The House of Da Vinci has never managed to escape comparisons with The Room.
Which is fair enough.
Blue Brain Games’s massively acclaimed, renaissance-set environmental puzzler clearly takes its inspiration from the earlier series, utilizing similar puzzle box mechanics and somber visuals.
But it was quickly evident when The House of Da Vinci launched in 2017 that it’s a fantastic puzzler in its own right, thanks not only to some ingenious puzzle design but also to a compelling, intrigue-filled storyline.
With The House of Tesla, Blue Brain Games is set to cast off The Room comparisons once and for all.
Set in early 1900s America, The House of Tesla is shaping up to be an atmospheric, story-driven environmental puzzler packed with handcrafted puzzles, mysterious devices, and shattering plot twists.
Oh, and a device that lets you see and control electricity.
Here are 5 reasons you need to get House of Tesla on your Steam wishlist right now.
The House of Da Vinci
If you want to get an idea of a game’s potential, you can’t do much better than looking at the developer’s previous title.
The House of Da Vinci is a sprawling epic set across three chapters. It boasts pin-sharp 3D visuals, top notch voice-acting, and a whole host of historical figures, including renaissance mathematician Luca Pacioli, the Borgias, and Leonardo himself.
We know that Blue Brain Games has got the goods when it comes to storytelling, research, puzzle design, and everything else that makes historical environmental puzzlers great, so we’re excited to see what they come up with next.
Basically, The House of Da Vinci + electricity = fun.
PC-First Development
Don’t get us wrong: we love playing games on mobile and console. But we’re totally on-board with Blue Brain Games’s decision to restrict the initial launch to desktop computers.
It’s all about maxing out the game’s potential. “PC is the only one that lets us do what we want without compromises”, they explain in the dev log, “so that is what we decided to focus on”.
Once the best possible version of The House of Tesla exists, the studio will work out what it needs to chop and change for the various other platforms.
But don’t worry. Even if you have to wait a bit longer, you can rest assured that The House of Tesla will eventually appear on your favorite platform.
Unique Historical Setting
Atmosphere is a huge part of what makes environmental puzzlers work, and Blue Brain Games has chosen a brilliant setting and aesthetic for The House of Tesla.
The game sees you exploring a range of eerie abandoned industrial buildings at the site of Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe facility, a real-life location in New York, dominated by the iconic Tesla Tower.
Bonus fact: In a nerdy echo of The House of Da Vinci, the main building at Wardenclyffe was actually modeled on the style of buildings from the Italian Renaissance.
Fantastic Art Direction
Blue Brain Games’s Art Director, Honza, claims the team carried out endless research to nail the look and feel of early 1900s America, drawing inspiration from artists like Alphonse Mucha and architects like Daniel Burnham, who designed New York’s Flatiron Building.
The level of attention to detail is something else, as Honza explains.
“I can’t tell you how many times I came to the story folks with a request like ‘We have a stack of books in a dimly lit corner, do you have any pointers as to what person X might have been reading?’ only to come back with book recommendations that would fill a library”.
Soft Touch Storytelling
Despite the sheer amount of research that has gone into designing The House of Tesla, Blue Brain Games understands the importance of not shoving its work down your throat.
There’s a narrative to enjoy, but it’s up to you how much you engage with it. Alongside the short, gameplay-oriented cutscenes there are letters, newspaper articles, and various other documents to read or ignore as you see fit.
Plus, The House of Tesla will differentiate between the things that will help you solve the game and things that will satisfy your curiosity about Nikola Tesla and his legacy.
The House of Tesla is due to arrive some time in 2024. Head to the game’s Steam page to your wishlist right now.