Find Room 96

Find Room 96 is a first-person puzzle simulation game set in a mysteriously repeating hotel, where players must use keen observation skills to spot subtle anomalies—differences from a memorized base floor—across looping levels to escape and reach the elusive Room 96. Developed and published by Surprised Hotdog Limited, it blends detective mystery and horror elements without a traditional narrative, focusing on exploration and direct control via keyboard, mouse, or gamepad, with no fail states but a timer that unlocks additional content upon timely completion.

Find Room 96: Review

Introduction

Imagine stepping into an endless hotel corridor, where every door leads to familiarity laced with subtle dread—the flicker of a misplaced shadow, the whisper of an object out of place. Find Room 96, the 2024 indie puzzle simulation from Surprised Hotdog Limited, traps players in just such a liminal nightmare, demanding razor-sharp observation to escape a looping architectural purgatory. As a game journalist and historian with over two decades chronicling the evolution of interactive experiences, I’ve seen countless titles toy with perception and unease, from the psychological mazes of PT to the spot-the-difference roots of early adventure games like Myst. Released amid a surge of “anomaly hunting” indies inspired by the viral hit The Exit 8, Find Room 96 positions itself as a cerebral escape room in first-person form. Yet, while it masterfully evokes the tension of repetition and subtle horror, my thesis is clear: this is a competent but uninspired entry in a burgeoning subgenre, offering fleeting thrills for dedicated fans but lacking the depth to elevate it beyond a curiosity in video game history.

Development History & Context

Surprised Hotdog Limited, a modest indie studio founded in the early 2020s, has carved a niche in the anomaly detection genre, churning out bite-sized experiences that blend puzzle-solving with minimalist horror. Find Room 96 marks one of their earliest full releases, debuting on Steam on January 1, 2024, for Windows, followed by ports to Nintendo Switch (April 6, 2024), PlayStation 4/5, and other platforms throughout the year. The studio’s vision, as gleaned from their portfolio, centers on accessible, short-form games that leverage everyday unease—empty spaces, minor discrepancies—to create psychological tension without relying on jumpscares or complex narratives. This title was developed under tight constraints typical of solo or small-team indies: a budget-friendly Unity engine build, with assets suggesting off-the-shelf models for the hotel environment, emphasizing rapid iteration over lavish production.

The game’s context is inseparable from the post-pandemic indie boom, particularly the explosion of “Exit 8-likes” following Kotaro Uchikoshi’s 2023 freeware sensation The Exit 8. That game’s subway loop, where players spot anomalies to “exit” an infinite cycle, went viral on streaming platforms, spawning a wave of imitators by 2024. Find Room 96 arrives in this landscape, where technological accessibility—affordable VR-lite first-person engines and digital distribution via Steam and eShops—lowered barriers for creators exploring liminal spaces. The era’s gaming scene was dominated by sprawling open-world epics like Elden Ring DLCs, but indies like this thrived in the itch.io and Steam Next Fest ecosystems, appealing to players seeking quick, cerebral bites amid burnout from AAA bloat. Surprised Hotdog’s output, including contemporaries like Exit Station 7 and The Eerie Surroundings, reflects a broader trend: horror-lite simulations democratizing the “walking simulator” format, echoing 2010s pioneers like Gone Home but with procedural anomaly twists. Constraints like limited playtesting (evident in the game’s opaque feedback) highlight the era’s DIY ethos, where innovation often stems from genre remixing rather than reinvention.

Sub-Section: Technological and Creative Choices

The studio opted for direct control interfaces (keyboard/mouse, gamepad support) to immerse players in unhurried exploration, but this simplicity borders on sparsity—no dynamic lighting beyond basic shadows or particle effects to heighten anomalies. Visionary intent seems rooted in psychological subtlety, drawing from real-world optical illusions and the “Mandela effect,” yet execution feels iterative, borrowing heavily from The Exit 8‘s loop without pushing boundaries like procedural generation seen in later anomaly titles.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

Find Room 96 eschews traditional storytelling for an emergent narrative born of player agency—or lack thereof. There’s no voiced protagonist, no branching dialogue trees, and certainly no exposition dumps; instead, the “plot” unfolds as a silent quest to locate the elusive Room 96 within a perpetually resetting hotel. Players begin on Floor 0, memorizing a baseline layout of corridors, doors, and fixtures, before ascending via elevators that branch based on anomaly detection. Success propels you upward toward escape; failure loops you back, evoking a Sisyphean trap. This structure implies a detective/mystery core: you are the investigator, piecing together reality from perceptual fragments. Subtle horror creeps in through implication—why the loop? Is Room 96 a sanctuary or a deeper abyss?—mirroring themes in horror classics like Stephen King’s The Shining, where hotels symbolize isolation and madness.

Thematically, the game delves into observation as a metaphor for mindfulness in an overwhelming world. Anomalies—shifted paintings, altered door ajar states, or mundane additions like a pet food dish—represent the brain’s vulnerability to oversight, a nod to cognitive psychology experiments on change blindness. Liminal spaces dominate: empty hallways bathed in sterile fluorescence evoke the “backrooms” internet meme, amplifying existential dread without overt scares. Characters are absent, save for implied presences via anomalies (e.g., a rearranged suitcase suggesting unseen guests), fostering paranoia. Dialogue is nonexistent, replaced by environmental cues and a timer that pressures hasty judgments, underscoring themes of impermanence and the fragility of perception.

Yet, this depth is surface-level. The narrative lacks escalation—no evolving lore or character backstory—making it feel like a framework for mechanics rather than a thematic triumph. Compared to The Exit 8‘s subtle urban folklore, Find Room 96 prioritizes repetition over revelation, resulting in a thematic echo chamber that intrigues but rarely haunts. In historical terms, it continues the first-person narrative minimalism of 1990s adventure games like The 7th Guest, but without their gothic flair, settling for ambiguity that borders on emptiness.

Sub-Section: Psychological Layers

At its core, the game explores trust in one’s senses, with the loop symbolizing anxiety loops in modern life. Bonus levels, unlocked via timers, introduce variations (e.g., darker anomalies), hinting at escalating unreality, but this progression feels tacked-on, diluting the thematic purity.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

The heart of Find Room 96 is its core loop: observe, decide, ascend—or reset. From Floor 0, players freely explore a compact hotel floor in first-person, committing details to memory (e.g., fire extinguisher positions, picture orientations). The timer activates upon elevator entry, forcing deliberate pacing as you scan subsequent floors for anomalies—differences like resized objects, swapped images, or emergent items. Two elevators await: “No Anomalies” for identical floors, “Confirm Anomalies” for discrepancies. Correct choices advance you; errors restart from the beginning, with no mid-run saves, heightening tension.

This spot-the-difference mechanic is streamlined yet unforgiving, with no combat, progression trees, or inventory—pure simulation of perception. UI is minimalist: a HUD timer and level selector, with optional “Visual Assist” highlighting potential anomaly zones in red (activatable on Floor 0). Controls are intuitive—WASD movement, mouse look—but clunky on controllers, per user feedback. Innovation lies in the timer’s dual role: tracking completion for unlocks (beat par time to access levels 2-3) and replayability (return to shave seconds). Total playtime spans 15-120 minutes across three levels, with achievements like “Sharp Observation Skills” (perfect run) rewarding mastery.

Flaws abound, however. Anomalies are static and generic—size/location shifts dominate, lacking dynamism like animated entities in The Exit 8. Critically, there’s no post-failure feedback; misses go unexplained, frustrating learning curves and evoking complaints in reviews (e.g., eShopperReviews’ D grade for opacity). Systems feel unbalanced: early levels are breezy (15-minute clears), but boredom sets in from repetition, and bonus content shines brighter only after endurance-testing the base. Historically, this echoes puzzle games like The Witness, but without tutorials or hints, it alienates newcomers.

Sub-Section: Innovative Elements vs. Shortcomings

The unlock system adds value, turning a linear experience into modular challenges, but the absence of randomization or escalating difficulty limits longevity. For genre veterans, it’s a refined take; for others, a tedious exercise in trial-and-error.

World-Building, Art & Sound

The game’s world is a single, repeating hotel floor—a liminal labyrinth of beige carpets, numbered doors, and fluorescent hums—that punches above its weight in atmosphere. Built as a contained “anomaly generator,” it draws from real-world Brutalist architecture, creating unease through uniformity: endless corridors symbolize entrapment, with anomalies disrupting the mundane to evoke subtle horror. This setting contributes profoundly to immersion, transforming a simple puzzle into a psychological space where every glance feels scrutinized.

Visually, art direction is competent but asset-driven: detailed textures on walls and props (e.g., worn doorframes) contrast with aliasing and low-poly uniformity, suggesting purchased kits. Lighting is key—cool blues and shadows build tension, especially in bonus levels with dimmer tones—but lacks polish, with occasional pop-in. On Switch, performance holds at 30fps, though brighter environments can wash out dread.

Sound design elevates the minimalism: a light, jazzy underscore loops faintly, punctuated by elevator dings and ambient silence that amplifies isolation. No voice acting or SFX overload keeps focus on observation, but effects like footsteps on carpet add tactile realism. Overall, these elements forge a cohesive, if basic, experience—superior to some studio peers in atmospheric consistency, yet undermined by repetition that dulls the initial chill.

Sub-Section: Atmospheric Contributions

The liminal hotel motif, paired with sparse audio, masterfully induces paranoia, reminiscent of Control‘s shifting brutalism. However, without varied biomes or evolving soundscapes, it risks monotony.

Reception & Legacy

At launch, Find Room 96 garnered modest attention in indie circles, with no major critic reviews on aggregates like Metacritic (TBD scores across platforms). Steam users embraced it warmly, yielding a “Mostly Positive” 79% from 24 reviews (rising to 84/100 player score from 38 total), praising its brevity and challenge. Nintendo Switch ports drew mixed eShop feedback: A-to-J Connections awarded a C- (January 2025), lauding the setting and unlocks but critiquing “half-assed” anomalies and boredom; eShopperReviews gave a D (February 2025), slamming the lack of error feedback as “frustrating.” PlayStation ratings averaged 2.62/5 from 21 users, citing accessibility pros but repetition cons. Commercially, at $3.99-$4.29, it performed adequately for an indie, bundling with studio titles like The Eerie Surroundings to boost value.

Legacy-wise, it’s a footnote in the anomaly genre’s rapid evolution, influencing quick-hit puzzles but not revolutionizing like The Exit 8. Surprised Hotdog’s catalog has cemented their role in this niche, with Find Room 96 exemplifying 2024’s indie surge—affordable, streamable content amid a market favoring micro-experiences. Historically, it parallels early shareware puzzles of the ’90s, preserving observation-based gameplay for digital archives. Its influence may grow in mobile/VR ports, but for now, it’s a cult curiosity rather than a landmark.

Sub-Section: Critical Evolution

Initial Steam positivity (quick completions noted in forums) contrasts later reviews highlighting tedium, reflecting genre fatigue by mid-2025. No awards, but it contributes to discussions on indie horror’s psychological turn.

Conclusion

Find Room 96 distills the anomaly-hunting thrill into a compact, observation-driven loop, shining in its liminal atmosphere and accessibility while stumbling on generic mechanics and opaque design. From Surprised Hotdog’s indie grit to its place in the Exit 8 wave, it exemplifies 2024’s creative democratization—flawed, yet evocative of deeper perceptual games. For genre aficionados, it’s a worthwhile $4 diversion; newcomers, start elsewhere. In video game history, it secures a modest spot as a bridge between viral experiments and polished puzzles, reminding us that sometimes, the scariest anomaly is repetition itself. Final Verdict: Recommended for Fans (C+ Overall)—a fleeting echo in the halls of indie innovation.