Abode 2

I loved Abode and I love the sequel. Best escape room games I've tried. Abode 2 is inventive and well balanced. I am impressed with their ability to make challenging, yet solvable puzzles. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys escape rooms or puzzles.

A great escape room, just like the first, but more coherent and well themed. The inventory system an accessibility features are really nice. Getting the last QR code was really frustrating, and it felt unfair that I wasn't allowed to brute force the last number. It was also my first time getting a hint and, although the hint was correct, it was so bland that it sounded like a default for when there are no hints to give. Pushing the final grid switches was really buggy and it seemed like the game got stuck. When I quit and came back almost everything needed to be redone. Despite the bugs I really enjoyed this and it's easily one of the best VR escape rooms.

Not going to write up one of my usual "Good, Bad, and Ugly" reviews for this one as the Good (decent graphics and aesthetic, more fleshed out than Abode 1) is completely overshadowed by the Bad and Ugly. Namely, bugs. So many bugs, to the point where this game, as of 2021, is not reliably completeable. [b]Showstopper Bug #1 -- QR Codes --[/b] There's a known, very common bug where one of the QR codes you need to find and scan will reject your attempts to scan it with the message "Already Scanned," even when that's not true. This locks you out from getting the last digit to the safe keycode (you can't brute-force the last digit, all numbers will fail unless you have all 4 QR codes scanned). Without opening the safe, you can't get a critical quest object and complete the game. Tried clipping through the safe to grab said critical quest item, but none of the usual tricks work. Loading your save also doesn't work to jog it, and that leads to... [b]Showstopper Bug #2 -- Saving --[/b] You can save, but you can't load. Or rather, you *can*, but it's not going to help you. Loading a save results in the game objects and state being more or less scrambled from how you left them, usually rendering the game unwinnable. So Abode 2 *must* be completed in one sitting, if you're going to try it. [b]Nerd Stuff:[/b] Played (more accurately, tried to play) on Valve Index + Knuckles at 120hz on Win10 Pro/Intel 10900K/NVidia RTX3090, with all overclocking/RGB control/monitoring processes killed. Performance was inconsistent despite throwing an absurd amount of hardware power at it -- some loads of the game would run ok, others would struggle to reliably hold 120fps. This is apparently another known bug, according to threads on the forum. [b]Bottom Line:[/b] I can't recommend Abode 2 in its current state. It looks fairly nice, but looks aren't everything, especially if every time you launch the game it's a mystery whether or not the playthrough is cursed with the unscannable QR code bug, or whether it'll actually work the way its supposed to. If the showstopper bugs I described are ever fixed, I'll revisit this review, but until then, steer clear unless you feel like gambling on whether you'll need to refund, and go play "The Room VR" or "I Expect You To Die" instead.

[h1]ATLEAST THE VIEW IS NICE[/h1] This game is a successor to the 2016 title 'Abode'. You can clearly see the devs have learned a lot, but unfortunately it feels like they have been shooting a little above their paygrade with this one.. [b]THE GOOD[/b] They start you off being greeted by a butler robot with the notion that you are looking to rent/buy an apartment, and it felt simple but suitable. The puzzles are strange and fresh, with some nice mechanics, as long as they worked (more below). It definitely looked pretty, and the ending was a nice visual treat as well. [b]THE BAD[/b] Oh the bugs... SO many bugs.. To name a few; Important tools not working until you reboot the game, important items flinging off to where you cant get them, doors flying off their hinges and spazzing out, being unable to grab things unless you tab out and back in again, robot instructions not registering, menus layering ontop of one another, audio being so loud it clips your drivers.. I'm sure I forgot a few.. But yes, absolutely bug ridden. I have spent 2.7 hours playing this game, but atleast a third of it was dealing with glitches and restarting the game.. [b]CONCLUSION[/b] Its pretty, the puzzles are mostly fun, and I WANT to like it, but... there's just no getting around the sheer amount of bugs. I did manage to finish it, but its very broken. I cant give this game a passing grade. Sorry guys.. Grab this only if it dips below 5 bucks and you can handle some mank. [b]Verdict : 5/10[/b]

Really amazing game. Great interactions with the environment. I would have rated it 10/10 HOWEVER there are a few glitches. First and foremost YOU CANNOT SAVE PROGRESS. Even though I have a slot saved it always takes me to the very start. So until they fix this definitely play when you have the time to finish the whole thing uninterrupted I've noticed that on standing the map tends to move. Sometimes just holding the joystick on the controller still helps this. Other than that really love the aesthetic and puzzles in this game. Highly recommend.

I think I had to solve every puzzle atleast 3 times before I could actually progress. If you quit and resume you're stuffed btw. Its not a bad game itself, but implementation is so bad its laughable Here are my favourite issues in order of annoyance: -Flung out of ceiling to top of map making you violently dizzy -Key/Important pieces drop through the floor -The final payoff is glitchy so I could not press the buttons without exiting 4 times. Similarly the final elevator glitched out... -Bookshelf would not work until i repeated 2 puzzles - butler always stands a bit too far away so you have to approach him or backpeddle every 2 seconds. He also repeats heaps and bangs things LOUD (For the love of god dont get him to hold the magnet) -Teleported into the toilet and stuck multiple times

Played on HTC Vive Pro/HTC Vive Wands 1.0/RTX2060Super, Just like the first game, a pretty nice escaperoom type of game. The puzzles are pretty easy, but as always you have to look around carefully. But it wasn't all sunshine, it had some annoying things: The drone doesn't easily give you the items it has in its inventory, which IMHO should release the item if you hold it for a second or two, but it tries to keep holding it, and is very annoying if you're already frustrated by some puzzle. I had a bug with the last 'puzzle', at least I think it was a bug, otherwise it was very annoying and not puzzle worthy IMHO (quickly go in, do something, then back out, and repeat that 3 times). But as always, I really like the enviroment, looked great again and the puzzles were easy but great (I don't like weird puzzles where you have to really get into the brain of the developer to think what weird thoughtprocess he/she has come up with). Is it worth 12,50 euro's as it is at the time of writing? I don't know, I got it as part of an indiegala bundle for 2,90 (included 5 other VR games) back in februari 2021, so for even that price I think it's certainly worth it (if it was 3 euro's on it's own). If you like escaperoom puzzle type of games, you must have this game (and abode 1 and conductor) in your library. Looking forward to more of their games.

Like the first Abode, Abode 2 is an enjoyable, well-designed VR escape-the-room game. This one is noticeably longer than the first Abode, which I appreciate. I solved every puzzle and escaped in just over an hour. They also made hints entirely optional, which is another great improvement over the first game. The robot companion has some great jokes, and it does a decent job of carrying your inventory for you so you don't have to remember where you put down that object you found early and don't need until the end of the game. That is a good quality-of-life feature. You can also set the robot to pick up items off the floor, which helps find object that glitch through surfaces if you are holding something and move it through a wall of if you teleport while holding something and it ends up inside a locked container.