The Room

Fireproof Games was founded by six developers who had worked at Criterion Games on Burnout, and The Room was the small British team’s first original game. It launched on iPad on September 12, 2012, reached Android in March 2013 through the Humble Mobile Bundle, and is still sold on Google Play for $0.99 or included with Play Pass.

What Is The Room

The game puts you in front of an ornate safe in a dim room, with a letter from someone signing as A.S. telling you to open it. There are no menus or characters to talk to. You pinch to zoom, swipe to turn the box, and drag to turn keys, slide panels and press switches, so the touchscreen feels like your hands on the object. Each box holds a smaller, more intricate box inside, and the story is told through letters you find along the way.

The Eyepiece Is The Heart Of The Room

Early on you find an eyepiece that reveals hidden markings, made of a strange substance the game calls the Null element. Looking through it shows symbols painted on surfaces, extra parts on the mechanism and clues that are invisible to the naked eye. Many puzzles ask you to line up those secret pieces into a symbol, which makes switching the eyepiece on and off a habit you never drop. It also feeds the slow horror tone of the story, as the letters from A.S. grow more desperate.

How The Room Is Paced

The game is built around four puzzle boxes, with the first serving as a tutorial. Most players finish in two to three hours. A hint system offers gentle nudges if you stay stuck for a while, and it rarely spells out the answer. Fireproof built it in Unity, mainly because the engine was affordable for a small studio, and the game still runs well on modest Android phones today.

Awards And Reception For The Room

It won the BAFTA for Best British Game in 2013 and was Apple’s iPad Game of the Year for 2012. The iOS version scored 88 on Metacritic. By October 2016, The Room had sold over 6.5 million copies, and the series more than 11.5 million. Players praised the tactile controls and the moody sound design, and the most common complaint was the short length, especially from people who wanted more of the story.

How It Leads Into The Rest Of The Series

The Room is the start of a series that grew in size with each entry:

1. The Room (2012), a set of boxes in one room
2. The Room Two (2013), several rooms and a longer story
3. The Room Three (2015), a larger island setting with multiple endings
4. The Room: Old Sins (2018), set inside a dollhouse
5. The Room VR: A Dark Matter (2020), for VR headsets only

Playing them in order makes the most sense, because the story of A.S. and the Null element carries through each one. The later games are bigger, but the first one is the most focused, since every puzzle sits on the same table in front of you.

Does The Room Still Work On New Phones?

Yes. It is live on Google Play, and Fireproof updated it as recently as October 2025. Larger screens and tablets make small details easier to see, though it plays fine on a phone if you zoom in often.