The Room VR: A Dark Matter

The Room series originally built its genuine, sustained following on mobile and PC around a simple, effective pitch: intricate, beautifully detailed puzzle boxes hiding secrets within secrets, wrapped in a foreboding, Lovecraft-adjacent mystery. A Dark Matter is Fireproof Games' first full attempt to bring that formula into VR, and the review sample's 97% Overwhelmingly Positive score confirms the attempt largely succeeded on its own terms. What that high aggregate number doesn't show on its own is how consistently even satisfied reviewers qualify their praise with the exact same specific complaint.

What VR actually adds to a series already built on physical objects

The best version of this argument, made repeatedly across the review sample, is that A Dark Matter uses genuine VR-specific design rather than simply porting a flat-screen puzzle game into a headset. Scale becomes a real puzzle tool in ways only VR can deliver, and several reviewers specifically credit certain reveals with a sense of physical presence and immersion they say justifies the format shift on its own merits. Atmosphere carries over intact and arguably strengthens: the series' dark, foreboding 1908 London mystery setting draws consistent praise, and multiple reviewers specifically note the restraint of avoiding jump scares despite an atmosphere that would easily support them, treating that specific choice as evidence of confident, disciplined design rather than a missed opportunity to lean on cheaper thrills.

The complaint nearly everyone raises regardless of how much they liked it

Set against that craft, one issue appears across almost the entire spread of reviews, positive and negative alike: the price doesn't match the length. Multiple reviewers do the math explicitly — two to four hours for roughly NZD 36, several times the price of earlier, non-VR entries in the same series that offered comparable or greater content for a fraction of the cost. This isn't a minority complaint or a matter of taste; it shows up as a qualifier inside overwhelmingly positive reviews just as often as inside negative ones, making it the review sample's single most consistent piece of advice regardless of overall sentiment: buy this on sale.

A second, more divisive complaint concerns locomotion. The game offers teleport movement without a smooth-turning option, and for a meaningful subset of VR players — particularly those using wired headsets where physically turning around is impractical — this is reported as a genuine dealbreaker rather than a minor preference, with at least one reviewer abandoning the game within minutes over it specifically. A related, sharper critique argues the game's fixed standing positions and locked view angles mean VR isn't doing as much interactive work as it could, describing some puzzle moments as looking at a 2D scene inside a 3D headset rather than genuinely inhabiting the space.

A step down for the series' own longest-standing fans

A smaller but specific thread comes from reviewers who've played every entry in The Room series: several describe this specifically as the weakest puzzle design in the franchise, with less creative mechanics and more repetition than earlier games managed in a shorter space. That critique is distinct from the price and locomotion complaints — it's about puzzle craft specifically, made by people with the most direct basis for comparison in the whole review sample, and worth weighing separately from the newcomer-friendly praise the game otherwise receives.

A game most players actually finish

Global achievement data supports the "short but complete" framing directly: roughly 41% of all owners clear the game's final achievement, an unusually healthy completion rate compared to most titles this list covers, where completion typically falls into the single digits by the end. Combined with a tutorial-clear rate above 80%, the shape is consistent with reviewers' accounts of an accessible, well-paced experience most players who start do finish — the complaint here is squarely about length-to-price ratio rather than difficulty or player attrition, a distinction worth keeping clear when weighing how seriously to take the value criticism above.

A genuinely social way to experience VR

One recurring, specific recommendation is worth passing along directly: several reviewers suggest casting the VR view to a nearby television so a non-VR player can watch and help solve puzzles alongside whoever's wearing the headset. Multiple reviewers describe this as turning a solitary VR session into a shared activity, specifically recommending the game as an entry point for introducing a partner or friend to VR without requiring them to also own or wear a headset. That's a practical, low-cost way to extend the game's social value beyond its runtime, even though it doesn't change the core length-versus-price calculation for the person actually wearing the headset.

Verdict

The Room VR: A Dark Matter is a genuinely well-made, atmospheric VR puzzle experience that earns its high aggregate score through real craft — confident restraint, effective use of scale, and a faithful continuation of a series many already love. It falls short of matching that acclaim in this review's own scoring specifically because of value and accessibility: a price nearly the whole review sample agrees doesn't match a short runtime, and a locomotion scheme that's a genuine dealbreaker for a real subset of VR owners rather than a nitpick. Buy it on sale, confirm the teleport-only movement genuinely works for your specific headset and comfort preferences beforehand, and set expectations for a short, beautiful evening spent inside a well-crafted puzzle box rather than a long campaign to sink real hours into.