Step Inside — The Room VR: A Dark Matter Review

I’m sure many of us have dreamed about transporting ourselves to other worlds. Every time I watch National Treasure or Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, part of me is jealous that I am not the thrill-seeking cryptologist solving riddles and stealing the Declaration of Independence, or the archaeologist searching for the enigmatic ‘Triangle’ in Cambodia.

Set in London in 1908, The Room: A Dark Matter follows a detective (you) conducting an investigation into the strange disappearance of an esteemed Egyptologist (Dr Rupert Montgomery). From exploring cryptic locations, to examining mysterious gadgets and artefacts, you’re led through a multi-level escape room which combines historical and fantasy elements.

First steps

I was immediately impressed by how immersive the game was. Much like its predecessors (available on smartphones and tablets, but not VR), you’re required to fiddle with buttons and dials, slot things into their correct places, and solve complex puzzles.

You begin in the Police Station, which acts as a tutorial room as you learn to get to grips with the controls. The first puzzle: working out how to start the story.

After spending half an hour searching throughout the room, pushing and pulling every lever and handle (except the most obvious one), I reluctantly used one of the in-game hints to set things in motion.

The big reveal

From here you enter the depths of the British Institute of Archaeology, where fascinating artefacts are stored. You’ll need to work your way through puzzles related to amulets, hieroglyphics and a menacing-looking sarcophagus.

It was a spooky experience which set this version of The Room: A Dark Matter apart from its previous non-VR counterparts. It’s easy to forget that what you’re experiencing isn’t tangible, but merely a product of your brain and the controls in your hand.

You end up searching throughout the rooms, looking on and under things, or trying to see part of an object that is not accessible to you, because everything feels real. There were occasions where I would stagger trying to rest my arms on a virtual desk, or I would almost drop the controllers trying to set them down on something in the game that was not a part of my physical environment.

I gasped upon entering The Chapel. Sure, it’s impressive looking at it on a mobile screen, but in the world of virtual reality, it’s hard not to become enamoured with your surroundings. Not only that, but a few of the puzzles that you’ll be asked to solve can be found at a great height, and I was fully convinced that I’d stumble and fall off the edge of the platform.

The developers have really thought about how to make it feel like you’re inside the action. There are many moments during the game where you’ll have to venture inside objects to solve them. The items are exactly as they were when you were looking at them from the outside, but as a minuscule version of your former self you are able to marvel at them from a new perspective.

Teamwork

While virtual reality games can be a solo escapade, many VR headsets can also mirror to a tablet or TV screen, so others can see exactly what you’re witnessing in the game — meaning I could also get my mum and aunt involved in the action! The three of us were able to team up to solve the escape room, which was often necessary given the difficulty of many of the puzzles.

Solving this escape room jointly was also extremely convenient, as I’ll admit that the atmosphere is rather creepy. Sometimes, you’ll get distracted from cracking a code because you’ll hear whispers or voices, the ominous chime of a chapel bell, or the muffled cackling of a witch from the depths of her hovel. And while observers can hear the sounds too, the immersive nature of this game means that if you’re wearing the headset, the sounds echo in your ears. At one point fear got the better of me and I tagged someone else in.

Why escape?

Much like other virtual reality games, there are some drawbacks. A few of the puzzles require fiddly work, but as much as you would like to use your own hands to get it done, you are limited by the controller and headset. There’s also nowhere inside the game to make any notes, so unless you write them down physically after you have finished playing (which distracts from the VR element) you are relying on memory when you return to the game later.

However, what the experience sometimes lacks in user-friendliness, it completely makes up for with the spectacular feeling of being inside awe-inspiring locations.

Ultimately, I absolutely adored this escape room and was disappointed when the game came to an end. The combination of the atmospheric setting and the cryptic challenges is thrilling, and I am yet to find anything that feels remotely similar. If you’re a puzzle lover like me and have the ability to procure a VR headset, then this game is an absolute must.