The Hidden Art of Innkeeping

The Hidden Art of Innkeeping is a fantastic sequel to the previous game, The Lost Art of Innkeeping, and my introduction to management simulation games. After your character goes on vacation and has a less than stellar experience at the local inn, you find out that a local village has an old farmhouse that has slowly been falling into ruin. In the biggest power move one could make, you decide to buy the farmhouse and create competition for the nearby hotel by taking your acquisition from rags to riches. The gameplay and story of the the game is very similar to the previous game and those that have played it and enjoyed it will find that same enjoyment here with new challenges. You can play a standard game of 30 days, or a more casual game of 40 days to repay the loan you receive at the beginning of the game. Throughout the standard management of running an inn, you will also interact with the villagers who will provide you with opportunities to offer new amenities to guests, upgrade your hotel, and complete little side quests for them. A few of these quests can also be completed a few different ways, and experimentation is encouraged. To obtain every possible achievement in the game, you will have to play two complete playthroughs to the end. The art of the game is simple and effective proving once again why I love indie titles. The game features multiple instances of hand crafted paintings that are added to your establishment that offer the game that extra personal touch. Similarly the music of the game while it didn't stick with me long after finishing the game, provided a calming game experience without feeling repetitive or out of place. I loved that towards the end of the game, there were functions that allowed booking rooms to be easier along with other upgrades you could choose to invest in, or not. Not only were there multiple amenities to choose from by the end of the game, there were also numerous cuisine options including vegetarian options to choose from. When it came to the rooms, like the previous game you could customize rooms to suit your customer's tastes. In addition to this, you could also acquire special additions/upgrades through special guests that stay at your inn. This plays an important mechanic as you upgrade your inn and meet your quest goals. The game also provides visual cues for room/area transitions and an easy to follow tutorial that you can access at any point in the game after viewing it for the first time. The Hidden Art of Innkeeping continues to build off of its predecessor and is another great recommendation in the cozy management sim genre for me. I don't play many games in this genre and this game has found the balance between a growing quest system to expand the world, and a management system that didn't feel restrictive when doing the expert innkeeper achievement. A heavy recommendation for those looking for a cozy management simulator with a feel good story about bringing people together, and watching your surroundings grow as your establishment also grows.

I thought this was a wonderful game. The first was amazing and definitely vital to this one, but both so worth it. There's so many achievements to get, so many choices you get to make and *so* much to play. I don't have anything bad to say about this, except maybe it should be more expensive because it's for sure worth more!!

fun casual game, I played this game on another account and its fun to see how many things they have added to the story progression

Fun game, fairly simple but definitely entertaining!

This is simple and charming. Or perhaps it is simply charming. I was charmed. (But hopefully not simple...)

Great game, just as fun as the original, with even more replayability.

Super fun and wholesome <3 <3 <3