Sunday Squee: The Room I, II, and III

The Sunday Squee is about things that make me happy and excited. From books to movies to television shows to podcasts, I'll highlight less commonly known things as a way to share what I love. If you want to join in the Sunday Squee, please link back to me, magnifying both of our joy.

You open up a game and are presented with a room, mostly in darkness, and a box. The box is covered with buttons, dials, doors, and handles. Different things can be opened, turned, pressed, and manipulated. Different puzzles present themselves and then are solved - every now and then a question mark pops up, offering guidance in what direction you should go.

You have started playing one of the three The Room games.

This is not a horror game, at least not in the traditional sense. There are aspects of creeping dread, but few startles and no jump scares. Often, it's beautiful. The combination of lovely, ornate objects and the rich sound design is captivating. Each location is redolent in atmosphere. I'm sensitive to scares so I sometimes have difficulty playing at night, but I really love the layered aspects of each set of puzzles. You open something only to have to open it further; keys aren't just keys but they are puzzles themselves; objects exist int his world and then at another red-tinged layer where words and symbols take on a whole new level, and objects can be manipulated in an entirely different space. It is a lovely, and sometimes unnerving, effect - to put on a lens and see words suddenly appear on the wall in a jagged handwriting.

If you like puzzles, thinking in unorthodox ways, and exploring new worlds which emerge out of the darkness - definitely check out The Room. There are three editions, each on a similar theme but with different objects and worlds to explore, and they will keep me busy - and happy - for a long while!