SAMSARA ROOM

http://www.kongregate.com/games/Abroy/samsara-room

Review:

It was interesting and maybe a bit weird game. It was particularly the weirdness that I found interesting. The game is very good and full of Eastern philosophy, even when i didn't notice it first. I too enjoyed the game. I was intrigued by the very weird situation that got more and more weird as you progressed, but without being completely nonsensical. Quite a bit of puzzle-doing, but nothing too difficult to be frustrating. It was easy, but it stayed interesting the whole time. The art was quite minimalistic, but still well drawn and served its purpose well. The music was quite interesting in that it served a specific role. Without spoiling, it can be said that the role is to convey the different “atmospheres” of the game.

Thoughts:

I think the first thing that struck me was that you could see your own reflection. That was pretty unusual compared to other games, also since the player was obviously meant to be depicted vaguely. But then it became clear exactly why you could see your own reflection, as it was meant to reveal the transformations you underwent.

At first it seemed like a little silly game, but then i noticed the enlightened references that were there. So i looked up the meaning of Samsara. Samsara is a concept in some Eastern religions, it's an cycle, and the goal of these religions is to break free of this cycle by achieving enlightenment. You reincarnate into creatures over and over until you are able to achieve enlightenment (in this game: escape the room) which is like breaking free of the cycle! Yes, so essentially in the game, you’re dead and need to break free of the cycle, as Avantra says. Some of the comments I have seen speculate that the player in fact is the dead fat guy, which makes sense, as well as that you were killed in the very woods you see once you enter the corpse. This is also supported by the fact that you hear some eerie music at the very start of the game (telling that you’re actually being murdered), which you then hear again once you re-enter those very same woods as a ghost. The entering of the woods through the mouth of your corpse also makes reference to the “seek-inwards” philosophy of many Eastern religions, supporting that the dead fat guy is indeed your own corpse.