Looking for a new place to stay, I am sure I can create something to your liking in Hotel Architect. A new management sim where we design large or scaled hotels, all while trying to keep everything moving smoothly. The game has just left its early access and is officially in 1.0! So if you love management sims, then you will find it on Steam for £25.99. Maybe looking for something different? Why not check my review for Sintopia
Hope you enjoyed your stay.
Gameplay
In campaign mode, each level will give you a task for you to fulfil, which will unlock the next destination. There are bonus objectives also for the player to work towards that will provide new items. And for those players who aim for perfection, you can work towards each hotel being 5 stars. Just like any other management sim, Hotel Architect has many menus and stats for the player to watch and manage. One being keeping your staff happy with raises or various improvements around the hotel. Such as cleaner zones, coffee breaks, and appeal, which also aid in increasing the hotel’s reputation when a Critic comes visiting.
Staff members are also able to gain experience over time, which will lead to trait slots becoming available. This allows players to give the staff new traits to further benefit the hotel. Any nasty traits you get, like stealing, only seem to come from the hiring stage, from what I noticed. Now, the actual guests who attend will have their own theme and decorating your hotel around these themes will draw in specific crowds. Do this by placing specific decorations, furniture, and even changing what the restaurant will serve, which will help in luring in your desired customers.
Upgrades
With each new hotel scenario, you gain another tier of upgrades for you to unlock. Unfortunately, upgrades in Hotel Architect don’t carry over between levels, so you do have to earn them again. To actually earn points for upgrades, players need to have certain guests check in. For example, tier 3 upgrades will need a sunbather or bratty guest. While tier 1 needs backpackers. A good few items are for the betterment of furniture, which will speed up workflow or increase the hotel’s rating. With later upgrades giving a new staff position, like the Bellhop, and new types of rooms such as a bar, gym, or sauna.
Graphics & Audio
Hotel Architect is full of fun and pep. The twinkly, chirpy music is very reminiscent of the Sims 3 neighbourhood and build mode music. While the tutorial character speaks in English, the in-game characters all speak some kind of gibberish. The characters have a Play-Doh style look with bobble bodies and floating hands. It’s also choc full of bright colours and quirky furnishings, especially depending on the themes of each hotel. One fun feature I enjoyed is that you can create a custom worker. You can choose their entire look, voice, traits and even job. You can hire them in-game later, and I think it could be heaps of fun to create a couple of fun workers.
Longevity
The length of the game comes down to just how much fun the individual wants out of it. There are 37 achievements to collect, with most of these being centred around beating the game and reaching 5 stars on all levels. While others are for doing things like capturing a ghost or having a guest freeze. And just like you would find in most management sim games, Hotel Architect offers a sandbox mode, so you can build the hotel of your dreams.
Final Thoughts
I found Hotel Architect a little easier to wrap my head around compared to other management sims. I liked making and decorating rooms, although it was tricky to actually get my desired quests. I also struggled to keep the happiness level up for both staff and guests. The hotel does become chaotic rather quickly without having a way to slow down the influx of customers. That is what usually messes up my play-throughs, but that is all part of the fun when it comes to these games. A good thing this game has is zoning, It makes it easier to visualise each section I create.
If I could suggest something, maybe more filters on the furniture, so that we can focus on certain customers. It gets tedious having to hover over each item and see who prefers what. It may seem small, but when you try doing a whole refurb to tailor your hotel, it becomes tricky.
Hotel Architect’s campaign allows the player to learn more at their own pace. All while not holding your hand so much that you are spoon-fed. Take the start of the game, you get a nice and easy run down, then level two just says “oh yeah you need a bar now.” I did enjoy doing the level objectives. If you are looking for a new sim, then Hotel Architect is a good first choice, so it’s the Thumb Culture Silver Award from me.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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