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Toadthemushroom · Oct 25, 2016

Picked up a copy of this last week and have been really enjoying it so far.

CiNG nailed the general atmosphere, but they also scored on giving Hotel Dusk, and its characters and environment, a proper sense of place. Even minor details like the first person camera and Kyle's walking speed make it feel like you're actually there, or the mannerisms each character has that you'll slowly pick up on.

One of my favourite aspects of the game is how, despite its linear structure - it still gives you enough to play with as to encourage experimentation. It also helps that the game doesn't take itself so seriously: It's hilarious to present the most random of items in your inventory to the other characters just to see how they react. Or to see how easily you can be kicked out the hotel by Dunning or Rosa.

If I had one gripe it'd be that the game is often quite rigid in progressing its plot while also not making it entirely clear what you should be doing at certain points. The section where you find a pen at the restaurant had me stumped as I was too busy thinking about three other tasks that you're reminded to write down in your notebook, and the solution to checking the pen's engraving felt rather obtuse.

I just started chapter 5 and I'm already quite impressed by the number of mysteries that the game has managed to entwine around my head at this point. Definitely a compelling tale. Oh, and it still looks gorgeous today. Even the environments are well pitched against DS's hardware limitations.

It's another reminder of the DS's versatility for new types of games (book mode!) and how Nintendo absolutely knew what it was doing when it funded new titles like this from a variety of developers like CiNG, Paon, iNiS, Geko, Sandlot, Ganbarion, Mistwalker, Gevo Entertainment, Mitchell and so on.

Tunahead · Oct 25, 2016

Hotel Dusk is a rad game with excellent music. I really enjoy Kyle as a character and I'm glad we got to revisit him in a sequel before CiNG went under.

SomTervo · Oct 25, 2016

Never finished this. Think I hit an unclear bit where I wasn't sure what to do. Need to dig out my old cartridge.

MidnightCowboy · Oct 25, 2016

I adored this game. It remains one of my fondest memories of the DS.

Kyonashi · Oct 25, 2016

This floats around my top 3 games of all-time and I've definitely been known to refer to it as my all-time favourite game in the past. Still haven't played Last Window because it's kinda comforting knowing its there for me whenever I want to play it (which I will some day).

Massively underrated and unknown game.

Hours Left · Oct 25, 2016

Love this game.

Ramirez · Oct 25, 2016

One of my favorite games of all time, does Last Window stack up with it? Never have pulled the trigger on getting it, damn shame it never came to the US to begin with!

DrunkShogun · Oct 25, 2016

Great game with a great cast that had a strong narrative without going crazy which most games end up doing. Sequel is good but doesn't end as strong as well as having a weaker plot than the original.

xzeldax3 · Oct 25, 2016

I remember that playing the DS "book style" blew my mind at the time.

NintendosBooger · Oct 25, 2016

Ramirez said:
One of my favorite games of all time, does Last Window stack up with it? Never have pulled the trigger on getting it, damn shame it never came to the US to begin with!

Yes it does.

I couldn't help but be filled with nostalgia when I popped Last Window into my 3DS. For me, Hotel Dusk, along with TWEWY, made the DS one of my most adored consoles and I'd pay a great deal of money to relive those moments for the first time.

D-Man · Oct 25, 2016

Ramirez said:
One of my favorite games of all time, does Last Window stack up with it? Never have pulled the trigger on getting it, damn shame it never came to the US to begin with!

I love Hotel Dusk, but to be completely honest, I prefer Last Window between the two of them. Not a popular opinion from what I noticed, but it definitely deserves a go if you enjoyed the first game.

Magicpaint · Oct 25, 2016

DrunkShogun said:
Great game with a great cast that had a strong narrative without going crazy which most games end up doing. Sequel is good but doesn't end as strong as well as having a weaker plot than the original.

So true. This is what soured me a lot on otherwise fun titles like Ghost Trick (one of the worst offenders) and some of the Ace Attorney games. I kept sub-consciously expecting something that would completely change the tone of the game, some kind of silly twist but was surprised at how grounded an experience it was throughout. The vibe, the art, the characters, the intimate book mode, the music - it all came together to form a really unique experience. Thankful we also got the sequel in EU.

Shahadan · Oct 25, 2016

I remember shitty puzzles and a boring story. I was digging the atmosphere though, but never finished it.

Toadthemushroom · Oct 25, 2016

Magicpaint said:
So true. This is what soured me a lot on otherwise fun titles like Ghost Trick (one of the worst offenders) and some of the Ace Attorney games. I kept sub-consciously expecting something that would completely change the tone of the game, some kind of silly twist but was surprised at how grounded an experience it was throughout. The vibe, the art, the characters, the music, it all came together to form a really unique experience. Thankful we also go the sequel in EU.

Yeah, I've noticed many narratives go for shock value rather than anything that's actually surprising in the context of what you've been playing before. It's why 999: 9 hours 9 Persons 9 Doors tells the best story (by far) of the Zero Escape trilogy too.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Hotel Dusk's story then, it's all been relatively self contained and grounded to this point.

LiquidSolid · Oct 25, 2016

Ramirez said:
One of my favorite games of all time, does Last Window stack up with it? Never have pulled the trigger on getting it, damn shame it never came to the US to begin with!

Not quite as good as Hotel Dusk IMO but it's still pretty fantastic. If Hotel Dusk is one of your favourite games of all time, you're crazy for never bothering to pick it up.

I bought both games a few years back but only just played them last year. Incredible art style and writing.

If you've played though both, it's worth checking out their spiritual successor CHASE on the 3DS. It clearly doesn't have the budget those games had but it's still a cool little story and is fairly cheap.

Semajer · Oct 25, 2016

Love this series. It's a crime that Nintendo didn't save Cing.

matrix-cat · Oct 25, 2016

I really liked this game's (and it's sequel's) story, characters and atmosphere, but I just hated the game design so much. So many of the puzzles were just hopelessly obtuse, or actively counter-intuitive, and I hated that there were actual Game Overs for screwing some of them up.

The final puzzle in the first game was so frustrating it's stuck with me ever since (huge spoilers, obviously):

You're locked in an airtight room with an inexplicably tiny oxygen supply, and you need to get a computer up and running to unlock the door. There's a power plug that isn't making a good enough connection, a pencil to rub on the connections, and a book telling you to rub the pencil on the connections. The problem is that if you don't inspect the plug, inspect the plug again, read the book, find the pencil and then rub it on the connections, in that exact order, the game will actually tell you you're on the wrong track. "Not going to get anywhere using this", says Kyle Hyde, as you attempt to pick up the thing you need to complete the puzzle. And you keep dying because you're running out of air, but even though you know what to do, and you're trying to do it, the game will keep giving you negative feedback until you do it in just the right order.

Ugh, I'm getting angry here just reminiscing

Galava · Oct 25, 2016

One of my must-have DS games. Brilliant game.

UncleSporky · Oct 25, 2016

D-Man said:
I love Hotel Dusk, but to be completely honest, I prefer Last Window between the two of them. Not a popular opinion from what I noticed, but it definitely deserves a go if you enjoyed the first game.

I prefer Last Window too.

I mean it's been ages since I played either of them but I remember feeling that way.

In Hotel Dusk, not enough gets fully resolved, and the stakes are never quite high enough. In the end,

any danger you faced, any real threat in the hotel all along, was all a result of a dumb misunderstanding, the hotel owner not wanting to trust Kyle basically, IIRC. Anything remotely dangerous was all "off screen" (girl being held for ransom).

Englebert3rd · Oct 25, 2016

Played it shortly after it came out and I fell in love with the game and was sad when I finished it. Played it again last year and it's still damn fantastic.
I definitely recommend Last Window. It might look more of the same but it's on par with hotel Dusk.
Great games and it's a damn shame that CiNG went down.

Tunahead · Oct 25, 2016

matrix-cat said:
I really liked this game's (and it's sequel's) story, characters and atmosphere, but I just hated the game design so much. So many of the puzzles were just hopelessly obtuse, or actively counter-intuitive, and I hated that there were actual Game Overs for screwing some of them up.

The final puzzle in the first game was so frustrating it's stuck with me ever since (huge spoilers, obviously):

You're locked in an airtight room with an inexplicably tiny oxygen supply, and you need to get a computer up and running to unlock the door. There's a power plug that isn't making a good enough connection, a pencil to rub on the connections, and a book telling you to rub the pencil on the connections. The problem is that if you don't inspect the plug, inspect the plug again, read the book, find the pencil and then rub it on the connections, in that exact order, the game will actually tell you you're on the wrong track. "Not going to get anywhere using this", says Kyle Hyde, as you attempt to pick up the thing you need to complete the puzzle. And you keep dying because you're running out of air, but even though you know what to do, and you're trying to do it, the game will keep giving you negative feedback until you do it in just the right order.

Ugh, I'm getting angry here just reminiscing

And then, as the cherry on top,

someone just comes to let you out, even though the things you did didn't influence them in any way. So it's basically the game telling you that you suffocated to death because you didn't use up enough oxygen fiddling with books and pencils and machinery before someone came to rescue you.

Thanks Hotel Dusk! That makes perfect sense to me!

Thud · Oct 25, 2016

My man Kyle Hyde.

peanutbutterlatte · Oct 25, 2016

xzeldax3 said:
I remember that playing the DS "book style" blew my mind at the time.

Yeah it's a shame the 3DS tech ruined this

Bersi · Oct 25, 2016

Ramirez said:
One of my favorite games of all time, does Last Window stack up with it? Never have pulled the trigger on getting it, damn shame it never came to the US to begin with!

I played them both recently for the first time and i ended up liking Last Window more,both amazing games, such a shame that a 3rd chapter seems impossible

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