The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition

Back in 2024, we got our hands on The House of Da Vinci VR for the Meta Quest 3 and had an absolute blast. It was the first time I had ever played a game by Blue Brain Games, but the title certainly left a great impression with its gorgeous visuals and intricate puzzle boxes. As such, I was eager to play another one of their titles, this time in the form of the recently released The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition. This definitive edition is a slightly tweaked version of the 2025 original release, which – as far as I can tell – streamlines certain elements and makes some of the tougher puzzles a little less challenging. Whilst this review will not be comparing the differences (due to this being our first time playing the game), it will certainly address how it is in its current form, as well as the performance on the Steam Deck. Many thanks to Blue Brain Games for the review cope. WATT A PROBLEM After a few games focused around the famed inventor Leonardo Da Vinci, the franchise now turns its sights on another genius: the American Engineer Nikolai Tesla. You start off in his place of residence, before exploring the ruins of the famous Wardenclyffe facility – remembering what happened there, and restoring many of the now-broken mechanisms. The narrative itself is pretty minimal and only really serves as a way for you to explore different areas whilst occasionally reading notes and experiencing cutscenes that go into Tesla’s past. Avid fans of the inventor will probably be fascinated by the look into his life, even if it will unlikely give them much more insight other than they already know – and there’s little narrative here for anyone else, especially as the cutscenes aren’t all that interesting or well-acted for the most part. But that’s of little importance, considering that people come to these games for the puzzles. Much like The House of Da Vince, it’s set out like an elaborate escape room of sorts. Each area has various devices scattered around, with many of them acting like puzzle boxes for you to solve. Some are more intricate than others, requiring you to solve one section before allowing you deal with the next, and many reward you with tools or pieces that are needed to make another function. The progressive nature is very satisfying, especially as you have to manually open up or rotate parts. To help add a ‘Tesla Twist’, early on you’ll acquire a machine that can detect and manipulate electrical currents with a simple press of the X button. Guiding currents is pretty straightforward as you simply drag and drop from one node to the next, but the difficulty comes with actually lining them up. An early puzzle, for example, has you manipulating a statue’s limbs, and your little gizmo can see exactly where they need to line up. It’s pretty neat, and adds an extra layer of depth to the puzzling. With regards to the difficulty, I’d say that they’re overall slightly harder than The House of Da Vinci. Whilst there are some puzzles that are strangely a little too easy (perhaps they were altered too much for this definitive edition?), I found quite a few that had me absolutely stumped – even early on. There is a hint system that generally works well at pointing you in the right direction, but sometimes it just isn’t enough. There was one early puzzle where I saw what I needed to do and what was supposed to clue me in, but I just had no idea how to progress. In the end I had to skip the puzzle, which pieced everything together for me, but even then I still couldn’t see what the connection was. These moments don’t happen too frequently, but I don’t remember having any such moments when playing their VR title. The main issue with the puzzles are the controls, which feel incredibly clunky. I had a blast with the VR version being able to manipulate things with my hands, but using a standard controller it feels incredibly unintuitive. Using the trackpad of the Steam Deck and Steam Controller certainly improves things, especially after editing the controls manually to feel more comfortable, but I still found myself hitting the wrong button or accidentally backing away. Interacting with things is made all the more frustrating due to navigational issues too. With varying levels of zoom, it’s often hard to tell when you can interact with objects and rotate around them, leaving a lot of trial and error. Given that you’ll probably have some issue or other with anything new you encounter, it means that quite a lot of the game’s lengthy runtime will be made up of you fighting the controls. That really is what is going to make or break the game for many people. The game has some ingenious puzzles (as well as as generic tile sliding and pipe connecting puzzles that seem to be in every puzzle game…), but the stiff control scheme may very well ruin it for many people – especially for those that had the pleasure of experiencing the original The House of Da Vinci game in VR. If you’re playing with a mouse then you’ll likely have a bettertime with the game’s puzzles, but otherwise it might be a little hard to tolerate – even with the Steam Deck’s trackpad.

I want to preface this by saying I put "Yes" to "Do You Recommend This Game", though I would say in reality it is more "Yes, but with a few caveats". The game initially was extremely enjoyable for me. Not too difficult, while not being too easy; the mechanics were easy enough to pick up, and I soon found myself losing track of real world time with interest in the machines and puzzles. The graphics ae very good, each of the machines and rooms visually interesting. The game also does a nice job of teaching you about Nikola Tesla and his ideas without making it seem like a history lecture. Unfortunately, the second half of the game (Chapters 4 and 5) were where the game fell down for me. Not into "Bad" territory, but the game became half-enjoyable, half-frustrating. Several of the puzzles climbed in difficulty, to the point I had to use an online video guide; in addition, several critical components of each puzzle were too easy to overlook in this part, particularly in the Egyptian Exhibit. The length of time the last too chapters took also veered into frustrating for me as well (even when excluding the difficulty with puzzles I was having). On a side note for the Achievement Hunters and those with OCD, the most difficult achievement, "Seen It All", seems to be bugged; I fulfilled the unlock conditions, but did not receive it (checking the guides in Steam overlay, it appears I am not the only one - I just could not be bothered with editing the save files). In conclusion, I would recommend this for puzzle lovers and click-and-point game fans, but just be aware of the length of the puzzles and the length of the chapters in the latter half of the game (and Achievement Hunters/OCD sufferers beware of the bugged achievement).

Franchement, rien à redire. Le jeu est beau, les énigmes correctes et de niveau homogène, le système d'aide est bien foutu. J'ai joué avec plaisir, avec même du mal à arrêter pour aller me coucher. Du coup, je ne comprends pas les critiques envers les énigmes qui seraient trop difficiles. On est sur le même modèle que House of Da Vinci. J'ai fini le jeu en moins de 7 heures sans blocage notable (je n'ai utilisé que trois fois le système d'aide, sans dépasser le niveau 1 de ce système). Je suppose qu'une mise à jour a amélioré les énigmes. Cependant, je reconnais que quelques réglages sont nécessaires. Primo, avant de commencer une partie, allez dans le menu et désactivez le skip des énigmes (ré-activable si vous êtes bloqués et que l'aide in-game ne vous suffit pas). Secundo, explorez au max malgré la config de la caméra qui change tout le temps (dans une salle on peut regarder à 360°, mais en zoom c'est random : champ visuel limité, ou image fixe, ou caméra tournant autour d'un objet, ou balayage d'une image murale ; il faut s'adapter sinon on peut rater un indice). Et il faut faire bcp d'allers-retours, c'est comme ça. Certaines énigmes bloquent parce qu'on n'a pas bien exploré. Tertio, ce n'est pas parce que Tesla est un ingénieur que les énigmes obéissent à une logique mathématique. Bcp d'énigmes consistent à reproduire une configuration ou une séquence, sans qu'elle n'ait de signification particulière. Enfin, quarto, pensez toujours à activer la vision électrique : certaines solution ne sont visibles que comme ça. Si vous suivez ces conseils, vous avez de grandes chances de passer un excellent moment. Amusez-vous bien et vivement la suite !

I had a fantastic time with this game. The puzzles are creative, and I really enjoyed bringing all the different machines and electrical systems back to life. Every time I thought I had figured out a mechanic, the game found a new way to surprise me. The progression feels smooth, the environments look great, and everything is polished from start to finish. If you’re a fan of puzzle adventures, this is an easy recommendation.

I like this game. Do not expect super exciting, brainbreaking puzzles. Almost all puzzles are of a mechanical, logical kind. Graphics and storytelling are quite nice i.m.o. For an enjoyable, relaxed gaming session.

Nice game if you enjoy games like The Room series and The House of Da Vinci series, the previous games of these developers. Interesting story, good gameplay, nice visuals and very nice music. The puzzles are varying in quality: most are good, some are a bit unclear about the intended objective. Luckily a walkthrough can help you through those. Highly recommended for the puzzle fans who like an engaging story and an atmospheric setting for their games. :)