CyberGirlAsia

Welcoming 2008 from Hotel Dusk

It was one of those games that I heard great things about, bought, started, then set aside for months. I was too busy feeding my New Super Mario Bros. addiction, after all.

This New Year’s Eve, however, I partied much too much, and found myself in bed with a cold, a bad cough, no voice, and not enough energy to time my little Mario’s jumps. I decided to give Hotel Dusk: Room 215 another chance… and, boy, I’m glad I did.

In this detective-type game, you are Kyle Hyde, an ex-New York cop with a Past. Yes, that’s a past with a capital P. Kyle is now a salesman, checking into the run-down Hotel Dusk. The whole game takes place on one night in December 1979, with a cast of characters full of secrets of their own. From the Amazon description:

“Hotel Dusk uses branching storylines to tell its tale, giving you many options for how to go about solving the mystery. Should you strong-arm a suspicious stranger in the hallway? Be friendly to the hotel maid? Pretend to be interested in the manager’s rambling stories? It’s all up to you, but choose wisely. One false step could get you thrown out of the hotel and forever seal the mystery of what happened on that dark Christmas eve so many years ago.”

Needless to say, I am no longer sick in bed, but I haven’t stopped playing Hotel Dusk. This, with it’s a-ha “Take on Me”-esque art, its crazy characters, and its plot and subplot twists and turns, is why I haven’t been blogging. Even as I work, I’m haunted by questions about the story: the girl in the picture to the left, for example, is freaky as hell. She doesn’t speak, just nods and stares at bad paintings on the hotel walls. Who is she?

I’ve just gotten to Chapter 5, and loving every moment of it. If you got a DS this Christmas, go and buy this game. You won’t regret it:

Buy from Amazon (USA): Hotel Dusk: Room 215

Buy from Play Asia (for Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, and other Asian countries): Hotel Dusk or the original Japanese version, Wish Room.