The Room VR: A Dark Matter

The Room VR: A Dark Matter brings the successful mobile and PC puzzle series The Room from British studio Fireproof Games into virtual reality, arriving on Quest in 2020. The player finds themself in Victorian London, where, following the mysterious disappearance of their mentor, they explore a dark museum full of mechanical boxes, locks, and antique contraptions, unlocking their secrets with a peculiar monocle that reveals hidden symbols, switches, and mechanisms invisible to the naked eye. Each room of the museum functions as a separate chapter with its own themed puzzle and a gradually assembled story about a scientist obsessed with forbidden research.

The puzzles rest on delicate manipulation of objects directly in space — the player turns gears, slides panels, assembles keys, and peers inside boxes with their own hands, which proved to be an ideal use of VR controllers for a genre that on flat screens relied mainly on finger touch. The atmosphere is reinforced by quiet, tense music and the dimly lit interiors of a museum full of dust and antiques that gradually reveal a supernatural story about a mysterious force called Dark Matter and the fate of the missing scientist. Hand tracking and the subtle haptic feedback of the controllers give turning cranks and sliding locks a tactile feel that was missing on a touchscreen.

After release the game was received as one of the best puzzle VR adaptations ever, praised especially for how naturally the manipulation of puzzles translated into three dimensions thanks to the precise hand tracking of the controllers. It still ranks among the titles recommended as a showcase of what virtual reality can do for the logic-puzzle genre better than a classic screen, and fans of the previous mobile installments find in it a natural and satisfying continuation of the beloved series with its atmosphere and attention to detail intact.

Why play it: For fans of logic puzzles and of the previous mobile installments of the series looking for a natural continuation with precise hand controls, ranking among the very best puzzle adaptations in VR.