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The House of Da Vinci Series Explained: Story, Puzzles, Order and The House of Tesla Spin-off

By Ahmed Hassan
Updated October 24, 2026 · 8 min read
Key art for The House of Da Vinci showing a mechanical gauntlet, gears and blueprints laid out on a workshop table inside a candlelit Renaissance chapel
Key art for The House of Da Vinci showing a mechanical gauntlet, gears and blueprints laid out on a workshop table inside a candlelit Renaissance chapel
Quick Summary

Blue Brain Games' House of Da Vinci trilogy and its spin-off The House of Tesla are two of mobile and PC gaming's most detailed 3D puzzle-adventure series. Here's how the Renaissance-set Da Vinci games connect, what changed in 2026's free Enhanced edition, and why The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition — now live on iOS and Android — is the easiest way in.

1. What Is The House of Da Vinci Series?

The House of Da Vinci is a first-person 3D puzzle-adventure trilogy made by Blue Brain Games, an indie studio based in Bratislava, Slovakia. Across three games you play as Giacomo, apprentice to Leonardo da Vinci, solving mechanical contraptions, hidden-object cabinets and room-escape chambers set in a lavishly detailed Renaissance Italy. If you've played Fireproof Games' The Room series' puzzle-box escape rooms, the comparison is fair and intentional — Blue Brain Games built its reputation on the same close-up, turn-every-gear style of puzzle.

The studio has since expanded the formula into a new, unrelated story called The House of Tesla, and in 2026 both franchises had major moments: The House of Da Vinci got a free visual overhaul, and The House of Tesla's Definitive Edition finally reached phones and tablets. Here's what each game actually contains, how they connect, and where a new player should start.

2. The House of Da Vinci (2017) and the 2026 Enhanced Edition

A sunlit chapel interior inside Leonardo da Vinci's workshop in The House of Da Vinci, with Gothic windows and a wooden staircase
The House of Da Vinci's opening chapters unfold inside Leonardo's own workshop, built as a maze of chapels, galleries and locked studies. Image: Blue Brain Games

The original House of Da Vinci launched in 2017 on mobile and PC. The setup is simple: your master Leonardo has vanished without a trace, and his workshop — rebuilt here as the city of Florence in 1506 — is packed with mechanical puzzles, lockboxes and war machines based on his real sketchbooks. Two mechanics define the game. A mechanical gauntlet lets you detect hidden objects by "seeing through" surfaces around you, and a device called the Peek into the Past gauntlet lets you rewind and watch earlier events play out, which is often the only way to learn a combination or locate a missing part.

A large wooden war machine resembling an armored tortoise, based on a Leonardo da Vinci invention, inside a stone workshop
War machines built from Leonardo's real designs, like this armored wooden tortoise, double as puzzle set pieces. Image: Blue Brain Games

On June 23, 2026, Blue Brain Games relaunched the original game as The House of Da Vinci — Enhanced, a free upgrade for everyone who already owns it on Steam. The studio re-lit every scene in the game so puzzles, mechanisms and hidden objects are easier to see, and sharpened the texture work behind the hidden-object "see-through" ability. Nothing about the puzzles themselves changed — it's purely a visual overhaul of the 2017 game, not a remake.

3. The House of Da Vinci 2 and 3: Finishing Giacomo's Story

The House of Da Vinci 2 arrived on mobile in December 2019, with PC and console ports following, and it's a direct continuation rather than a standalone chapter. You're Giacomo again, still searching for Leonardo, and the game widens the scope beyond a single workshop into new districts, fully voice-acted dialogue and a longer, more character-driven mystery.

An overhead view of a brass puzzle board with roman numeral discs and red wire pathways in The House of Da Vinci 3
The House of Da Vinci 3 layers numeral and wiring puzzles like this one on top of the series' usual lockboxes and hidden-object cabinets. Image: Blue Brain Games

The House of Da Vinci 3 closed the trilogy, launching on mobile in July 2022 and on Steam that December. Blue Brain Games bills it as the "grand finale" — Giacomo uncovers a conspiracy involving powerful figures across Renaissance Italy, and the story explicitly jumps through both space and time. The key new tool is the Oculus Perpetua, a device that lets you alter the past to change puzzle states in the present, building directly on the "Peek into the Past" idea from the first game.

A dimly lit gothic crypt corridor with a wrought-iron gate and a cloaked statue in The House of Da Vinci 3
Later chapters of The House of Da Vinci 3 move well past Leonardo's workshop into crypts, courts and other Renaissance locations. Image: Blue Brain Games

4. The House of Da Vinci VR

Blue Brain Games also built a VR adaptation of the first game for Meta Quest and SteamVR headsets, letting you physically reach out and manipulate Leonardo's mechanisms instead of tapping or clicking. It covers the same story and puzzles as the original House of Da Vinci rather than adding new content, so it's best thought of as an alternate way to experience game one, not a fourth entry.

5. The House of Tesla: The Spin-Off Now on Mobile

Key art of a glowing glass observation tower attached to a brick building at night during a thunderstorm, from The House of Tesla
The House of Tesla trades Renaissance Italy for Nikola Tesla's real Wardenclyffe facility on Long Island. Image: Blue Brain Games

The House of Tesla is Blue Brain Games' next puzzle-adventure after the Da Vinci trilogy, and it's a separate story with no connection to Giacomo or Leonardo. Announced in January 2024 and first released on PC via Steam on September 23, 2025, it drops you into the abandoned halls of Nikola Tesla's real Wardenclyffe facility on Long Island, built around Tesla's unfinished vision of wireless electricity transmission. According to the official Steam listing, you also explore locations tied to the Chicago World's Fair, and a new "flow of electricity" device lets you see and manipulate current running through the environment — effectively this game's version of the Da Vinci series' gauntlets.

A steampunk-style desk inside a glass observation tower, covered in model machines, blueprints and an open mechanical puzzle box, in The House of Tesla
Tesla's workshop swaps Renaissance stonework for turn-of-the-century brass, glass and electrical fittings. Image: Blue Brain Games

In March 2026, Blue Brain Games released The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition as a free upgrade for existing PC owners, reworking the game chapter by chapter with a new finale and visual upgrades shaped by player feedback. That Definitive Edition finally reached phones on October 20, 2026, launching on iOS and Android at $6.99, with a single App Store purchase covering iPhone, iPad and Mac. It's the newest way into the series, and — unlike the Da Vinci trilogy — it requires no prior games to understand.

The official Definitive Edition trailer, published by Blue Brain Games.

6. Where to Start and How the Games Connect

If you only play one game, start with whichever hook interests you more — the two stories don't overlap:

  • Want Leonardo da Vinci and a three-game arc? Start with The House of Da Vinci (2017), ideally the free Enhanced version if you buy it new on Steam, then move through 2 and 3 in order. The story is continuous and later games assume you remember Giacomo's goals from the first game.
  • Want a single, self-contained mystery and don't mind starting with the newest release? The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition stands alone and is now the easiest entry point on mobile.
  • Already own a VR headset? The House of Da Vinci VR is a fine alternative to game one, but skip it if you plan to continue into 2 and 3 on a flat screen, since the sequels are not available in VR.

For comparison, fans of this style of game have plenty of other options on the site, including Rusty Lake's stranger, more surreal Servant of the Lake escape-room mystery and ustwo Games' geometry-driven Monument Valley 3, both of which lean more toward atmosphere than the Da Vinci series' mechanical logic puzzles.

7. Tips for Solving the Puzzles

None of these games publish official walkthroughs, and solutions are randomized or position-dependent in several puzzles, so there's no universal answer key to give you. What does carry across every game in the series:

  • Rotate and zoom on everything. Most lockboxes and mechanisms can be examined from multiple angles, and the piece you need is often on a side you haven't looked at yet.
  • Use the time-reversal tools as a hint system, not just a story tool. The Peek into the Past gauntlet and the Oculus Perpetua frequently show you the exact combination or sequence a puzzle expects.
  • Don't ignore background objects. Hidden-object detection abilities exist because solutions are regularly tucked behind wall panels, under furniture or inside drawers that look like scenery.
  • Backtrack when you're stuck. All four games are built around a handful of large, interconnected rooms rather than linear corridors, so an item or clue you couldn't use earlier is almost always meant for a room you've already visited.

8. Platforms and Pricing at a Glance

  • The House of Da Vinci (2017 / Enhanced 2026): PC via Steam, mobile, Nintendo Switch and consoles; existing owners get the Enhanced visual upgrade free.
  • The House of Da Vinci 2: mobile, PC and consoles.
  • The House of Da Vinci 3: mobile, PC via Steam and consoles.
  • The House of Da Vinci VR: Meta Quest and SteamVR.
  • The House of Tesla: Definitive Edition: PC via Steam, Epic Games Store and GOG; iOS and Android as of October 20, 2026, priced at $6.99 on mobile.

Quick recap: this is a two-franchise, five-release lineup from one Slovak studio. Start the Da Vinci trilogy from game one if you want Giacomo's full story, or jump straight into The House of Tesla's Definitive Edition on your phone if you'd rather begin with Blue Brain Games' newest, most polished release. Either way, lean on the in-game flashback tools whenever a puzzle stalls — they're built to double as hints.

Official Resources

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Ahmed Hassan
Lead guide writer at Walkthroughs.net. Publishes daily solutions for hidden-object adventures, escape rooms, and word puzzles.