{"id":55775,"date":"2018-10-18T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/room"},"modified":"2018-10-18T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T08:00:00","slug":"review-the-room-a-touchscreen-classic-that-feels-a-little-sparse-on-a-home-console","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/10\/18\/review-the-room-a-touchscreen-classic-that-feels-a-little-sparse-on-a-home-console\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Room &#8211; A Touchscreen Classic That Feels a Little Sparse On A Home Console"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/room\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/room\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"\">\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"The Room Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/93060\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/93060\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"The Room Review - Screenshot 1 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>How time flies! <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/room\">The Room<\/a><\/strong> was first released on iPad back in 2012 and the moody, touch-based puzzler struck a chord on the platform. Back then Apple\u2019s tablet played host to many awkward ports of \u2018proper\u2019 console games, but developer Fireproof offered a bespoke experience that took advantage of the touchscreen in novel and natural ways \u2013 you\u2019d rotate keys in locks, drag and drop dials into place and press buttons to open hidden panels. The unnerving atmosphere and mechanical puzzle-solving was a great success and spawned three sequels on touch-based devices. Six years on, it\u2019s making its console debut on Switch, and in many ways, it\u2019s a perfect fit for the system.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"The Room Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/93062\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/93062\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"The Room Review - Screenshot 2 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>As the player, it\u2019s your job to follow in the footsteps of a Victorian scientist whose research led him into otherworldly realms. Intricately constructed puzzle boxes appear and you must explore every nook and cranny, poke at panels, spin dials and align glyphs to unlock each object\u2019s mechanisms and proceed to the next challenge. You\u2019ll find letters that reveal your predecessor\u2019s thoughts and things quickly turn supernatural with the discovery of a strange eyepiece that reveals hidden markings and glimpses of the \u2018null\u2019 element; the hidden fifth of the four &#8216;Classical&#8217; elements.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s all deliciously atmospheric and it channels the Lovecraftian horror of games like <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/gamecube\/eternal_darkness_sanitys_requiem\">Eternal Darkness<\/a><\/strong>, albeit without the demons and the gore. Half of the satisfaction of solving a puzzle comes from the great audio work \u2013 the mechanical clicks when a dial rotates into place or when cogs wind to reveal a concealed panel is superbly effective at making these contraptions seem like physical objects, even when certain puzzles turn abstract and unreal.<\/p>\n<p>The Room translates very well to Switch. The touchscreen controls haven\u2019t changed, but now you have the option to play on the telly with a single Joy-Con. After lamenting the lack of pointer controls in so many of the ports we\u2019ve played, it\u2019s heartening to see the effort that\u2019s gone into them here. \u2018R\u2019 centres the pointer and \u2018A\u2019 or the \u2018Z\u2019 trigger select components and drag the camera around the puzzle box. You can zoom in and out with \u2018X\u2019 and \u2018B\u2019 or the analog stick of whichever Joy-Con you\u2019re using. The touchscreen is still arguably the best way to play, but a single Joy-Con frees up your other hand for a cup of joe or some head scratching.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"The Room Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/93058\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/93058\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"The Room Review - Screenshot 3 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Not that the game requires too much of that. After around 30 seconds a \u2018?\u2019 appears in the top right corner offering you a clue, normally reminding you to use the eyepiece or examine an object in your inventory more closely. They\u2019re generally vague enough to maintain that feeling of accomplishment when you do finally suss things out. They pop up a little too quickly for our liking, though, and we\u2019d advise avoiding the temptation unless you\u2019re really in a pickle.<\/p>\n<p>If, like us, you played the original back in 2012, there\u2019s an odd nostalgia in returning to The Room now. Planned obsolescence and the nature of app marketplaces often means these games exist either as a licence sitting on a \u2018Purchased\u2019 list somewhere \u2013 hopefully retrievable, assuming they\u2019ve been updated for your latest device\/OS \u2013 or they\u2019re forgotten on some old hardware in the bottom of a drawer packed with old tech and tangled cables. Ultimately, Switch&#8217;s ecosystem is no less ephemeral, but it\u2019s still comforting to see The Room \u2018preserved\u2019 on a dedicated gaming platform. Not long now until that initial wave of touchscreen games are officially \u2018retro\u2019!<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"The Room Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/93059\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/93059\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"The Room Review - Screenshot 4 of 4\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>There is, however, an elephant in The Room on Switch. The game is quite short, offering around two-to-three hours of brain-teasing across four chapters and an epilogue. It\u2019s very much a \u2018one-and-done\u2019 affair and knowing that <em>three<\/em> sequels have come out in the interim \u2013 <em>and<\/em> that they\u2019re all available at very reasonable prices on a variety of touchscreen devices you probably own already \u2013 it feels a bit cheeky when the closing text teases more \u2018rooms\u2019 to come and shunts you back to the title screen. Yes, the sequels will surely arrive, but we can\u2019t help thinking that a compilation of the four existing games might have been a better fit for a console edition, especially after all this time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>The quality of The Room and the atmosphere it conjures is undeniable, and it\u2019s certainly worth checking out if you haven\u2019t played before. It\u2019s a pleasure to see some well-implemented pointer controls added to a classic touchscreen title, and the fact that this seminal release is now available on a dedicated gaming device is cause for celebration. Be aware that it\u2019s a slight offering by home console standards, though \u2013 it\u2019s crying out to be part of a compilation release with its three sequels. Perhaps one for the Wishlist, then, but it\u2019s a winner while it lasts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How time flies! The Room was first released on iPad back in 2012 and the moody, touch-based puzzler struck a chord on the platform. Back then Apple\u2019s tablet played host to many awkward ports of \u2018proper\u2019 console games, but developer Fireproof offered a bespoke experience that took advantage of the touchscreen in novel and natural [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55775\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}