for the existing room problem i would suggest you to disable the player's controls the moment they enter a room and when the player release the move buttons the controls comes back. so they don't keep going in the same direction (with this solution you don't even need to make the player spawn far away from the entrance, because if its too far it might look weird).
for the dim lighting i would also suggest you to make more apparent that there's a power outage going on by adding small light sources, like warning light that doesn't work on electricity (since its advanced facility with memory erasing i bet it would fit the story) plus without any sort of lights then the actual darkness in this case wont be noticeable and ppl will just think the game is being dim for no reason but when they see a light source that shines through darkness they will be quick to realize that the game isn't dim but its because there no lights, plus if you think about it if there's an actual power outage how can the main character see his surroundings in the first place? maybe you could make the player shine (which doesn't need to be plot friendly since a lot of games does it) or maybe he can get a flashlight?
anyway im just saying my thoughts here to help you out in a good intent so i hope you dont take this the wrong way. :)