Scarlet's Haunted Hotel

[h1]The darkest time management game ever...[/h1] [b]Note:[/b] An awesome friend gifted me a copy of this game although I was later offered a review copy via curator connect. ^^ [i]Scarlet's Haunted Hotel[/i] is a mystery time management game developed by SQRT3 and GameHouse and published by GameHouse. Mostly, you take on the role of Scarlet Harrington as she, her husband, and son arrive on an island at the request of her great aunt. It turns out that her great aunt wants Scarlet to take over her hotel on the island, but of course, there's much more to the story. In regards to the gameplay, you can choose from among the usual three difficulty levels: easy, normal, or hard. (For review purposes, I played on normal difficulty.) There are a total of 60 story levels with 5 different areas within the hotel, and in each level, you have to serve hotel guests with their various requests and whatnot. Also, there's a raven statue, which is the equivalent of GameHouse's mouse, as well as an additional task. Assuming that you serve all the guests in a timely manner, find the raven, and complete the additional task, you can earn up to 5 diamonds per level. Diamonds are used to purchase items in various dream worlds, which reveal some story lore. As is almost always the case with GameHouse-published games, there are plenty of Steam achievements/in-game trophies, and they count towards a user's global total. Having gone over the story and gameplay, I'll move onto my thoughts. I'm a massive fan of time management games by GameHouse, which is probably no secret by now, so I was very excited when this newest game was made available and knew that I had to play it as soon as possible. :D First, the story drew me in. Compared to GameHouse's previous titles, this is definitely the darkest time management game in the series. Of course, there have been other mystery TMs, such as [i]Parker & Lane[/i] and [i]Undercover[/i]. However, in [i]Scarlet's Haunted Hotel[/i], ghosts appear as well as a murder that happens quite early and a twisted dark plot. The story would probably not be suitable for kids, but I think this is aimed towards an older, more mature audience, which I like a lot. I love how Scarlet finds herself in all these entanglements to the point where she fears for her life as well as her family's. Putting this final part into spoiler text, I really love how the story ends, [spoiler]with the actual villain getting exactly what they deserve for committing atrocious, heinous acts. I'm of the belief that truly evil people deserve to be punished. Now, if only that were to actually happen in real life[/spoiler]. With the gameplay, I found it to be very fun and enjoyable. It's doable to serve all the hotel guests without them losing lots of hearts, and I like completing the additional task since it provides a challenge while Scarlet is helping out guests. In regards to finding the raven statue, it is doable to find them all, even without a guide. However, unlike easter eggs in previous GameHouse-published games, the easter egg doesn't make a sound to indicate its presence. On the positive side, though, it won't randomly disappear, so you can take your time finding it, assuming that you do so before the timer for the level to signal the end of the day runs out. Regarding Steam achievements, I was able to obtain all of them. However, you may need to grind for a couple of them, such as the one for finding 90 vinyls. As for the art, it is beautiful as always, in the style that has become a trademark for GameHouse-published games. The sprites have that slightly cartoony style going, and they're drawn and colored well, which is the same case for the backgrounds. Especially, I liked gazing at the various dream worlds, which are unlocked as you progress through the game. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3356217844 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3356218139 In regards to the music, the tracks are great to listen to. They totally have that dark mystery vibe going on, immersing you and making you feel like you're with Scarlet in a haunted hotel. Since this is a new game in the series, all the tracks are new, which is refreshing. Overall, would I recommend [i]Scarlet's Haunted Hotel[/i]? If you're a time management fan, you're looking for a dark-themed, mystery story, and/or you enjoy obtaining those Steam achievements, then this game is totally worth checking out. It's perfect for the upcoming Halloween holiday or any time that you're in the mood for something dark, scary, and/or mysterious. ^^ [quote]For more detailed, fully complete, high quality reviews like this, please follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url], prioritizing heart and soul always. ^^[/quote]

[b]You’d think ghosts would be a tad more helpful rather than messing with my sleep.[/b] In Scarlet’s Haunted Hotel, we open up to a family on a ferry heading to an island. This family is one that we’ll be following throughout the game as we’re first introduced to Scarlet, who shares the name with the game’s title, her lawyer husband Charles, and their son Ian. Scarlet recently got a letter from her Great Aunt Maud, who she actually hasn’t seen (and possibly hasn’t communicated with) since she was five. So her family is taking a small little weekend vacation to visit her and stay at her hotel. It’ll be great for her and her husband to have a little break and good for their son to get some of that fresh sea air. Though, little did they know, this little vacation is going to change everything. I have some thoughts for the story here, that’s for sure. I do think it has an interesting premise, started out well, and I liked parts of it; but it overall was a bit disappointing. I think part of it was due to me already having expectations in mind, but I also don’t think the story is well executed. It does start out good, like I mentioned already, but it just drops down a cliff. I think the easiest way I can describe it is a bad melodrama. One that you can’t stop watching cause the reveals are pretty crazy, but also one that is somehow also boring. For the latter, I just didn’t really care for the romance subplot and I just didn’t care for most of the dialogue being the characters arguing. I also felt that there was just too much packed into the game. The story definitely needed to be ironed out, more levels, longer cutscenes, or just have some story aspects reworked or taken out entirely. The ending was also pretty underwhelming. Not in a sense of unresolved plotlines, I’m pretty sure all the mysteries the game presents were revealed and I did actually like the game ending in a “I wonder what’s going to happen next…”, but just the outro. The outro just left me thinking “Wait…what?” and when I rewatched it I went “Wait…that’s it?” out loud. I’m pretty baffled at the outro cutscene as it was really unsatisfying. I also felt this game just had the weakest reason for the characters serving customers. Especially the levels where Ian was the server. Also I was a bit disappointed with the haunted aspect. It was interesting how it went with the “is it or is it not haunted?” route in retrospect*, but I thought ghosts would have had a more prominent presence. I also did find some inconsistencies with the time period this game was set it, which did take me out of the story. [code]💜 Check out a more in-depth review at [url=https://witchsreviewcorner.com/2026/01/21/scarlets-haunted-hotel-review/]Witch’s Review Corner[/url] 💜 [/code] Now onto the gameplay! If you’ve played any Gamehouse time management game, you’ll already be familiar with it. If you’re not, don’t worry, it’s pretty easy to understand and get the hang of. Every level starts and ends with a story cutscene, with the meat of the game being the time management goodness of serving customers (or hotel guests in this one). Your shift starts once the level does and customers will start walking in and either going to a counter or a table depending on what they want. Once seated or at the counter, they’ll take a bit time to think on what they want before telling you and all you need to do is to click on the item to make Scarlet (or Ian or whoever you’re controlling in that level) to pick it up and then click on the customer to give it to them. Some customers may only want one item, but a lot will want more than one and luckily you can carry a handful of items at a time so you can do full orders. Once a customer has their full order, the ones at the counter can be checked out right away while the ones at the table will take their time before going to the counter to be checked out. You do need to clean the tables so the next person or group wanting to use it can sit down. Some areas also have what I’ll call “To Go Orders” where all you have to do is give them the item and you’ll get the points. One area is even built on it being more or less “To Go Orders” as there’s no check out counter. There’s also minigames, which each area sadly only has one of. The minigames go with the area and are easy to do, like the Hall having you click to clean up the mess guests left behind in their rooms or the Reception having you sort mail. The level continues with hotel guests coming in and the level ends when the shift ends (which you can see how much longer it is by the clock) and the last customer is checked out. How many guests that come in, what they order, and how frequently depends per level and you’ll get points for everything you do. There’s also the usual side objectives per episode and a raven statue you can find (which replaces Carl the Mouse, but this time it’s in the level from start to finish). As always, I enjoyed the time management goodness here in Scarlet’s Haunted Hotel. The difficulty also felt like it was at a good place and ramped up gradually. I wished there were more minigames, but they were good as well and the only one I had trouble with was the Library minigame where it can be a bit unwieldy. I also had a lot of fun here, despite it being more on the basic side, as I juggled all the orders and other tasks. It still felt rewarding as well seeing that I managed to get all 5 diamonds. I did like all the different areas of the hotel as well and how it did try to mix it up a bit between areas. I surprisingly ended up completing this game in one day rather than in a couple days like I was planning to. I still recommend taking a break every so often so you don’t get burnt out on it, but I think it helped that I took a break from Gamehouse games as I didn’t feel like I needed a break. There was also only one achievement that you’ll probably need to grind for, which is really nice. However, I do think there was lost potential here with the ghost levels. It would have been the perfect time to be a little bit ambitious and turn the minigames on their heads. I probably wouldn’t be mentioning this if they didn’t do it for one minigame, as the whole spooky vibe and the changes to the models to make them ghosts was enough for me. The minigame for the Hall location has different visuals as it’s normal during normal levels, but it’s spooky during the ghost levels. Being the first minigame you do in the game, it did get my hopes up only for me to realize that it was the only minigame that has a difference between normal and ghost levels. It was just really weird, especially since it was a good idea. It would have been nice if the other minigames had different visuals too or, even better, required you to do something different (turning it on its head) or replacing it with a different minigame. Though just making it spookier is enough considering there’s not that many ghost levels. [h1]Verdict[/h1] Despite finding the story here disappointing and boring, I did have a good time with Scarlet’s Haunted Hotel. So much that I ended up completing the game faster than I thought I would. I’d say if you like the time management gameplay that Gamehouse games have, don’t mind the possibility of not liking the story, and don’t mind the haunted aspect not being as prevalent as you probably expect; it’s worth picking up on sale. Heck, I’d even say it’s worth picking up for the gameplay alone as it’s pretty addicting and gives you a nice challenge. And maybe a bit for the crazy reveals and the aspects of the story that was done well. [code]💜 Check out my other reviews at [url=https://witchsreviewcorner.com]Witch’s Review Corner[/url] or visit my Curator[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/28714255/] The Witch’s Corner![/url] 💜 [/code]

It's such a nice time management game with a stand-alone spooky story. It takes around 10 hours to complete and has no missable achievements. [b]Approximate amount of time to 100%:[/b] 10h [b]Estimated achievement difficulty:[/b] 2/10 [b]Minimum number of playthroughs needed:[/b] 1 [b]Is there a good guide available:[/b] You don't need a guide [b]Multiplayer achievements:[/b] No [b]Missable achievements:[/b] No [b]Grinding Achievements:[/b] No [b]DLC-Only achievements:[/b] No [b]Speedrun achievements:[/b] No [b]Time-gated achievements:[/b] No [b]RNG-achievements:[/b] No [b]Does difficulty affect achievements:[/b] No, you can play on easy [b]Unobtainable/glitched achievements:[/b] No Scarlet's Haunted Hotel is a time management game in which you complete orders from guests of the hotel. There are around 5 different locations you'll visit in this hotel, each location has unique items the guests can order as well as different mini-games. This game has a great story. What I love about Scarlet's Haunted Hotel is that it is a standalone story. You don't need prior knowledge about any of the GameHouse games to enjoy this story. The story is a bit more spooky and deals with the subject of "death", so it is for a mature audience. Another thing I love about all Gamehouses/ SQRT3 games is that you can play on the easiest difficulty and still unlock all of the achievements. Very nice in case this is your first time management game or if you just prefer to play the game on easy. None of the achievements are missable and if you miss something, you can check to see what you're missing and go back to that specific level. The only thing I needed time to get used to is that in this game you have to search for a raven in each level, but the raven doesn't make any sound. It seems that the previous GameHouse games trained me so much to search for something popping up when I hear a sound that in some levels I just forgot to check for the Raven. Never played a time management game? I highly recommend starting with this one. I give Scarlet's Haunted Hotel 4 out of 5 stars. [code]If you like this review, feel free to check out my website: [url=https://www.missitheachievementhuntress.com/]Missi the Achievement Huntress: Reviews & guides[/url][/code]

It was a good game. I just wish the ending was better. It leaves you hanging.

A really cool game with a great story which hooks you from start to finish. It has one of the best stories in the TMG Genre that i have ever come across. The levels and locations are really cool and well made. The mood iis eerie and dark and really fits the whole ambience. One achievement is not really well balanced but that is just a minor problem. The bonus rooms and the difficulty is pretty easy on mormal. All in one a really cool game and i hope there will be more like this in the future. I can really highly recommend it

This game was equivalent to a "break time" for me from the Delicious game series. While this one appears to be simpler than the Delicious series themselves, it still has some interesting aspects to offer. For one, you can check out an infinite amount of customers at once. Lol. As long as they are paying/ready to leave. There are mini-games in different areas of the house. They are VERY short and just add to the score/something to do. Lastly: The game is relatively easy. Easy *only* if you played other versions of Time Management games such as these. The customers all have patient levels of saints and it takes up until the end of the Timer to actually run all the hearts out completely. YEP! There aren't many items/variations to work with... So you wont be confused nor rushed. Rarely if anything. Challenges/Raven finds are all incredibly easy as well. I believe this game was catered more towards a Casual gamer. Or perhaps a younger gamer? Now, what made me acquire the game in the first place: the story of the supernatural. Did it deliver? Well... It was alright. The twists were nice, but... It felt like most of the time people just stood there and argued/complained. I know they had to fill two cinematics per level... All 120 of them... But there was less supernatural and more just... Humans being humans. *shrugs* The ending was also... Eh? It just ends without a true resolution and in confusion. Also, there is an item in a Garden which you acquire early on: lavender (or heather?) and the customers will NEVER order it... Until the final stages of the Garden itself. Funny how things get programmed. Overall: It works better if you are here just to chill/do Casual gaming and don't really need a potent/engaging story... Or just to take a break from other stuffs... I suppose.

New to these time management games and this one hooked me completely! The art is so detailed, the story really interesting, and the game well built where you can go back and revisit the story parts without having to redo the levels. So nice! The devs really went all out making a high quality game. The story has some good twists and turns and the game itself is challenging but not crazy hard, with multiple difficulty settings if you need to turn it up or down. Even the music is good. Give it a try!

Another fantastic installment! Loved the music and the storyline. I always look forward to when one of these drops, I finished it in less than 24 hours!

La verdad es un juego que me ha sorprendido, los giros que ocurren sobre todo. Después de mucho un juego que me ha atrapado de principio a fin, y más por el don de Scarlet. Lo recomiendo realmente.

An enjoyable time management game with a interesting story. Miss when you could buy upgrades like some of the other Gamehouse stories but a definite buy.