The Ruins: VR Escape the Room
- April 13, 2017
- Blue Entropy Studios
Get on Steam"The Ruins: VR Escape the Room" is a fully room-scale VR adventure where you explore multiple chambers to uncover the secrets of your missing archaeologist grandfather. The game features high-quality graphics, professional voice acting, and immersive spacial audio, with puzzles hidden throughout the environment. Gameplay is entirely room-scale with no teleporting or artificial locomotion.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The voice acting is surprisingly good for a low-budget indie game.
- The graphics are decent and the room-scale mechanics enhance immersion.
- The puzzles, while simple, are well-paced and enjoyable for newcomers to escape room games.
- The game is plagued by bugs and lacks a save feature, leading to frustrating experiences.
- Puzzles are overly simplistic and linear, offering little challenge for experienced players.
- The game is very short, with a runtime of only 15-20 minutes, and requires players to watch the intro every time.
- story21 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 57 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The game's story, centered around explorers, a castle, and magical stones, has potential but ultimately falls short due to missing elements and bugs. While some players appreciated the backstory, many felt that the narrative was poorly integrated into the gameplay, with a repetitive puzzle mechanic overshadowing the story's impact. Overall, the consensus suggests that the story could benefit from being more seamlessly embedded within the escape room experience.
“I liked the backstory of the explorers, the castle, and the magical stones.”
“Cool story too!”
“If you are quick at solving the puzzles, it will be over quickly... I did like the puzzles and story... I'm going to give this a thumbs up.”
“This game has potential, but it's full of bugs and the story seems to be missing important elements.”
“Regardless of whether or not you care about story in a VR demo, nobody cares about it when they just put the headset on and have to wait to start the game, and they certainly no longer care when the game has concluded.”
“Embed the plot into the escape room, and let us absorb it at the same time as we puzzle.”
- gameplay6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The gameplay is criticized for being clunky and lacking essential features like a "save on leave" mechanic, resulting in a frustrating experience. Players note the game feels bare-bones with minimal puzzles, limited to a single mechanic, and offers only about 20 minutes of playtime with no replayability.
“I simply can't get over how clunky this game is, especially when there doesn't seem to be a 'save on leave' mechanic.”
“This game is pretty bare-bones; there is no menu, you have to watch the intro every time you play, and it offers about 20 minutes of gameplay.”
“There aren't many puzzles, and they're mostly based on one mechanic, resulting in zero replayability.”
- graphics4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics are generally considered good, with players appreciating the visual design of the backstory elements, including the explorers, the castle, and the magical stones. Overall, the visuals contribute positively to the game's atmosphere.
“The graphics are good.”
“Graphics are okay; I liked the backstory of the explorers, the castle, and the magical stones.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users express concerns about stability, highlighting issues with controls and glitches that detract from the overall experience. Many believe that resolving these problems could significantly improve the game's quality.
“If it sorted its controls and fixed the glitches, it would be good, maybe!”
“If it sorted its controls and fixed the glitches, it would be good, maybe!”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, leading to a quick sense of frustration.
“This becomes very tedious very quickly.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game offers minimal replayability due to a lack of diverse puzzles, primarily relying on a single mechanic. Players have noted that this limits the incentive to revisit the game.
“There aren't many puzzles and they're mostly based on the one mechanic... zero replayability.”
- music2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally considered decent, with no standout features or significant criticisms noted by users.
