Thx for playing! This was my first room, since then I've tuned them to become easier (maybe too easy). I'm always re-evaluating the difficulty of the puzzles between releases, so I appreciate the feedback.

Legitimately difficult. This is the first community room where I really felt like it was _my_ fault for being stuck at every point, and my partner and I were stuck at many points. Red herrings are subtle and numerous but not contrived or cheap. This should be held up as the absolute gold standard for escape rooms.

Hint guide updated

Thanks Arc that's a good point, will update the hints

Hey, Zesty! I quite enjoyed this room as well, and it's cool to see your progression as a creator across so few rooms.
I didn't read back through all the comments so maybe this is mentioned elsewhere, but I got hung up for a while on the second circle piece (the one sitting on the samurai painting) and eventually was willing to take a hint on the shapes puzzle. I think that you simply left this piece out of the hint guide, which caused me a fair bit of grief before eventually just watching the video. If it can be updated you should probably add that in (a hint could be added for the shape puzzle to indicate that tells you where to find the pieces without giving away the rest of the puzzle).

Hi Tonny, the number of paintings are not an intentional red herring. I suppose that's one way to look at things I had not considered, will keep in mind. With my later rooms I avoid red herrings so that's a design phase I've left behind :) Thanks for the feedback!

Hey Zesty.
Is the number of paintings in the 3-part of the final puzzle an intentional red herring? That there are 3 paintings in that room section got me side tracked on counting pictures in the corresponding room sections, which blinded me from seeing/looking for other possible solutions...
Brilliant way to hide numbers in plain sight though!
Thanks again for a great map!
Best regards, Tonny.

Wow, what a map! Really good! Thanks.
Got stuck on the final puzzle though. Big AHA when I finally got it!
Looking forward to playing your other ones.

The Devilish Diorama 2 is now available! Go check it out!

Thanks @Spyro! Thanks @Marnova! Look forward to more 😎

We've played a bunch of workshop levels, yours was the first and set the standard so high! It's still one of our favourites (if not our favourite). Really good puzzles and immersive experience.
Keep up the good work and thank you :)

Cool map!

I did. I just had Ominous Obelisk run in the background for like half an hour while doing other stuff xD

Appreciate the feedback

...So I went back to see what I missed. You don't need get in the shape room to solve the shapes, which I already solved by the trying few possible combinations earlier, anyway. The V step sticker is about worthless as that's only half the code. I think your supposed to assume they are under blue paint, but I didn't even think of that until after I found the remaining numbers, which was after I solved it by trail and error. But I already had the exit unlocked anyway, so there wasn't really any point.

I wanna go back and listen to that ominous obelisk music.

Most of the clues were harder to find that the solutions to the puzzles, and even are distractions from the solution. I spent way too long staring at the T painting, trying to divide it into two numbers like 6 and 7 etc. when I could have just entered the number. Because how long I spent on that "splitting" hint, I gave up to check the help guide, which told me to look hidden INSIDE THE RIM OF A VASE for a piece of paper which just pointed me to the painting I was already looking out. So I finally used the cheat guide again, and I literally just needed the number.
I didn't even find the =1 and =7 until about an hour already of trying to do just that. I spent so long there that I actually had the final code figured out before I even got past that first fence...

Hi BlueRaja, yes, there are parts in the final sequence of puzzles you can skip if you're clever enough to infer the final solution from partial clues 😉

We beat this immediately after getting the blue keycard. There were still several puzzles we hadn't solved...

The Ominous Obelisk is now out! Give it a play, will ya? :)

Yeah most rooms don't come up with guides especially the ones that need them My rooms will always have text + video guides posted, including future ones :)

Player feedback like yours greatly helps me make future puzzles more intuitive and friction-less - thank you for that!

Oof, I wish I saw the hints guide before.

I recently finished the first part of "The Watson Manor" and for that map, there was no information available. I couldn't find any video walkthroughs or online discussions, the workshop page didn't have any info related to what I was stuck on, and the creator had not created a hint guide. I resorted to loading that map into the editor and "cheating" on the 2 codes i got stuck on. Unfortunately that led me to not think there may be a hint guide for other maps.

After seeing a hint guide on another map I played tonight and now realizing you had one as well, I will be looking out for them any time I get stuck from now on. Thank you and any other creators who do the same for creating these guides.

I can't wait for a 3rd map :)

Hi @famguy07, sorry to hear that :( Circle chip 1 is unlocked via the 3 "squares" paintings (rotate them so their edges align). Circle chip 2 is by the samurai painting, as you've confirmed. For more context, there is a hints guide and video walkthrough available in the description. Appreciate the feedback

My friend and I just gave up :(

We got stuck because we couldn't find the "first" of the circle chips. I say first because I came to these comments to confirm that there are indeed 2, and the one by the samurai painting is mentioned as #1 in another comment. Please let me know where the first circle chip is so I can help my friend continue.

Unfortunately, in searching here for the second circle chip, I spoiled myself on the room being a code itself; something that I hope I could have figured out when a code was asked for and I will still have my friend try to solve next time.

Thanks for the awesome room, even only finishing about 90% of it, its one of the best I've played.

Thanks for playing! The note was an optional clue about the hidden letter T next to the Last Supper painting :)

Only got confused with the hidden note in the vase... dont know, what this should help me with... In generall a very good and complex room ^^

Perplexing Paintings is now colorblind accessible! All future rooms will be accessible to those who are hard of hearing or unable to see colors.

I've released a new room! Check out The Devilish Diorama here ! Hope you all enjoy

Thanks! In my experience non-linear progressions are better at engaging more players in parallel during multiplayer sessions and discouraging unintential creative monopolization of the room by the more observant players. Not keen on user journeys where it's do Puzzle A, B, C, one after the other.

I was worried the red herrings can frustrate players who feel unsatisfied that not every item in their inventory is not consumed one way or another, or feel that their presence raises the mental load to too high of a level , which I completely get.

Admittedly a design crutch here, one that I won't use as readily going forward.

Amazing room. Unfortunately I got impatient and came here to find hints/solutions for the last 2 puzzles.

I really liked the non-linearity of the room, feels like the real deal. Also enjoyed having extra pickable items. They act as red herrings but it's clear enough when a puzzle is solved that some things are not needed from that point onwards.

Thanks for the feedback! Will look into that

One of the most ingenious and clever rooms I have played so far!
I was stuck because the sword did not work initially, but maybe that's a problem of the engine

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed

Unique and creative. This room was a lot of fun. Great room Zesty!

Glad you figured it out!

Tht was fun, the only thing I got stuck on was the the code to leave the building, but once I read a couple things on this forum and then really observed my surroundings, it made sense. WP dude can't wait to see what else you bring.

Thanks for playing!

i absolutely LOVED this room. So clever, and really well thought out! Thanks for the puzzle!

Yep, I've been working on a new room coming out by March 6, and then after that Perplexing Paintings 2 with an added story so stay tuned ⏰

Do you by chance have plans to do anymore? Would love to download some more from ya.

Glad you enjoyed :) thanks for playing!

This is absolutely the best escape room in this game. My brain absolutely broke when I realized the solutions. I got an adrenaline rush solving this one. Great puzzles with great solutions. Loved it.

Great to hear :)

Super enjoyed this map! <3

i didnt. we just quit since we were near the end anyway

Sorry to hear that you're having issues. Did you try re-subscribing to the room? That fixed the issue for another user.

anyone have issues not being able to press the mole in the toilet room?

Thanks, appreciate the feedback :)

Thank you for creating such a fun room! We really enjoyed the puzzles and have to agree that the wall layout being the code was a very fresh idea!

Glad you guys enjoyed!

Enjoyable room thank you, we really liked the wall layout giving the passcode, something we hadn't seen before and gave us an "aha" moment. We did however finish the room before doing half the puzzles accidentally, since we saw the white board for the 4 shapes so early in the room we thought we had to solve it first, especially since we had a few shapes, my partner managed to accidentally find the answer after a few goes which led us to the exit, other than that a solid room, nice atmosphere and aesthetics.