The Room retains the eerie feeling of the past three games. The atmosphere presented throughout the game is a nice and gritty. It’s disgusting to think about even laying a hand in some of these areas it’s so dirty. This look is kept throughout the entire game. Whether you’re in the apartment, the prison, or deep in the woods, everything is very dark and has a very dingy appearance. Fans of gory horror movies will also find more than enough blood to keep their attention. The lighting systems are really one of the more impressive aspects of the game. I also liked that the grainy filter is present, and that it looks like more of an actual artistic nuance (on the PC) rather than a cheap way to cover up poor textures (like on the PS2).
Character models also carry over the pasty, heroine-addict look found in other games. As you watch the characters interact on the screen, you almost feel bad for them -- it looks like they’re deeply troubled, and there are times when you genuinely feel bad for them.
The Room hits all of the right buttons in the sound department. The music is subtle enough that it doesn’t get in the way, but is still noticeable when it needs to be. However, most of the time, you’ll hear the faint, hollow whispers going off the background. These really help to push up the psychological creep factor since you’ll find yourself straining to hear what they might be saying, even though you can never quite make it out. What makes it worse is that the sounds never seem to stop. Sound effects are about as dirty as the graphics -- which is a good thing of course. It’s just an overall creepy atmosphere that is sure to freak you out at least once.
