Just finished it. Loved it. Not the hardest puzzles in the world, but just right to me, because half of what I was doing was enjoying the atmosphere and attention to detail. I actually prefer it to a few of the others, because there was less tedious going back and forth between areas. And when you finish an area you know it without a doubt. That appeals to me. Worth every penny, which will come as no surprise to anyone.
I throughly enjoyed playing through this game. The graphics are fantastic as always but I feel like it was a little scaled down in the curiosity room or I think it is just me. However, I wish the rooms weren't so empty like another person reported. I always thought you could visit the manor itself. It wouldn't have been a big deal if we were able to visit all the rooms in the dollhouse. There were a few rooms and some of the chapters felt short. I wish we could've went up the stairs in the foyer, went up the stairs in the Japanese Gallery, and went inside the door between the pipes in the Kitchen. The Room three is still the best, but this was still spectacular. To summarize it, I wish it would've been longer/harder.
I finished it a couple days ago and really liked it as well. Overall, I thought the core concept of using the doll house as a central hub and visiting rooms within the doll house, each with its own theme and style worked really well. I definitely got tired of wandering around the full space of the area in The Room 3, particularly after I'd gotten the first ending and I was semi-aimlessly trying to solve the remaining puzzles. Not all of the individual rooms were equally cool, though. I really liked the Japanese Room, the Curiousity Room, the Engineering Room, and the sea-faring room. Those all had puzzles that felt specific to that type of room. On the other hand, the kitchen felt extraneous, the art room was too small and inconsequential, and the garden could have been really cool, but it basically just felt like a single puzzle. I also really liked how it told its story. That was very nicely done and did a lot to continue building out the world of the game.
So that was pretty great. The Room remains my favourite puzzle box experience. I still remember my sense of wonder as one thing turned into another thing that turned into a third, and how clever and satisfying it was to peel the layers off. This game had a bit too much repetition for me, and I found the storyline trite, but there were individual puzzles that were really satisfying, especially in the Japanese Room. I wish there'd been more puzzles like the cabinet, the dragons, and the pagoda, and fewer where you move a thing along a line as you rotate bits of it. Looking forward to the next one!
The story was pretty interesting for me, but we all have our own opinions. I also loved the Japanese Gallery, and pretting those dragons .
