throw themselves headlong into a new challenge, trying
to bring their concept of riddle and puzzle even in virtual reality.
The game opens into a small balcony of an early 20th century English town
the city is quite desert but we feel that something is living
not so far when we return to our room.
We are inside a police station and
needless to say
we are in the shoes of an investigator
Our attention is immediately captured by some papers left by our  superior,
who invites us to investigate a strange object mysteriously arrived at the police station
room which we will have to discover the source.
Very soon, however, we will find ourselves into a temporal loop
that smells supernatural from miles away
we will challenge an ancient curse with a series of puzzles set in very different places.
The Room VR: A Dark Matter presents itself immediately wonderfully
thanks to a stunning aesthetic impact and a perfect gameplay
if we compared it with other games of its kind
From the first location we will be forced
to interact with a large amount of objects
solving one puzzle after another and feel a deep immersion on it
diving belly-up into the russian doll set up by Fireproof Games.
Through a locomotion system with fixed spots
we will have to study in detail all the corner
of the area around us and everything that is allowed to be moved,
collecting objects and store them in our inventory
and combine with each other or use those directly.
For example, one of the puzzle in the beginning will see us forced
to retrieve the confiscated objects from a small elevator which
will be activated only by entering a specific code.
Unluckily in the blackboard the codes have been erased
and we need one of them to retrieve a burglary kit;
that we will need to open a safe found just few seconds before
It will be up to us to struggle and focus to recover the object
using brilliant reasonings, that never becomes not necessarily too difficult .
Don't worry, there are so many puzzles
that even telling you how to solve twenty of them
wouldn't be a big spoiler anyway. and they are all so interconnected
that they are basically a single a main puzzle
made up of hundreds and hundreds of small puzzles.
The progression, in terms of the complexity of the puzzles and of the story
is so smooth and the result is almost touching;
and it will be easy to want
to reach the end all in one breath.
If someone feels not familiar with the genre
there is no problem, The Room VR: A Dark Matter's system
of  clues gives the possibility to anyone to
play bypassing moments where they stucks on a riddle
In fact, every few minutes,
if you need, it will be possible to activate one clue at a time that
will easily help you to solve the puzzle.
Of course it is good not to abuse it
but if you have been idling for twenty minutes
and you are tired of wasting time it is a great way to not lose the rhythm and the desire to continue
As anticipated, the atmosphere and visual impact
are here at all-time highs
and they do not at all regret the triple A productions
The environments of The Room VR are a pleasure for all the senses
and will envelop us from the first
to the last second, thanks to a superfine
work on the artistic direction the sound design, and a technical work
terrific and full of details
It is therefore almost a miracle
that the title has been released not only for the
PC market, but also on the Playstation VR and Oculus Quest
making the work a unmissable title for those
looking for immersion in VR
It must be said that the dark and horrifying setting could keep the
most cowardly players away from this
but it is also true that our friends
developers never propose unfair solutions
and they designed an atmosphere so tense
but that never literally push  you into unnecessary jumpscares
Longevity also stands at a dignified length
from four hours onwards to complete the campaign
depending on your ability to solve the puzzles
and depending on how many suggestions
you will feel to be given by the game.
It is also true that  - once finished - you will hardly take the adventure back in hand
but this little journey will only enrich
you and leave you with the desire to make
it known to all your friends
If we really want to be nitpicking
the lack that stands out the most from the title
is the total absence of physics in the objects
It is true that it is undoubtedly also a design choice
which otherwise would have probably broken the
immediacy of the puzzles by giving access to an excessive
amount of useless objects for the purpose of progression
but it is also true that having mainly thought about the release on
Quest has made sure that we were not looking for
a possible solution to the problem from the beginning
Fireproof Games has also thought about us Italians
and in fact the title is entirely, adapted in our language
both in the subtitles and in the game elements
making it accessible even to those not familiar with the English language
Speaking of accessibility
The Room can be enjoyed in standing and sitting way
thanks to a simple option that can be selected at any
time and which further expands the product's user base
The Room VR: A Dark Matter is a wonderful experience
perhaps the best pure puzzle game we have in virtual reality today
He is damned immersive, has challenging puzzles
and well weighted and
never frustrating learning curve
all elements that make Fireproof Games' VR
debut a truly unmissable gem to date
The possiblity to play with any setup and the multy
language support makes the game
suitable for one hundred percent of users who love kind of games
and therefore I can only recommend the purchase indifferently
to anyone who possessed an HMD
If this is a debut I can't wait to see what the
future holds for us,
Fireproof Games welcome to the Olympus of VR.
