The House of Da Vinci

Overall I enjoyed this game - it definitely tickled my love of escape rooms.

That being said, the early game was far more fun than the later game. The puzzles didn't only increase in challenge (which is fine), they increased in obscurity as well. The early puzzles in the first few levels may have taken me some trial and error and serious thinking, but I got them eventually. Some of the later puzzles were so obscure I had to make extensive use of the hint system, and a couple of them I had to find guides elsewhere to help. Two of the puzzles in the last stage nearly had me rage-quitting even with hints.

Again, I did overall enjoy the game and would say it's worth playing if you like escape room style puzzle games, but The Room series was better IMHO. I don't know for certain if I'll play the rest of this series, while The Room had me hooked from the start and there was never any doubt I would play them all.

It’s been years since I completed all the 4 ‘The Room’ games on the iPad. These games were so enjoyable that I was all too happy to buy them on Steam again. Even though I bought two of the ‘House of Da Vinci’ games on the iPad, I never got around to playing them. Now, I finally start with the first one on Steam thanks to a recent sale. It has been a good start but it’s not without some hiccups.
One thing that is almost impossible to ignore will be the comparison to ‘The Room’ games. Although my memories are not as vivid, it is easy to see the similarities. They are very alike but there are still some slight differences. It feels like the first ‘House of Da Vinci’ is more concerned about its story. I remember ‘The Room’ being lighter on story, a lot of the puzzles felt random until you read some notes near the end. Da Vinci has a couple of short cutscenes, the notes are consistent at keeping you updated with why you’re solving these puzzles and even the puzzles/locations themselves have some purpose why you’re doing them. This attention to detail and presentation gives Da Vinci a stronger impression. What lets the game down a bit are some of the puzzles. Some of them are brilliant and very satisfying to solve but a couple were too complex for their own good. The first Room game might have had some of those moments but they don’t go as far, that game feels more intuitive overall. There is a hint system that usually gives you enough pointers to push you in the right direction, I still used a video walkthrough here and there though. The controls with the mouse is generally okay but there are a couple of specific situations where the controls can feel awkward and annoying. Lastly, I encountered one bug where a puzzle doesn’t continue after solving it, luckily re-loading a save fixes this.
For a first game, ‘House of da Vinci’ leaves a good impression. I can definitely recommend it (on sale) for fans of ‘The Room’ games if you are willing to deal with a few imperfections. The Room games did become better and more polished with time and I expect the same to hold true here. It took me 8.6 hours to complete the game and get all the achievements which are only 6, you need to find one collectible in each of the 6 ‘chapters’.

Fascinating. I definitely wasn't up to completing it by myself, but I loved doing what I could. A beautifully complex environment.

The game is similar to "The room". The first chapters were easy and intuitive to do. However, around half-way through the game, the puzzles got harder and ended up requiring a lot of help.
Nevertheless, I'd still recommend this game to whoever enjoys puzzle games!

The House of Da Vinci is a 3D puzzle game that reminded me a lot of The Room, but it doesn’t feel as polished or intuitive. You take on the role of Da Vinci’s apprentice, standing outside his locked mansion when you get a letter, warning that his most valuable invention is at risk. Your mission is to get inside the mansion and assist your master. The game is split into eight chapters, each one a room filled with mechanical puzzles. You also find letters from Da Vinci that help explain the story as you progress.
The puzzles focus more on mechanical actions instead of pure logic and are not as difficult as the ones in The Room. You get this tool called the Oculi Infinitum that lets you peek inside machines or see what happened in the past. It's very helpful for solving puzzles.
You can’t walk freely, but you can zoom in on different parts of the rooms. Not all objects rotate fully, and sometimes it takes several clicks to interact with things, which can get a bit annoying. The controls aren’t always precise, especially when using a mouse to pull levers or spin parts. It feels like the game would work better on a touchscreen.
There's a hint system for when you're stuck, but it makes you wait several minutes before you can get another hint. On the plus side, the sound effects and visuals are really well done, with carefully crafted environments and detailed machines.

Good puzzle room game, but it becomes real hard at times, where instinct stops working, hints become useless, and only a Youtube video can save you. Looking forward to the sequel!

The game shares similarities with The Room series, but with distinct differences. I'll discuss the gameplay and mechanics separately.
Firstly, the gameplay is engaging and intriguing. However, a few bugs and two or three particularly challenging puzzles can make the experience frustrating at times.
Secondly, the mechanics are somewhat mediocre. Mouse interactions with the environment and objects feel clunky.
Overall, the game is enjoyable and worth purchasing in sales. The achievements are relatively easy to obtain. I'd personally rate it a 7 out of 10.