The Murder Hotel

One of the best indie games I've played in a long time. Every character has their own unique voice, to the point where you wouldn't even need to see their sprites to tell them apart. The murders are difficult to figure out, especially the truth behind them, but it scratched an itch I didn't realize I had. The references are incredible and always made me laugh. Great job intergrating most of them. If you like Umineko, Ace Attorney, and perhaps RPG Maker style games, then I know this is the game for you. But even if you don't, the demo is free. Give it a shot.

上記の画像を見て分かる通り、日本語の翻訳は微妙。 しかも何故か終盤に向かうにつれて翻訳が酷くなっていく（一人称のぶれや、突然の女口調等機械翻訳お馴染みのあれ） それでもお勧めにしたのは、ストーリーが面白いから。途中で某裁判ゲームや弾丸論破の話が出てきたし、そういった推理ゲームが好きな人には刺さるかも。 かく言う自分もその一人。なんだかんだ時間を見つけては一気にプレイしてしまった。 ただしファンタジー要素強め。最低限ノックスの十戒は守られているけど、[spoiler]メタ的にそれを利用しなければならない場面も多い。 [/spoiler]神話に精通している人はより楽しめそう。 機械翻訳の所為なのか、突拍子もない発現が散見されて最初はとっつきにくく感じたが、慣れてくるとどのキャラクターにも愛着がわいてくる不思議。メインヒロインの事も最初は全然可愛いと思えなかったのに、最後には大好きになってた。 システムも面白いと思うんだけど翻訳の所為で難易度が無駄に上がっている。 ヒントを見ても分からないときは、一度英語に戻して質問してみることをお勧めします。

I'm not sure if there are multiple routes to this game as mentioned, or how many of those have been implemented into the full game, as I just finished my first playthrough. However, I guarantee I had a really fun time with the game overall. While not perfect. the Murder Hotel was a delightful fun time, and I'd love to keep exploring this world further, with a promised update. So, the Pros and Cons. Pros: -The graphics are rather nice. Of course, they're in an 'RPG Maker' style, with pixel art, mostly simplistic environments and more, but the character portraits, their visual identity and more are rather fun. I liked what is presented, knowing about the limitations that often come with narrative-first games. -Soundtrack: The soundtrack was a delight. Very nice songs, that enhance most of the scenes they've been in, and help to immerse myself in the setting. I really enjoyed it. -Plotline up to the middle of chapter 4: The premise is very interesting, and the characters are very fun! The protagonist is very well-written, and many of the side characters that you meet up on all cases are so unique and fun that I wanted to spend more time with them. -The cases themselves: As a good chaptered murder mystery, you have different acts/chapters, each one with a different case. The premise seems to be very much focused on locked room mysteries, but each one of those was set up rather uniquely, and even if not revolutionary, the manner you unravel them all is a highlight to the game itself. Now the cons: -Rushed endgame: Be from the lack of a 'true ending' as it stands, or be with problems with development from promises of deliveries, the end of chapter 4, the final chapter, felt... weaker than the rest of the game. While some plot points were fun to answer, it felt lacking compared to the rest of the plot, and the ending itself was rather anticlimactic. Maybe another revision of the final case, with its culprit(s) being more built up during the game, and the final debate being harder and also more... engaging, would be good. -Rushed relationships: Be from the setting or more, something that was a bit shocking in the hotel is how... well, the main character has unmatched levels of Rizz. I played this with my friends watching me and I can say that a common joke was how everyone in the hotel wanted to sleep with us. And in plotline, we've been together for like 2-3 days. It wasn't a big issue as some of the relationships (especially with two specific girls in the cast) were well-written if you bought into the premise that 'we are skipping the stuff about meeting each other' -Some plot beyond the cases: Of course, there is an overall narrative, but in some aspects, it does get a bit confusing and overwhelming. Some of the plot points that come up beyond the cases, and a few of the characters that were introduced for the more demon heavy plotline were a bit... much. Also another thing that is hurt by the lack of the true ending, but still. Overall, given where I wanted this game to go, I'd give it a solid 8.5/10, with does very much get my recomendation, I'd love to see the few issues I had with the plot and pacing solved a bit, especially the final chapter, but beyond that, it's still very much a fun time, especially if you've played other games of the genre, especially Ace Attorney and Danganronpa and you've enjoyed them.

O jogo é verdadeiramente bom. A premissa e as mecânicas são interessantíssimas e desde o começo era uma história que apresentava muito potencial. Os mistérios são bem elaborados e coerentes, além das soluções serem interessantes. Tem alguns personagens muito interessantes aos quais o jogador consegue se apegar ao longo da história. É uma experiência diferente que vale bastante a pena!

⭐ Absolute Empfehlung für Grusel - & Mystery-Fans! ⭐ The Murder Hotel ist ein richtig hammermäßiges Spiel, das mich von Anfang an komplett gepackt hat. Die düstere Atmosphäre im Hotel ist extrem gut umgesetzt – man fühlt sich ständig unwohl und angespannt, genau so, wie es bei einem Grusel-Mystery-Game sein soll. Besonders gefallen haben mir die Rätsel und die Beweissuche. Man muss wirklich aufmerksam sein, Hinweise sammeln, kombinieren und mitdenken. Nichts fühlt sich sinnlos an, und jedes gefundene Detail trägt zur Story bei. Die Rätsel sind gut ausbalanciert: fordernd, aber nie unfair. Auch die Story ist spannend aufgebaut und sorgt dafür, dass man immer weiterspielen will. Das Spiel schafft es, Spannung, Grusel und Detektivarbeit perfekt zu verbinden. Man merkt einfach, wie viel Liebe zum Detail hier drinsteckt. Ich hatte richtig viel Spaß mit The Murder Hotel und konnte es kaum aus der Hand legen. Für alle, die Horror mit cleveren Rätseln und Ermittlungsarbeit mögen, ist das Spiel ein absolutes Muss. Klare Kaufempfehlung! 🔥🩸

Amazing game, had a lot of fun with it and couldn't put it down. It makes no secret that it's heavily inspired by Umineko as well as Danganronpa and Ace Attorney, but it brings a lot of originality and defies genre expectations right off the bat. Great story, characters, music, visuals, gameplay, everything. There was a lot more to it than I usually expect from an indie VN, and I was always excited to play it. The main con is that it's essentially incomplete, which unfortunately I didn't realize until I finished it, so set expectations accordingly. There is an ending and the murder mysteries will be solved, but many if not most of the major overarching plot points have no resolution yet until future updates. I'd also say the second half of the game feels a little rushed--some cool game mechanics from the first half are left out, the narrative pacing gets harder to keep up with and bypasses some important explanations here and there, and a couple more rounds of proofreading are needed. Overall, I think the game just needs a bit more time as of writing this. If you're interested but this paragraph worries you, I'd at least wishlist it for now. One other gripe: it's one of those stories where almost every female character is flirtatious and immediately in love with the protagonist. I'm a romance lover, but it loses all meaning this way, and it's just not a good way to write women. The endgame romance was great and was maturely written when it needed to be, I just wish the game had more consistently stuck with it throughout instead of first jumping through all the obligatory flings and jealous squabbles. Every game has cons and I think they're worth mentioning in the review in case they're a dealbreaker for anyone, but overall, this game memorably stands out in the genre and brings a lot of new things to the table, and I'm definitely glad I played it.

A well-written mystery story with lots of twists and turns. Some events at the beginning did not have as much significance as I expected and there were quite a few plot points I was confused about by the end, but the future update with the true ending will hopefully solve this issue. The murder mysteries were fun to solve and I found the overarching mystery to be interesting. There were some minor pacing problems (not finding certain clues in certain segments and not letting me continue) but these were a minor annoyance at worst. The game has a surprisingly spooky atmosphere at times that I did not expect but it was a welcome surprise. Finally, if you are well-versed in German literature, you might get even more out of this but it is not a requirement for enjoying the game :)

Finished my first run in about 12 hours, can't wait to see the secret/happy ending At first I feared there would be some kind of horror in this game, fortunately this element is kept minimal throughout the game. All in all it is great game with an amazing story, charming characters and music. I will definitely recommend this game to others who love Ace Attorney. Below I will summarize some pros and cons from my point of view. Plot: + A decent suspense story about a man trapped inside a weird hotel and forced to win 4 court sessions involving murders. + The cases are difficult to solve. The true culprit is a real mastermind. + The humor is really good +- The thought of "framing" somebody to win the case concerned me initially, but I guess "who dunnit" is not the most important thing here. +- The romance makes up a large portion in late game. Not that I don't want to see it but it's a little bit too much in my opinion (particularly ch.4) - Many things not explained in the current ending Characters: + WICKIE is the BEST. This is a Blue Statement. + The graphics and the chibi characters are adorable. I was always surprised when I saw new portrait variations. +- The game creators clearly favor female characters over male ones. While there are many memorable interactions with Wickie, Klara, Vilhelmine and Elspeth, less attention is paid on the male characters. In fact I barely remember the name of the boys except for Gereld. **Not that I hate this but this may be a concern for others** Game design + Concrete evidence gathering, interrogation and cross-examining. The developers knows what we want. + Free roam for most of the time + The gameplay does not repeat. There are always some new elements in each chapter. - The paper word system is not bad, but only the first two chapter used it. - Late game is more linear than the previous chapters. - The game should allow player to check all evidences and timeline during the court session. - The game could add a backlog function that can be recalled anytime, as sometimes I need to trigger a conversation to see the backlog. - You can proceed the story even you didn't figure out all mysteries of the murder. Others: + Multiple references with Ace Attorney. I personally like the one with the attorney badge most :) + I don't mind the age rating goes up a little.

Very unsatisfying conclusion after a promising first half of the game.

In its current form, I strongly recommend this game. It contains a lot of homage to its inspirations [Umineko, Danganronpa, and Ace Attorney most obviously] and has a well-crafted series of mystery cases to solve. The ending appears to be a cliff hanger, which I hope gets a new game based off of it. There are a few minor issues I have, specifically relating to the inclusion of an interesting questioning mechanic where you use words to produce questions you can ask the other characters. It works in the context of the game, but it's quite clunky and poorly explained [you don't have to create a maximum length sentence (and need to to get clues) but this is never explained, for example], and disappears entirely after the 2nd case. That being said, I do have one point of contention: the game being sold as complete when it wasn't. That's now been fixed [as the full release just went into beta] but on release, as a complete game, one of the routes [and the main route, being an extra full chapter in length and content] was not done, but this was not stated anywhere in the game description or game itself until you reached the route branch and were told it wasn't in the game yet. This felt deceptive but we're past that now.