Navigation is performed using the WASD keys to move forwards, backwards, and sideways. When combined with the mouse for turning, you’re able to swoop about the room in all directions and can do so from a standing or crouching position. The game is fully 3D which means that you must navigate around furniture, crouch to look under the bed, and use a flashlight to peer into dark spaces. There are no voice-overs so objects are described with on-screen text and, occasionally, there are gentle hints on how something might be used.

Unlike its predecessor, the new crimson room has three iterations. At two points in your quest, the environment is (literally) turned on end which jumbles the room, redistributes all inventory items, and makes new surfaces available for exploration. This extends gameplay because the room is only about 100 square feet with two pieces of furniture. In this small space, there aren’t a lot of places to hide artifacts and even fewer tasks to accomplish.

Crimson Room: Decade follows the traditional formula for the “Room Escape” genre: You’re in a room with limited options and the object is to exit. Within this escape framework, you must locate hidden artifacts and use them correctly. Like many of this ilk, it’s a very short game. In the spirit of full disclosure, I admit that my own initial escape took about 5 hours. Most of my time was spent examining and reexamining every pixel of the room and accomplishing absolutely nothing. I was determined not to use a walkthrough and I knew exactly what I needed to do at both ‘stuck’ points. However, I failed to recognize two critical cause-and-effect relationships in the environment. I know what you, the reader, must be thinking. In a 10 by 10 space with minimal furnishings, how could anyone possibly be so unobservant? Evidently, it was not one of my finer days as a gamer!

When I finished the game, I erroneously clicked and skipped to the end of the final cut-scene. Sigh… Since Crimson Room: Decade auto-saves on exit, my only option was to start a new game. Armed with knowledge of all solutions, it took me less than 15 minutes from start to finish. On my second time through, a new challenge was presented and a numeric solution had changed. I’m not sure this qualifies as “re-playability,” but it’s an interesting twist. The celebration of your escape from the crimson room is a delightful cut-scene with animation and happy music. It did not, however, make a lot of sense to me and I remain unsure about the ultimate fate of Jean-Jacques.

If you’re a fan of classic room escapes, this game is for you. Personally, I play escape games on a regular basis with my tablet. They’re generally free (with ads) or priced below $2 and are perfect when a short break is needed and I don’t want to start anything lengthy or complicated. I play for the mental diversion and not for the content. Within this context, Crimson Room: Decade is near-perfect but is priced a bit higher than I would expect. Thus, would-be escape artists may want to wait for this title to go on sale before taking the plunge. A gamer with keen observations skills is likely to finish it in an hour or less.

+ Artfully crafted 3D environment + Immersive soundtrack means “you’re there.” + Perfect example of the genre   – Not a lot of game for our investment – Story elements don’t tie together