The Paradixion: Son's Room

Is to Rusty Lake what Richard Kelly is to David Lynch... It tries so hard to get the same mood and weirdness of a Rusty Lake game, but stumble and instead of taking inspiration and making something of their own, they do the exact same thing, but worse. Seriously, I know the dev is supposed to be a solo dev, but that doesn't really excuse to make what is essentially a literal clone. It has almost indistinguishable (but always slightly worse) graphics, the same concepts, identical UI, exactly the same mechanics, very similar puzzles, almost the exact same sound effects, they have Starry Night, they have their own version of a corupted soul... Seriously, when you solve a puzzle the top right corner light up and a chime is heard, I'm not even joking... If I hadn't played any Rusty Lake games, then this would have been fine i guess, but I can't really accept this blatant of a clone, without calling it out. Boreding on plagerizing, but it's just lazy. Do better developer, you can take inspiration, but do something unique.

Instant Rusty Lake vibes with the style and gruesomeness. The puzzles are all logical and make sence, the story - not so much, but that was kind of expected. The alternative ending is not so much alternative, but it's nice to get something extra. Lovely game, do recommend.

The puzzle becomes new and immersive. People who are vulnerable to horror can be surprised sometimes The hand of the game is gross.

Since all games in the series are created with the same visual style, interface, and gameplay, the same review works for all of them. The only change is the location, and more importantly, logical puzzles that make you think. The gameplay revolves around clicking on the screen with a mouse. Nothing is highlighted or marked, so you’re encouraged to click on anything that stands out. Because the art style is minimalistic, each location contains only essential elements and rarely includes distracting details that might pull your attention away from solving the puzzles. Clicking on a hotspot brings up a close-up view, and from there you can often interact with another object for an additional close-up. This allows you to pick up items and store them in your inventory or manipulate elements such as buttons and switches. Nearly every interaction requires a clue, so you can’t simply click randomly and expect to stumble upon the solution. The entire experience centers on logic puzzles that must be solved in specific steps. Since I played the latest game in the series first, I was a bit overwhelmed by the very tricky puzzles. Fortunately, this first game is a lot more accessible and fits…

It's fine. Reminiscent of the Rusty Lake game style (perhaps too much). Some puzzles did not make much sense to me

Son's Room is the first of (currently) three Paradixion games, all of which I have enjoyed playing, particularly as I became familiar with their macabre graphical & puzzle style (which also owe a great deal to those of the Rusty Lake and Forgotten Hill games). Son's Room, and its successor Laboratory, share a common story/lore, while Christmas (the third game) seems more standalone. There is little or no guidance in these games, and in all three I have had at least one moment where I haven't had any idea about what to do next - but I felt that the restricted scale of the puzzle environments minimised the frustration of working out how to proceed.