This is another game that came out during the “hiatus”, but it’s one that absolutely must not be missed by any fan of room escape games: Neutral‘s Elements.

This is the developer’s Magnum Opus (so far… one hopes), which is saying something when you’re talking about the creator of Vision (direct link), Lights (direct link), and other masterpieces of the room escape genre. It has everything we have come to expect from Neutral, and then some: gorgeous photo-realistic graphics, interrelated, creative puzzles, objects and clues used multiple ways, and an underlying story that develops as you go along, so that when you finish, not only do you get the satisfaction of, well, finishing, you also realize how all those bits and pieces fit together into a thoroughly-satisfying whole. As usual for this developer, there’s no changing cursor, but there’s also no pixel-hunting. If there’s a place to click, it will look like a place to click: a panel, a drawer, a mysterious handle, something peeking out from behind a desk… not a vast expanse of blank wall with a hotspot that looks no different than the rest of the wall.

So, put on your thinking cap, click everywhere, observe closely, and examine everything. Oh, and take notes.

Really: taking notes is a must in this game, and we’re not talking “I’ll just scribble a few things on the back of this envelope”: most people end up with multiple full pages of notes and drawings. As you can probably guess, it’s also not a quick lunch-break endeavor, but fear not: there is a save button. That said, please don’t start playing right before bedtime, at least not if you expect to be functional tomorrow.

Have fun!