Mysterious Room Escape

What's in a name? In the case of Mysterious Room Escape, just about everything. Your memory's shot--the traditional plot mechanism of 'Who am I, and how did I get here?' sets up our brief (perhaps a half an hour long) adventure with a sense of suspense and fear of what might happen to us if we don't find a way out fast.

The above, as well as the 8-bit graphic style that is advertised in this game's summary page, instantly reminded me of the classic NES game Déjà Vu. Much like those MacAdventure engine games (Uninvited, Shadowgate...) that made their way to the eternally classic Nintendo Entertainment System, the player operates within a point-and-click (get that mouse ready!) interface. The difference is that instead of choosing from a list of commands, the game assumes which object we wish to use when we click on a drawer, book, box, or whatever container or obstacle we wish to open or surpass. Given that this game is short and to the point--you will spend much of your time solving puzzles by entering (usually, but not always) numeric combinations--the lack of a command interface is no issue. What may deter some players is the lag that kicks in when you attempt to move the mouse cursor: for me, this started happening later in the game, and my best guess is that it is a programmatic issue resulting from code not being deleted when objects the player no longer needs is disposed of (of course, I have no way of knowing if I am right about this one--just putting my analytical mind to work here.)

There are three factors that make Mysterious Room Escape work well enough for me. The first is that the music you'll hear while navigating the room provides the sort of dread that makes you feel like you have to solve the mystery, and fast, before something truly terrifying happens to you. Another is that the yellow and brown coloring supports this sense of feeling nervous and unwelcome. My final point is one that may detract some avid puzzle solvers, but works for a casual player of this genre such as myself: the game's puzzles are designed so that the person who wants a quick fix can keep guessing numbers after only having one clue about what the answer is, but the person who feels that such a means is a cheap tactic can find an additional hint or two so that they do not feel their sense of accomplishment was marred by luck.


Additional Notes:

• There is a scrambled letter tile puzzle that drove me absolutely batty. I consulted a play through in the media section in order to pass it.
• The game has two endings: to keep things spoiler free, I'll just say that reading books is a sound way of investigating what happened to our mysterious protagonist.
  
• I wonder why the developer chose RPG Maker VX Ace for development, rather than a point-and-click adventure game engine, or perhaps even a text-adventure based one that allows for the use of illustrations. VX Ace does the job (unless the lag gets to you), so this is more of a philosophical question.
  
• The score would certainly be higher if the game was longer. Outside of the couple aforementioned issues (lag, one puzzle that I found too much more involving than the others), this is an immersive way to spend a small chunk of your afternoon.