Game Review: Find Room 96

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam)

I've been reviewing a lot of "anomaly games" recently, and I have one more to go before I take a short break on the genre. Whether an actual genre label or not, anomaly games refers to the "spot-the-differences" titles that have come out following the success of The Exit 8. Surprised Hotdog Limited has particularly taken to the genre, and have released several games in that style. I've already reviewed both The Eerie Surroundings and Exit Station 7, and today we're going to be taking a look at Find Room 96. Out now on Steam and the Nintendo Switch, we're going to be reviewing the Switch version here. We've been through this a few times already, so let's dive right in!

Like all games in this genre, Find Room 96 has no real story to speak of. You're trapped in a hotel that seems to be repeating, and you have to find your way out by way of your observation skills. You have no actual actions or attacks at your disposal, you can only walk around and examine your surroundings. Each game starts with you being shown the base version of a floor of the hotel. You'd do well to memorize everything you see, as it is vital to the entire gameplay loop. Once you've committed the floor to memory, you step into an elevator and move onto the next one. Each floor after the first can be an exact copy of the base version, or it can have anomalies. Anomalies are any differences in the current floor versus the base version, and can easily be missed if you're not careful. Once you feel you've made a decision regarding whether or not there are any anomalies on the current floor, you make your way to the elevator that matches your choice. If your observations skills are spot on, or if you're just plain lucky, you'll eventually find the titular room at the end of several floors. There is no fail state in the game, though there is a timer that keeps track of how long it took you to reach the end. Complete Find Room 96 within a set limit and you unlock additional levels to play through. There's nothing really ground-breaking here, but not every game has to break the mold.

I have to admit right off the bat that I had high expectations for this one going in. Something about the empty hotel setting made me think of The Shining, and I was ready for the elevators to be filled with blood. Okay, that's probably expecting a bit too much, but I was definitely hoping that this one would deliver some spooky anomalies. If not that, then maybe we'd get some atmospheric creepiness just based off the setting alone. Unfortunately there's very little of any of that to be found here. Seeing as spotting the anomalies is literally the only thing one does in Find Room 96, I don't want to spoil things by listing them all. Suffice it to say that they are among the most generic I've seen in the genre yet, and are also the most mundane. High expectations or not, I was much let when I realized that just about every anomaly involved a static change. There are no items coming to life here, and there isn't even a person who walks in an endless line either, it's all just spotting items changing size, location, or disappearing/reappearing altogether. I literally lost it when one of the anomalies was a pet food dish outside of one of the doors. I'm not sure if the developers were going something different here, but it seriously felt like they had simply run out of ideas. Also, even though I'm reviewing this one after Exit Station 7, I actually played it before that one. I was ready to throw in my towel with the genre entirely until I moved on to Exit Station 7, and I eventually came back to Find Room 96 to beat it. Thanks to the anomalies being mostly easy to spot, I was able to clear it in about 15 minutes. Then things got interesting.

One thing I like about Surprised Hotdog Limited is that they put several levels into each of their games. Many Exit 8-likes only feature one scenario, and have very little replay value. Admittedly most other games features a more in-depth single setting, but what we get here is arguably more content. In the case of Find Room 96, I found that the bonus content was far more interesting than the base game. Once again, I don't want to reveal too much for the sake of sparing people from spoilers, but the bonus stages actually managed to deliver what the main game didn't. I don't know if I would prefer if the stages were shuffled around, or if the entire game should just be available from startup, but I honestly wonder how many people will have the patience to stick it out through the boring sections to get to the good part. I for one almost missed it. With all that said, I don't want to act like the game ever really delivers much more in the way of gameplay. This is still an anomaly game in the most pure of senses, and it won't do anything to entice new people to the genre. It's also quite short. I was able to fully beat it in a bit over an hour, and I think most players will be able to match my time or beat it. Complaints aside, it's an okay entry in the genre. I just wish it hadn't wasted its setting the way it did.

Price is always where I feel that these smaller indie titles come out on top, and that's pretty much the case with Find Room 96. Even though I feel it's priced just a smidge too high for my liking, I can't really fault it out since it currently sits at a reasonable $4.29. Odd pricing number aside, there are parts of the game I enjoyed. Playing one of these games in a brightly lit environment instantly reminded the most of The Exit 8, and there are still parts of the hotel setting I like. It's not nearly as much of a must-buy as The Eerie Surroundings or Exit Station 7, but it's worth picking up if you're a fan of games like these. If this is your first time hearing of the genre though, you might be better off picking off The Exit 8. Even though I didn't exactly have a great time here, I do look forward to what Surprised Hotdog Limited has coming out in the coming year. I'll definitely be back soon to look at more anomaly games. Until then, see you in the next one!

Check Out Find Room 96 on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/find-room-96-switch/

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Story: N/A
Gameplay: C-
Graphics: C
Music/Sound: C
Value: B

Overall: C-

Pros:
+ A unique setting within the Exit 8-like genre.
+ The liminal space setting, and atmospheric sound design, work best in this game over others put out by the same developer.
+ Can be a bit more challenging that other similar games.
+ Not only can you unlock additional levels, but they may be better than the base one.
+ Even though I feel $4.29 is priced a bit too high for my liking, it is low enough that picking it up casually is totally doable.

Cons:
- This is probably the most basic of these types of games I've played yet.
- I don't know if it's just me, but the anomalies feel very half-assed, almost as if the developers were running out of ideas.
- I know that this isn't meant to strictly be a horror-themed game, but there are very little spooky elements this time around.
- Getting through this one might be a bit difficult, if for no other reason than the fact that it's a bit more on the boring side.
- As usual, this type of game will only appeal to a certain type of gamer.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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