The Mona Lisa of puzzle games - The House of Da Vinci 3 quick review

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

If you enjoy puzzle games like me, you need to play The House of Da Vinci 3. It’s an absolute masterpiece with puzzles so well-made that they left me bewildered.

TIME PLAYED

I played The House of Da Vinci 3 for four hours. In that time, I completed the tutorial and the first three chapters of the game. Each chapter got progressively harder, and I’m still trying to solve the mysteries of the fourth chapter.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Gameplay. I’ve played a lot of puzzle games, but none can compare to the marvel and ingenuity of The House of Da Vinci 3. This game absolutely stumped me almost all the time. I occasionally got mildly frustrated when I couldn’t figure out a puzzle, but that pushed me even harder toward finding the answer. In the end, I found this experience tremendously fulfilling and fun.

• Hints. If The House of Da Vinci 3 didn’t provide any hints about solving some of these puzzles, I probably wouldn’t have made it past the second chapter. I didn’t always use clues to figure out what to do, but in times when I was spending nearly twenty minutes pondering about the solution, it definitely came in handy.

• Visuals. The House of Da Vinci 3’s visual design amazed me. It takes stylistic inspiration from 1500s Italy.

WHAT SUCKS

• A little challenging. I might be nitpicking a bit, but if you’re not accustomed to playing puzzle games, The House of Da Vinci 3 will challenge you. It took me a while to get through some of the chapters even as someone who loves difficult adventure games. For someone with little to no experience playing the genre, these intricate puzzles might leave you frustrated and tired.

💬 If you were locked in a dark room, what would you do? Would you try to escape, panic, or stay inside and wait for help?