The Murder Hotel

As of the time of writing this review the True Ending was in a beta branch, and may be slightly different in the full update. The Murder Hotel is a game with a lot of broken promises, yet despite that it was still a lot of fun to read through and solve it's mysteries. I'll start with what I mean about 'broken promises'. The game presents a lot of ideas in the first chapter with how you investigate and the time you'll have to do it, however the following chapters are all almost completely different in how the investigations are done that it feels that as a player you are being lied to about how the game will progress. In the end I think that this was the correct decision given how overwhelming chapter 1's investigation is, but I digress. It's a good game despite that, with fun characters and writing (even though some characters are pretty much ignored throughout, and the early game romance where over half the female cast are desperately in love with the protagonist is not great to put it lightly) and overall the murder mystery's themselves are good in their own right. Though, (minor spoilers) [spoiler] the game did feel pretty arrogant with how it presented some clues with lines su…

There are criticisms to be made, but it doesn't stop the game from being enjoyable to play.

I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I think you can see a bit of the timeline within the game of how the developers worked on it during production, as some parts that were less fun showed up less and less over time. While this can make a few parts somewhat disjointed, the overall story is fun, characters are (mostly) interesting, and the mysteries are fun to figure out while still being challenging. Its also a pretty good price for its length (mine was a bit longer as I was wandering around a bit and replayed a few sections, but a bit over 20 hours seems right for a good length).

This was such a wonderful love letter to the mystery genre. Particularly as an Umineko fan, this was such a treat to play. I do wish there was a bit more active gameplay in the later half of the game, but I found the story engaging enough that I was still completely locked in anyway.

Very intriguing game. Don't be discouraged at the beginning. It takes a bit to get going but then it picks up the pace and turns into an intriguing ride. I thin I am going to do a second run soon. There are so many things to miss on the first try...

A unique mystery-adventure game sure to appeal to fans of Umineko, Ace Attorney, and other similar mystery games. TMH is a great collection of interactive murder mysteries with thrilling argumentation segments that stand out due to an interesting premise that has you not necessarily searching for the truth (with the exact goal varying by chapter). The courtroom segments are easily the highlight and I loved how you were given multiple ways to approach them with different theories and counterarguments (though sadly you have less of this freedom as the game progresses). These are clearly inspired by the logic battles from Umineko, with a bit of Ace Attorney contradiction-finding and it hits the same great highs as both of its inspirations. Coming out of this game, I'm honestly dying for more of this and would love a sequel for this part alone. The game has fun characters with a ton of referential dialogue sure to get some laughs out of fans of all things mystery (whether it be book, game, film, or TV), but also has some genuinely heartfelt moments that manage to work despite the usually comical tone. I also enjoyed how the cast came from a variety of European cultures (for the huma…