The Hotel

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A forgotten hotel, a few bullets and the old survival horror rules.

Platforms: PC, Mac
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (84% of 144 reviews)
Players: 1
Made by: IL PALA
Released: 2022

What frightens A couple on vacation end up in a dark, forgotten hotel full of zombies and other creatures; behind fixed camera angles and with very little ammo, you creep through bloodstained rooms, flooded service tunnels and decayed bedrooms, never sure what waits past the next door.
Content: gore, violence, blood.

The Hotel is a classic-style survival horror game by IL PALA, with tank controls, fixed camera angles and scarce ammo. Alex and Judie end up in a dark, forgotten hotel overrun by zombies and other creatures, and must solve its puzzles and find weapons to escape. Finish Alex's route to unlock Judie's.

About The Hotel

The Hotel was made by the independent developer IL PALA and released on Steam in November 2022, for Windows and Mac. It is a deliberate return to the survival horror of the late 1990s: tank controls, fixed camera angles, limited weapons and ammunition. Alex and Judie are on vacation when fate leads them to a dark and forgotten hotel, and they soon find it full of zombies and other creatures.

The hotel has almost 90 rooms to explore, from a lobby of leather sofas to bloodstained bathrooms, back corridors and the service tunnels below. Progress comes through puzzles, some easy and some tricky, and through hints and items you find along the way. Your ammo is limited, so each fight is a choice, and the fixed camera often hides what is around the corner.

You first play as Alex. Finishing his route unlocks Judie, who plays through a slightly different version of the story. Choices along the way unlock costumes for both characters.

The Hotel suits players who miss the original Resident Evil games and want a new one built the same way, with modern 3D visuals. It supports Xbox, PlayStation and 8BitDo controllers on PC.

How to play The Hotel

Start as Alex and explore the hotel room by room, checking each fixed camera view for items.
Pick up every weapon, round of ammo and hint you find; supplies are limited.
Solve the hotel's puzzles to open new areas and move the story on.
Decide when to fight a zombie and when to walk around it to save ammo.
Finish Alex's route to unlock Judie's slightly different version of the story.

Screenshots

Alex shines a flashlight in a bloodstained hotel bathroom, a body in an orange jacket hanging over a stall door

A bloody figure faces Judie on a metal catwalk in a dim service tunnel, a body on the floor between them

Alex stands in a dim hotel lobby between two leather sofas under a round mirror

A decayed hotel bedroom with peeling green walls, a dressing table and an open wardrobe

Tips

Tank controls take a few minutes to learn; practise turning and backing away before the first fights.
Note locked doors and puzzles you cannot solve yet, and come back once you find the hint or item.
A controller helps; the game supports Xbox, PlayStation and 8BitDo pads.