Haunted Hotel: Room 18 Collector's Edition

Haunted Hotel: Room 18 is the newest game in the Haunted Hotel series to appear on Steam, and at the time of this review there are actually 17+ games in this whole series. Fortunately, only the first few entries sequels, and pretty much every other title in the series only share the 'Haunted Hotel' appellation (not to mention summarizes a general component of each game). The story starts with you and your brother being invited to the Sweet 18 Hotel to attend a family reunion. You are the first guests to arrive, and that's when you find yourself prisoners to creatures of the spectral persuasion. Your journey has you navigate the dangers of the hotel as well as find out why your family was invited in the first place. Story/Plot - As you might guess, the story is serviceable but doesn't provide any surprising twists. It would've been nice to see an interesting twist or two included, but that didn't occur here. I also couldn't help but notice some minor inconsistencies in the game either. For example, the game introduces you and your brother, only to refer to your sibling as a cousin in one spot. While this doesn't occur elsewhere, it did stick with me. Art - I actually liked the art in this game. Almost every background/room is appropriate and distince, and I liked the visual design of each ghost. To be honest, the protagonist and his brother were the letdowns in this area. Music/Sound - Once again, the music here is adequately spooky for the game, but nothing that really stays in your head afterward. Given a story set in a haunted locale, you get the occasional scream, etc. which adds a nice touch of atmosphere. There is also a small amount of voice acting in the game, and it worked fine. All to often, the voice actors in many HoGs sound like a bored student reading from a script. Gameplay - As with other games in the genre, Room 18 has a number of mini-games and hidden-object screens to pad out the experience. There was some variety in the hidden object screens like matching pairs in one screen, while another has morphing objects which change shape. Most of the screens were well thought out on placement so I didn't feel like I was finding a needle in a haystack. The mini-games are a typical of the genre. Some are sliding puzzles, some are logic puzzles, etc. While a couple were tough, most of them were fairly accessible to the average player. If the games are to hard, you always have the option to skip them. Finally, the game also has point and click elements where you find items, put them in your inventory, then need to use them on another screen. Most of these were alright, but it also contains one of my pet peeves: I dislike finding 3-4 sharp items which are used the same way like a knife, dagger, glass shard, etc (some games have even more) and the protagonist is to dumb to keep the knife for protection if nothing else. Difficulty: The game has 3 difficulty settings (Casual, Normal, Hard) which you choose upon starting the game. What is also nice is that you can also customize the difficulty such as changing the amount of recharge time between hints, skipping games, etc. More options in this regard are always welcome. Achievements: The game doesn't have Steam Achievements, but it does have in game achievements for those who care about such things. Would I recommend the game? The answer is yes. Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying it. In a way, I wish the developer ditched the sibling, and spent more time on the ghosts (such as why they were there, how to handle them, etc.) especially the [spoiler] the concierge. What can I say, a granny pointing a shotgun at my character isn't something you typically see in a HoG[/spoiler] However, considering I beat it in about 4 hours, as well as some of the negatives, I would wait until the game is on sale.

Boy, oh boy, what a game! This is good! Really good! I like everything about this game, except the troubling freezing or game-out moments, especially during the Bonus Chapter. The game itself warns the player that the Special Effects might cause the apparent poor performance, so my advice is to uncheck this feature. Although, I kept it on during the Main Game to taste its wonderful jumpscare moments. Without further ado, let me break this game down to you. PROS: - Mystery, suspence and thriller all over; - Tragic stories and spiritism; - Male protagonist (and his brother); - Chilling terrifying music; - Little excelent jumpscares; - The Hint / Skip button is awesome! - Main Game + Bonus Chapter + Secret Room; - Intriguing mini-games and HO scenes; - Useful strategy guide; - 3 sets of Collectibles + Figurines (it reminded me of True Fear: Forsaken Souls!) CONS: - Freezing or game-out moments due to Special Effects feature (it might also be my poor ol' computer); - No journal entries (however, you get the story from character interactions); - No fast-travelling map (although, you will love each and every scene!); All in all, this game is a gem! I haven't tried the other games from the series, but I would now! This game is definitely going to my Favorites!

Fun HOG, but crashes pretty often. Breaks on occasion too, but was able to finish it so I would still recommend it.

The more hidden object games I play, the more they all seem to follow the same formula: a basic story, beautiful scenery, bad animations, and very cheesy voice-overs. And Haunted Hotel: Room 18 is no exception. The story is as basic as it gets, with no special surprises here. The hidden object sections were good. Some of the actual puzzles (mini-games) were quite challenging. Depending on the difficulty you play on, all of them can be skipped in case you're stuck. As for the point'n click part, I know logic is usually far-fetched in these types of games. But holy Batman! It's as if the devs used a die to decide which objects should open a door or a trunk. As long as it looked nice, I guess. The game did crashed to the desktop twice during my playthrough. Loading the game back up always allowed me to continue from where the crash happened, so I didn't lose any progress. According to some reviews, the bonus chapter is bugged, but I got through without issues. I liked it for the puzzles and the 'spooky' story, so I'm giving it a thumbs up.

Excellent hidden object game! Spooky narrative that is interesting, bonus chapter that adds to the story, fast travel map, and casual setting with fast skips for those of us who just want to play for fun. It took me about 9 hours, so decent length for a HOG, too. One of the best new HOGs I've played recently!

An okay game, not a scary story as I thought. But it's very difficult to complete the quests without using the hints all the time... And the mini games are difficult for me too. Otherwise, good graphics.

I like the haunted hotel games. There is nothing necessarily out of the ordinary, but enjoyable, not boring.

I really liked this game! story was all good. puzzles were good. loved the extras at the end. finished in 2.7hours which is kind of short though. off to find some more of them .

Leider gibt es einen Bug im Bonus Game. Sonst sehr schönes Wimmeldbild-Abenteuer.

I would recommend this game to anyone. 5 stars.