Samsara Room

About Samsara Room

Samsara Room is by Rusty Lake, the Dutch studio behind Rusty Lake Hotel, Rusty Lake: Roots and the Cube Escape series. It is a 2020 remake of one of the studio's earliest games, rebuilt with new puzzles, story and hand-drawn art and a soundtrack by Victor Butzelaar, and given away free on PC, Mac, iPhone and Android for the studio's fifth anniversary.

You wake in a room you have never seen. There is a telephone, a mirror, a grandfather clock and other objects you do not recognise, and the store says there is only one way to escape: become enlightened. In the mirror stands a dark shape with white eyes instead of your reflection, and it is not the only thing in the room that is wrong.

Play is classic Rusty Lake: turn from wall to wall, zoom in on objects, collect small items and use them on the things around you, and work out the logic of codes, clocks and mechanisms. The calm pastel wallpaper and quiet music make the strange moments sit more uneasily than shocks would.

It suits players who like escape-room puzzles with a surreal, unsettling edge rather than jump scares, and it is a free way to try the Rusty Lake style before the longer paid games.

How to play Samsara Room

1. Click or tap the arrows to turn between the room's walls.
2. Click on objects to look closer, and pick up any small item you find.
3. Select an item in your inventory and use it on something in the room.
4. Watch for clues in what the telephone, clock and mirror show you, and follow them to the way out.

Tips

• Revisit every object after each change; the room shifts as you solve things.
• Note down numbers and symbols you see; they often unlock something on another wall.
• Rusty Lake's site has an official walkthrough if you are stuck.

Questions