VN - Ren'Py - Harem Hotel [v0.17.2] [Runey]

love the rare yandere character Ashley dont see many of them in games and i just lose the character also love the masochist maid Lin really makes me want to punish her lol plus amazing amount of content for a first release if every update is like this then will quickly become one of my favourite developers

I am really enjoying this game. I like the art, the models, the story, and the premise.
Lin is absolutely adorable- shy, demure, and sweet.
Ashley is cute and equally bat-shit crazy.
Kali has a rebellious, nerdy, flirty attitude- she's a li'l cutie as well.
Maria- is spicy and a bit of a wildcard.
I like the interactions that they have with one another as well as the MC.

+ n1 game, "First content is amazing"
+ rly n1 chars, "first 4 Chars full of extra"
- need better rendings "bad renderings sometimes, but it isnt rly bad"
5 Stars "my first review"
I hope the dev, bring with next version next floor, and more Items, new Clothes

The following review is based on the 0.1 version.

Strolling along on the forums, I came across this little game and it managed to peak my interest, so I decided to give it a go. A few hours later, I can definately say that I am glad to have checked it out.
The game doesn't try to re-invent the wheel with its story or gameplay, but it still manages to be very entertaining and seems to find a decent balance between grind & reward, even if the grind can feel a bit tedious at times.

So, let us dive into the good and bad of this game.

---------
GOOD:
---------

- Visuals: This is definately one of the best looking games I have tried, which is based on Honey Select. Sometimes the models looks better than many DAZ characters I have seen, which is to be commended.

- Character personalities: The game currently offers 4 girls available for courtship, and all of them are pretty different in their behaviour around you. One is pretty shy and submissive, one is fairly stuck-up and stubborn, one is pretty much a slut and one is a borderline psychotic/obsissive virgin, who threatens other girls with a knife if they talk to you and then proceeds to do her best to manipulate you into getting her pregnant. (Boy, do I enjoy the last one. She was definately the defination not judging a book by the cover).

- Amount of content: For a 0.1 version, the game managed to provide me with about 2 hours of playtime. This is about the same amount of time I got from the release version of Milfy City, and while this game does not get near the same quality of content, it is definately very nice to actually have enough content to have the time to get invested in the game. Nice work on that one, Runey!

- Pregnancy tease: Okay, this is obviously subjective, but I really enjoyed the pregnancy teases in this game. Sadly, the story ends right as it got to the really juicy parts, but I definately got the feeling that at least one of the girls is going to end up eating for 2 before too long. Runey, you better have this storyline result in some good shit, because I will hate you if you teased me this much and then deny me a satisfying ending!



-------
BAD:
-------

- Lack of punishment for being a dick: While the game gives you several choices to be a dick towards the girls, they will pretty much always like you even more afterwards for some strange reason. You have a girl, asking nervously to spend the night in your bed and you basically tell her to get the fuck back to her own room? She will like you even more for this. Why? No idea, it doesn't make any sense. Why have options to be an asshole to the girl, if she basically reacts like I treated her like a princess? It cheapens the choices you make, as you might as well just pick an answer at random. The odds are 10-1 that the choice will have no repercussions at all, which is a big problem for me.

- Time skips are too random: Many of the interactions with the girls or other things ingame makes the game skip forward to the next time-zone. This is not a problem in itself, but I am highly confused as to what actions will actually forward the time. Having a conversion with a girl for a minute or 2, doesn't forward the time. Spending 5 seconds to buy a dildo online? SKIP! The purchaces on the computer is an easy way to waste time. Each purchase will cost you a part of the day, so better make sure you really need what you are buying! I feel that it would be much easier to allow the player to buy multiple things at once on the computer, and then have the game skip in time when you log off. Or just don't have purchasing things cost time. I can understand it if you had to walk to a physical store, but having a time cost for buying things online is something most games don't have, because it is a silly restraint to put on the player.

- Nighttime is useless: Pretty much this. The game has 4 time periods, but in reality it might as well be 3, since you can't do anything at night. You want to spy on the girls, with the spycams on your computer? *Yawn* "I am too tired". Want to buy something, to make sure it as the front door in the morning? #TooTired. Want to sneak out and spy on the girls in their sleep? No you don't, go back to bed, like the exhausted old man you are. You can't have a wank either. You can go to sleep. That's it.

- Story inconsistencies. I noticed a couple a places in the game, where the game suddenly take a little leap, without explaining how you got there. I will give an example of what I mean: I have money to burn, so i decide to buy some outfits for the girls, even though I have no idea when i will be able to make them equip them. The first girl is presented her new outfit and is very grateful, which is fine. The next girl doesn't have the option to give her the new outfit, even though I know the outfit is made for her. I shrug it off, thinking she will ask for the suit eventually. Well, not really. One day she just randomly asks me if I got her the suit and then takes it from me. She didn't ask me to buy it, so how the hell did she know I had it?!

- Invisible protagonist: I don't mind playing in first person at all, but when I see the classical "magically floating penis" I just can't help but sigh in disappointment. I am not gay, but I don't think i would die from actually seeing my character's full body.

There are a couple of other things I noticed that annoyed me a bit (if I order 3 items from the computer, why da fuq do I need to open the door 3 times to get all of them? Why can't I just grab them all at the same time. You know, like a normal person? ) but I won't go too much into details about that here.
The biggest of these concerns is probably that I feel like the game is pretty much assuming that you are interested in every girl, seeing as how many scenes involve multiple of the girls and seems to bottleneck you into a path where you will eventually end up with a complete harem with all the girls. I don't mind harems, but I would prefer to have the option to only focus on 1 or 2 girls if that is what I want.


------------------------
FINAL THOUGHTS:
------------------------

Harem Hotel is still in it's infancy, and you can feel it. However, it manages to provide a solid foundation for more content and establishes some interesting characters, even if they are all the defination of "stereotype" (hmm, maybe Ashley is not the classical stereotype, but she is definately a psycho!). The game has plenty of rough edges to polish, but it feels like the developer actually desired to make a worthwhile 0.1 release, which is highly promising for the game. I will definately keep an eye on this game, and wish Runey the best of luck with the development.

(This game has come a long way since my previous review, which is thoroughly outdated. In appreciation, here's a new one.

This game, while not perfect, definitely deserves the five star rating on this site, in my opinion. If things were more fine-tuned I'd likely give it a 4.5, or a nine out of ten, but in absence, a five is very appropriate. It is clear that a huge amount of work has gone into this game, and into the characters that populate it. It is much appreciated.

Firstly, the characters. At first, they all appear to be simple, though endearing, archetypes and fantasies, relatively simple. Most of them though become more apparently complex the more time you spend with them, the more interaction is had. There is more to them than meets the eye, and as quirky and fun as they can be, they can also get really serious, and address deeper problems and themes. They can even show themselves to have desires and needs that you didn't think of, but make sense in retrospect. In my opinion at least. The farther you go with them, the more depth there is, and I appreciate that.

The world is interesting. It doesn't fascinate me, because it's mainly an alternate universe modern world with more technology and elves, but it is it's own unique world, and that means that there's even more that could be done with it in proper time. Most interesting to me about it is the sexual slavery of elves, for reasons of kink and fetish, and it for me is one of the most interesting storylines, tied in with one of your characters storylines of course.

The sex scenes are good, in my opinion. Mainly what I like is the aspect of corruption tied to them, how having sex and performing sexual acts with the girls in different ways, leads to them gaining traits that can unlock further lewdness, and change their speech and actions. Not much right now, but that the mechanic's even there at all works for me, and it's a major player in at least one girl's story, just how well sexed she is and in what ways. My favorite sex scenes are the bondage ones, of which there are multiple options when you get to them, though that's my personal fetish.

The commerce is a bit grindy, though I don't mind that. Money is basically just the way to advance to the next stage when appropriate. And upgrades, to, are more about unlocking story and scene than anything else. If there's one actual flaw I'd put with the game, it's that ultimately, there's only one 'right' way to play, the way that unlocks the girls stories. And that requires your guy to have the personality of a 'pervert with a heart of gold', though really what that means is other options will hurt their opinion slightly and you'll have to buy them gifts or spend time with them to get that opinion back up.

Ultimately, that is a minor criticism for me. The game's strongest point, and what it's built around, is the girls of the Harem Hotel, your actual 'Harem' as it were, and I think they're done brilliantly. Even one I didn't like, after learning more about what she goes through, I've started to sympathize with, and appreciate. All in all, this is an excellent game, and I think you would be served for playing it.)