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Categories: Review
Tags: adventure, ds
Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Developer: Cing
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo DS
Released: Jan. 22, 2007In the three years since he shot his double-crossing partner, Kyle Hyde has left the police force and New York City behind. Relocated in California, Hyde is now a salesman for Red Crown, a company that uses door-to-door sales as cover for finding missing items–items that don’t always want to be found. The work suits Hyde, who is searching for his ex-partner–the double-crosser fell into the water after getting the “lead kiss” and Hyde is convinced that he’s alive.
Hyde’s latest assignment brings him to Hotel Dusk. It’s a retrieval job, not sales, and it doesn’t take long for Hyde to figure out that there’s something fishy going on. Room 215, his room, is rumored to make wishes come true. The bellhop is a reformed pickpocket Hyde busted back in his cop life. Each of the hotel’s guests seem to be hiding something, yet are willing to tip that they are hiding something in passing conversations with Hyde.
Hotel Dusk‘s official site calls the game an “interactive mystery novel” which isn’t a bad way to approach it. Played by holding the DS like a book, the majority of Hotel Dusk‘s game time is spent reading. Technically an adventure game, most game play involves navigating through conversation trees with the other guests. Of course the game’s hotel setting means that you’ll be sneaking through staff-only areas, breaking into hotel rooms, and snooping through hotel records–usually to find evidence which will open up new lines of questioning.
What keeps this from growing tedious is solid writing, great characterization, and a story that’s both hardboiled and head scratching. Hotel Dusk juggles a handful of disparate characters as interconnected as those on Oceanic Flight 815. Minor mysteries unravel revealing deeper mysteries, and while some solutions are apparent, Dusk holds enough cards back to leave you guessing.
Developer Cing’s last entry, 2005′s Trace Memory, made good use of the DS which Dusk continues. Players use the touchpad to navigate a top-down map of the hotel shown in 3D on the opposite screen. The stylus is put to good use acting as a way to touch and manipulate in-game objects and serving as a pen to take notes in the in-game notepad. Graphically, the game combines a realistic setting with sketched characters, resulting in something that feels like a playable graphic novel.
There are puzzles here, but most of them just require using the correct item or are simple logic puzzles. While not action-oriented, there are a few times when you need to avoid the manager, adding a level of suspense. There are also some points when doing or saying the wrong thing will halt your investigation, making it worth using the game’s three save slots.