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Ooh boy, a sim/management game! I have a weakness for these types of games dating back to the good days of RCT, Theme Park, Theme Hospital, and so on.

So this looks and plays much like the Two Point games, in where you create rooms in your hotel, fill it up with props, assign some staff and have them at it. The interesting part here is that instead of immediately building the necessary rooms and placing the props, you actually have to call for construction workers to come and execute the job for you.

This approach adds a fun layer to expanding your hotel or building some props, as you actually have to plan construction jobs with the workers being paid by the hour. Calling in 2 workers is free, but if you call in larger groups, there's an upfront cost making expanding and renovating a more challenging (and also fulfilling) element of the game. It also makes it a bit more realistic, as you can't just magically make walls, flooring and wallpaper appear out of thin air. You really have to wait until some worker finishes it for you.

You can fill your hotel with restaurants, kitchens, gyms, communal bathrooms and of course bedrooms, and the amount of customization (especially for a demo) is quite insane. There's so many options to decorating and placing props that you can really make every hotel a unique place. Really cool for those who like to get creative.

As for criticisms, I will admit the game is a bit slow-paced, but at least you can fast forward time to make up for this. Also sometimes you don't really have a good grasp of what's working and what's not; so you just gotta trial & error sometimes to figure out if you're actually doing well. Also, the NPCs' visual design is somewhat of a sore thumb. They are kinda just eggs with a head, and it distracted me from an otherwise pleasant experience.

Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1602000/Hotel_Architect/

Website: https://hotelarchitectgame.com/

Refreshing to see a developer support the creative use of their IP instead of engaging lawyers and DCMA.

Total Chaos Steam store page

Finally got my mitts on Nightdive Studio's 2024 remaster of Doom!

And I'm happy to report that it is Doom in every way that matters. It looks spectacular in HD while still looking like Doom.

The controls, especially with WASD, feel great. At the same time, this still feels like Doom.

The music? Still one of the greatest soundtracks of all time, and sounds pristine.

Even now, the level design with Doom is fantastic. It holds up even now. It's stood the test of time for a damn good reason.

This game has a 96% positive rating on Steam, which means that Nightdive definitely did something right.

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The opening cinematic did a nice job of setting the tone of the game. It's the summer of 1980 in Texas, and you're in charge of a pair of survivors trying to make it through a zombie apocalypse. Your goal is to manage your safe house, scavenge for supplies and complete "leads" quests which seem mostly to be environmental storytelling moments. The gameplay alternates between day and night, where you queue up tasks for your survivors to perform.

Scavenging is a key part of the game, and while it's engaging, it can feel a bit limiting. For example, I was specifically hunting for cloth to build a medical station, but I kept coming up empty. Because of this all my survivors were low health and I had no way of actually healing them.

The reason they were low health is because the combat is not very enjoyable or interesting. You can sneak up on a zombie and insta-kill (insta-re-kill?) them but if you're facing one, you just hit 'm a few times until they are down, while they get some hits on you. Weapons would also break way too soon, so you're constantly at risk of having no weapon. Some balancing is definitely required, still.

Back at the shelter, you tend to your characters by cooking meals, repairing barricades, and giving them time to rest and relax. All to make sure they are healthy and sane enough to go on another scavenge run and keep on surviving.

The game heavily reminds me of This War of Mine, which is a game where you have to survive in a war-torn environment, both in mechanics, UI and general vibes. Into the Dead is a bit more combat heavy and it doesn't have the same emotional impact. (Sidenote: if you've never played TWoM, go pick it up. Games are art, and TWoM is one of those).

Where it is different is mostly the combat and exploration mechanics, and I am unsure if those differences are actually interesting enough to keep playing. All things considered, it mostly just made me want to play This War of Mine again.

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