Fans of Resident Evil 4 won’t be “strangers” to this one…
When you enter a Save Room you know you are safe, no danger can come to you, you can relax. Take advantage of this short period of time to organize your inventory, heal your wounds and reload your weapons. Can you make all the items fit in your inventory? Save Room is an organizational puzzle about arranging your inventory of weapons, ammo, and other items to fit in your inventory.
If you’ve played the original Resident Evil 4 then you’ll be familiar with having to sort out your weapons, ammo and other items like herbs in a box grid. You could get more room by buying it from the Weapons Merchant, but you would be rotating everything you could to try and get it to fit. It was a unique way to tackle the inventory you were carrying, but what if you took that and turned it into an actual puzzle game?
Then Save Room is exactly what you would get. Everything from the concept to the items are all essentially taken from Resident Evil 4. You’ll be given different grid layouts and items for 40 levels and while it starts out easy, it does get more complex when you have to combine different types of gunpowder to create ammo which also has to be loaded into each gun for that particular puzzle.
You will also need to have full health. But choosing what items you use to heal and which you choose to store in the grid isn’t the easiest to figure out. You’ll be contending with combining herbs for the right balance or using first aid sprays or eating eggs and fish. You even get rotten eggs which when consumed actually causes you damage, so trying to find the right combination is far from easy. On the plus side for PlayStation players, there are two trophy lists for both PS4 and PS5 versions, so you can nab two Platinums if you wish…
There are a few other nods to Resi 4 and the series itself. For instance, when you hit start a voiceover says “SAVE ROOM” in the same manner as past Resident Evil games when you do the same. A few of the trophy names are references to the Weapons Merchant including some which it refers to you as “stranger” and the Platinum itself is essentially one of the things he says when you buy an item “Heh heh heh…Thank you”.
In terms of visuals, what you see is what you get here. It’s basic but it does what you would imagine it to be. The game does have a tune that goes on repeat in the background that tries to add in some sort of tension to match the Resident Evil series and it does work well, though it can get a bit tiresome after 40 levels, so I can’t say I’d be surprised if you muted it by the end.
The Verdict
Save Room takes the inventory management from Resident Evil 4 and turns it into a full-fledged puzzle game. It sounds crazy but it actually works and does so well. I actually wouldn’t say no to a sequel or some extra stages as I found it highly addictive, so much so that I nabbed both Platinum trophies in quick succession. Definitely worth a look if you enjoyed Resi 4 or just if you love puzzle games.