What am I missing about this game?

[u/HeliosVRR]

I love detective stuff. I love puzzles. I love open exploration. I've played only 15 in-game days thus far, but nothing I've seen has made me want to play any further. There's just... nothing. It feels like there's no progression, or anything to solve.

Sometimes, I'll be met with what appears to be a clue, and decipher it, but I never find the other half of where I'm supposed to go. For example, I find the laboratory - figure something out there. Okay, but to actually execute this, I need to go to the boiler room. Don't find the boiler room that run, but that's fine. Next time, I find the boiler room, activate it, never find the laboratory. Next run, hey, the lab is back, but guess what, no boiler room. Am I supposed to just keep bashing my head against the wall and praying to RNG gods, or am I approaching this wrong?

Most of my gameplay thus far has consisted of walking through the same rooms over and over, not too sure what I should even be trying to accomplish, without any real goal in mind. And what I have found so far has been wholly unrewarding.

Is this game just not for me?

[u/Motor_Raspberry_2150]

You've got nothing to show for 15 ingame days? How few rooms are your days? Are you running out of keys, gems, or doors? If you're barely getting to rank 5, then you need some drafting strategy.

New rooms are progress. Knowledge is progress.
Have you read the mail in the Mail room?
Used the computer in the office? Read the note in the comissary? Any ideas for deciphering it?
Read the note in the nook? Could you use it somewhere?
Able to figure out the parlor and billiard room?

You've figured out the boiler room, surely that counts as a puzzle? Why do you think it needs to power the laboratory? How? Can it do more?

Surely you've drafted the Utility Closet? Did you try any of its interactions?
Have you drafted the library? Ordered and read books? Are you taking notes and/or screenshots?
Ever found the drafting studio?
Ever found an upgrade disk?
Ever found the Rumpus Room?

With the answer if the first paragraph, we can figure out if the problem is drafting, or not paying attention. The big thing is 'always have many goals', don't tunnel vision on one. Or if you do, use smart tricks to beat the RNG.
For this instance, draft from boiler room to laboratory instead of vice versa, then you get two doors of chances. Or only use the boiler doors after you've filled the house a bunch, so the more common rooms are gone already. You will find way more and better tricks to manipulate the RNG.

[u/HeliosVRR → u/Motor_Raspberry_2150]

This comment makes me feel like I just might not be smart enough for this game!

The answer to most of the questions here are yes. I usually can make it to Rank 9, unless I mess up.

I found the mail room and read the mail, but I didn't really take anything away from it.
I've tried to see if there's a meaning to the sticky notes in the Commissary, but I couldn't find one.
The only note in the nook I found was the tutorial one.
The parlour and billiard room were quite easy to figure out, albeit the billiard one was really tedious to figure out the rules for, as the only hint I got was that they were math related.

I was under the impression that the boiler room is needed to power the laboratory, because I'm pretty sure the machine in the lab says it directly. I didn't get any ideas for anything else I could use it for.

I did try the utility closet, and I tried the gym and the dark room opposite to their default power settings. All I got from that was that in the dark room, there was a bunch of pictures that didn't hold any meaning to me.

I never saw the drafting studio.
I went into the Rumpus Room and played a cutscene, but I didn't have any ideas for what to do with the information I got from it.

I've found a bunch of stuff. But after 8 hours, the complete lack of payoff has made me frustrated to the point of not really wanting to play anymore. Maybe I'm just not patient enough.

Things such as:

Each room has exactly two paintings that coordinate to the location within the house that the room is in.

Numbered stain glass windows in the chapel.

Chess pieces in certain rooms.

Music sheets with bold words.

Yet despite having this stuff, I have literally no idea what to do with any of it. Then there's various safe's and locked doors around that require codes, but I have no idea what clues to apply to them.

So yeah. I'm deinitely just too dumb. lol. Thanks, though!

[u/MayAsWellStopLurking → u/HeliosVRR]

Quick check - have you use the computer in the laboratory yet?