Harem Hotel has the distinction of being the game that brought me into contact with modern AVNs. So there's a lot to be said here. I'll freely admit that I came into the game fairly disinterested, but the depth Runey put into characters changed that.
I'm a story-first player. I prefer character-first story telling. So there's a lot to like and dislike about Harem Hotel.
At its core, this game is good at it, and bad at it. The good part is where characters are fleshed out, and they have had a chance to show why we should care about them (e.g. the arcs of Ashley and Maria). The bad part is that new characters are often underdescribed, incomplete, and feel like they're just thrown in there for sex/kinks. The bad part is mostly illusory, and a result of Runey not having had enough time to get them into the loop. Those characters tend to get fleshed out, and, once the prerequisites are met in the playthrough, fill out nicely.
Somewhere in the middle of this is the obvious problem of the sandbox. It makes replaying the game a little annoying, and it makes certain aspects opaque. When things can be done, and why, aren't always well described. Some events have been known to be blocked without it being explained. But like a lot of good older games, you can't get stuck.
The game is fairly replayable, even if some parts are tedious. If you really hate sandbox play, there are plenty of ways to cheat for money, bypassing it. But the sandbox isn't that bad, and due to all of the other events you need to do, it's probably worth just letting it carry on in the background. (e.g. visiting the city will often leave you with a single action point, so you can do a delivery run to generate some income.)
One potential downside to the story is that Runey's characters are both shallow and deep. Many aspects of the characters are left up to the imagination of the player, resulting in 'bickering' both here, and on other boards. The head-cannon problem is far from unique to this game, but the level of fleshing out Runey does in some aspects of a character's life is often offset with an insufficient amount elsewhere, leading to people inserting themselves, or their experiences, which leads to the usual problems. But if you can avoid that, or at least keep it in your head, ready to be surprised when the reveal about them comes, you'll have a better experience, and avoid the pitfall.
The main story arc is setting the pacing for the side stories, as much as the side stories block main story progression. The fleshing out of the characters are obviously then paced against that, with a meshmash/overlap of who needs to do what first. This leads to an incredible storyline, and characters being fleshed out (subjectively a little too late to prevent opinions forming).
Art quality is more than sufficient if you're here for the story. If you're looking for H scenes, they're there, but if they're not important, you'll likely enjoy the story more.
Story quality is amazing, with every gripe being that we're missing the next step, and that time doesn't move fast enough in the real world for us to experience it on demand.
Character quality is what makes this game shine.
I'm a story-first player. I prefer character-first story telling. So there's a lot to like and dislike about Harem Hotel.
At its core, this game is good at it, and bad at it. The good part is where characters are fleshed out, and they have had a chance to show why we should care about them (e.g. the arcs of Ashley and Maria). The bad part is that new characters are often underdescribed, incomplete, and feel like they're just thrown in there for sex/kinks. The bad part is mostly illusory, and a result of Runey not having had enough time to get them into the loop. Those characters tend to get fleshed out, and, once the prerequisites are met in the playthrough, fill out nicely.
Somewhere in the middle of this is the obvious problem of the sandbox. It makes replaying the game a little annoying, and it makes certain aspects opaque. When things can be done, and why, aren't always well described. Some events have been known to be blocked without it being explained. But like a lot of good older games, you can't get stuck.
The game is fairly replayable, even if some parts are tedious. If you really hate sandbox play, there are plenty of ways to cheat for money, bypassing it. But the sandbox isn't that bad, and due to all of the other events you need to do, it's probably worth just letting it carry on in the background. (e.g. visiting the city will often leave you with a single action point, so you can do a delivery run to generate some income.)
One potential downside to the story is that Runey's characters are both shallow and deep. Many aspects of the characters are left up to the imagination of the player, resulting in 'bickering' both here, and on other boards. The head-cannon problem is far from unique to this game, but the level of fleshing out Runey does in some aspects of a character's life is often offset with an insufficient amount elsewhere, leading to people inserting themselves, or their experiences, which leads to the usual problems. But if you can avoid that, or at least keep it in your head, ready to be surprised when the reveal about them comes, you'll have a better experience, and avoid the pitfall.
The main story arc is setting the pacing for the side stories, as much as the side stories block main story progression. The fleshing out of the characters are obviously then paced against that, with a meshmash/overlap of who needs to do what first. This leads to an incredible storyline, and characters being fleshed out (subjectively a little too late to prevent opinions forming).
Art quality is more than sufficient if you're here for the story. If you're looking for H scenes, they're there, but if they're not important, you'll likely enjoy the story more.
Story quality is amazing, with every gripe being that we're missing the next step, and that time doesn't move fast enough in the real world for us to experience it on demand.
Character quality is what makes this game shine.