It’s your friendly KF on KND Editor April Hamilton here, with an app recommendation: the excellent The Room series features beautiful, detailed graphics and very well-designed, unusual puzzles.
The Room (4.5/5 stars, guidance suggested, currently priced at 99 cents).
Remember the wonderful, immersive, gorgeous PC game Myst? That’s what The Room will remind you of. The premise is relatively simple. You enter a room to find a cabinet with some items on top of it. A quick tutorial helps you find a special eyepiece and gets you through the first stage, in which you figure out how to unlock the cabinet. Hint: after you’ve read the first hidden clue, which is a riddle, closely examine the cabinet—every part of it—to look for the answer to the riddle.
Inside the cabinet, you find an ornate puzzle box, covered on all sides with intricate designs, codes, locked drawers and doors, and hidden panels. Your task is to solve the numerous puzzles the box presents in order to unlock each of its secret compartments in turn. As you do so, you’ll be reassembling clockwork machines, deciphering coded messages, seeking out matching symbols, and using the eyepiece you found in the first stage to reveal hidden writing and allow you to see through certain parts of the box.
As each puzzle is solved in turn, a new section of the box is opened and you’re presented with the next puzzle or piece of clockwork that needs repair. While you can probably get through most of the puzzles simply by experimenting with the different objects and messages that are revealed to you with each puzzle you solve, if you’re hopelessly stuck and have no idea what to try next you can always tap the clue button for help.
The Room 2 (4.5/5 stars, guidance suggested, currently priced at $2.99). From Amazon:
Welcome to The Room 2, a physical puzzler, wrapped in a mystery game, inside a beautifully tactile 3D world. The much anticipated sequel to ‘The Room’, recipient of a BAFTA award, is here at last. Follow a trail of cryptic letters from an enigmatic scientist known only as “AS” into a compelling world of mystery and exploration.
PICK-UP-AND-PLAY DESIGN
Easy to start, hard to put down, an entrancing mix of intriguing puzzles with a simple user interface
INNOVATIVE TOUCH CONTROLS
A tactile experience so natural you can almost feel the surface of each object
REALISTIC 3D LOCATIONS
Immerse yourself in a variety of stunning environments which will challenge your puzzle solving prowess.
DETAILED 3D OBJECTS
Pore over the intricate details of dozens of artifacts in search of their hidden secrets.
UNNERVING AUDIO
A haunting soundtrack and dynamic sound effects create a soundscape that reacts to your play.
MULTI LANGUAGE SUPPORT
Available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish & Brazilian Portuguese.
The Room and The Room 2 – highly recommended to fans of puzzles, steampunk and Victoriana.
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