Save Room (Switch) Review

“Is that all, Stranger?”

The juxtaposition between Resident Evil’s unspeakable horrors and tension-cutting save rooms has always been masterful. Despite hosting their own eerie atmosphere, these save rooms provide much-needed relief and comfort to survivors throughout the franchise. With the danger on pause, it allows for the games to focus solely on its inventory systems. Resident Evil 4’s briefcase management is perhaps the most iconic approach, with enough versatility that players might lose several hours over the course of their run to ensure an effective haul of items. Indie developer Fractal Projects has sought to push these mechanics to their limits with the organization puzzler, Save Room. Can this system be molded into a standout puzzle game or will it end up feeling like a shallow piece of something bigger?

Save Room wastes no time diving right into its puzzles. Each stage has a designated inventory space for items to be placed and an outer container with the required items for transfer. Stages are only complete when everything fits and all guns are loaded. Items include weapons, foods, herbs, ammo, and gunpowder, all of which behave nearly identical to their Resident Evil counterparts. Herbs can be combined, food can be consumed, guns can be loaded, ammo can be combined or created, and everything can be rotated to fit just right. If you have any experience with the Resident Evil franchise this should sound very familiar, so what new ideas does Save Room bring to the table? Well, there lies the game's biggest issue, it really doesn’t expand beyond the material it’s pulling inspiration from. Nearly every Resident Evil mechanic finds its way into puzzles throughout the game and by the time I was ready to see the game innovate on the formula I had reached the end. In fact, every aspect of the Save Room’s presentation, from menus and sound effects to its single backing track, is unapologetically Resident Evil. I can respect the desire to pay tribute, but in doing so this heavily the game undermines its own potential.

While I was let down by the scope, Save Room does succeed at translating Resident Evil’s inventory system into a puzzle format. Organizing large inventories into perfect compact compartments is incredibly satisfying and even relaxing, ironic given the series these ideas hail from. The gameplay will definitely land for those into niche puzzles, but it's hard to recommend Save Room to a broader audience when they can get a similar flavor of gameplay and so much more with Resident Evil 4 itself.

Save Room succeeds at what it sets outs to do, I just wish it had loftier goals than being a tribute.

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 7/10

VISUALS - 7/10

SOUND - 5/10

CONTROLS - 8/10

REPLAY VALUE - 6/10

OVERALL - 6.6/10

A digital Switch copy was provided for review purposes. Screenshots were captured using native features of the Switch.