VN - Ren'Py - Harem Hotel [v0.18.2] [Runey]

So much content to explore, a lot of options with the girls, creator updates a lot and works hard for the game for sure. You can really grind or binge on this one and it does not get old! A large number of different types and kinks are ready to be explored and there are more than a few ways to play through the game if you want to explore different roles as the Main Character.

Great game! Everything is perfect, from the serious story to the hottest moment, it's just genius. I just finished the game at 100% in the 0.14.1 with 37 hour of gameplay . To anyone who reads this review, I strongly recommend that you download this game you will never regret it. I can't wait for the next update!

I was not prepared for how amazing this game was. I do not normally enjoy VN games, but this one was on another level, and it just kept getting better and better and better. I haven't even finished it yet and I've been playing it for 4 days.

I cannot express enough how fantastic an experience this game is.

Best (ero?) game ever.

Brief summary: This is an ero game with a male MC, at least 8 main story lines and even more side story lines. There are a few choices you can take as the MC but most have no impact on the story. The porn content is as the tags indicate and repeatable. The game is in development since a couple of years now and updated on a regular basis. The content is huge, easily 20hrs+ even with fast forward and still growing. You can read all, or just skip to the porn events. Up to you. BUT!

I would not recommend skipping at all. In my eyes this is more a novel with porn content. Since the tags are focussing on porn, some tags are really missing. Like "Drama", "Love", "Emotions", "Plot twists", "Surprises" and more. I never ever played a porn game (well, its NOT a game, its a novel) which had so much depth on the characters, the story and the world they are living in. Lets talk about the details in particular:

Characters
In total there are like 18 female characters. The 8 MC have a unique back ground story each and many of those stories are related to each other. Those back ground stories are slowly revealed and truly logically built up from the scratch. It's impossible not to bond with some (or even all) of them and feeling sympathy, joy, anger or fear with them. Hell yeah, i laughed, cried, got angry or happy with them! When i started to play, I never would have imagined mc's so beautifully drawn in an ero game as it is.

Storie(s)
The main story is about slavery in a corrupted world. I dont want to spoiler to much so i wont go into any details here. I dont know if Runey planned the story at this point from the beginning, but if he did, he did a great job. If he didnt, well, what a curveball. The story starts quite shallow with lots of casual sex and triggering events to get sex. When I started to play 3 years ago it was already really nice. But then...., as the novel evolves the story gets a depth I never saw in a porn game before. From what I know, Runey started this as a side job and after getting enough support on patreon he made it his full time job. It might be only my impression, but I think I can see this development in the game too. If i compare the story events and renders from the beginning with the latest ones there's a huge difference in the amount of text and details. I really have to give credit to Runey at this point, because the porn is nice, BUT I want to know, how the story and the characters within continue their journey. Here and there, there might be some flaws but overall he did a great job.

The world
The world is (technologically) quite similar to ours but with her own history and lore. Little by little the world is embedded and explained in this novel and each piece which you get within the plot finds its place. I didnt find any flaws here and everything seems to be logically in its place. The love to details can also be found in this aspect. Truly amazing.

The male MC
Well, this would be the only point of criticism, if any. I mentioned already before, very few real choices, the novel is linear. So the MC has technically his own character and playes his role in this novel. I could criticise this, but I dont. Because in any book you read, you either identify yourself with the MC or not. What I do criticise though, is the fact, that the MC doesnt play his role properly in this story. Many times I thought "say something..., errrr will he intervene.......,? what?...........Nothing.......? I cant believe!" I dont want to give examples and spoiler at this point. But it was really disapointing sometimes. So I prefer to focus on the girls instead and feel with them. Nevertheless his role is still okay. Not as bad, as it might sound here. Could be better though.

Porn content / renders
Okay, thats why most of us are here for and why we started playing/reading this game/novel.
Most the porn scenes are repeatable with most of the girls. There are like 3-5 different outfits and 10 different porn scenes for the female MCs. Just look at the tags. Its all there. The renders are nice in my eyes. Here you can see as well the positive development from the beginning to the now concerning the scenes. First there were images, then came the animations and lately even the camera moves during some animations (which was really great btw with the F&E event! People playing this probably know to which scenes i am referring). All in all, you get what you want.

Summary
Did I play this for the porn content? - Sure
Did I get what I wanted? - Absolutely and more!
Did I expect a truly amazing story? - Errrrr, nope
Did the story bother me or ruin the erotic side? - Not at all, it made it even more interesting to see, where this will lead to.
Did this game/novel meet my expectations? - Are you kidding me? This exceeded by far my expectations! So much that i started to patreon it lately.

I am looking forward to the updates.

Probably one of the best storylines in a porn game I've come across whilst still adding enough raunchy items to keep you/your genitals interested to keep playing more.

Whilst the latter part of the story (as of 0.14) from around 0.12 onwards starts to get a bit heavy with the usual issues affecting both our real world and this games' world can be depressing (The story getting heavy is understandable considering the direction the MC looks to be heading towards) the way Runey has spun it to ensure if you are invested in the story it should rightfully make you angry about the treatment of characters and their upbringing/situations whilst not sacrificing the core point of the game - that is is an 18+ porn game, a lot of the specific storybuilding sections can be intentionally skipped and you can naturally just hold the "Skip" button for the heavier sets of dialogue if you prefer.

With regards to the art/scene work for a lot of the porn sections it's definitely worth playing just for that if you simply are not interested in story you can just hold the skip button - hands down better than games such as A House in the Rift and Mythic Manor, the only other real contenders similar to this game. (Not detracting from either of those games as they are worth the time as well).

Only real criticisms I have is the branching section between Love/Slave path, but it's more down to my inability to manage my saves and work out which one is which from the initial divergence to see all the content as each new patch gets released.
I'd like to see more development of older area talk/interact options like for example the kitchen options for Android/Lin past their initial options as the story and trust has progressed with the MC (as per an update a little while ago with Lin's additional scenes in the Kitchen) where the original talk options evolve perhaps once you reach a certain level of trust. Cleaning the rooms results in asking for sex menu, perhaps adding in extra scenes where the Clones/Twins decide to help Lin/Android past a certain part in the story cook/clean in a new repeatable scene where you can request maid outfits/sex as per their original scene(s) where they attempt to perform nice tasks for the MC. This could be a relatively easy addition if you instead of adding in 3-4 of the girls simply have it instead do the cleaning then have a reskin of the dual BJ scene on the bed whilst cleaning the room in maid outfits and for the usual threesome option for Lin/Android for example.

tl;dr play the game it's worth the time whether you like story or not.

I came into this game when it was still just the opening bit with just the tenants at the hotel. The actual main plot was a huge wake up call that I wasn't expecting, in a good way because that's when the story really started to rise in quality. This is among my top three games on all of F95 for a reason, the writing is amazing as is the transition from the opening to the real main plot. I won't mark off for it since I don't think it was an option, but the one thing I could say against the game is in the remade content, the windows of the hotel are too solid looking.

A person would really have to work at getting on my bad side and Cornwall and the nurse from this game have done it. It isn't hate like I don't like the way they are written or designed, I mean hate as in I would hate the people they are if I was in the universe of these games. At one point, I legit wanted both Cornwall and the nurse injured or dead and I am a huge pacifist that only takes violent action as a last resort, that's how much I hate who they are.

That right there is a sign of how amazing this game really is. It has earned Runey my deepest respect and it earned this game full marks in this review.

v.14.1 Public

Harem Hotel was an interesting one, as it doesn't do the usual trope of front-loading the exposition and calling it a day. No, you find the story by actually going through each of the unique casts' events. Which really adds a weight to some of the topics, lore, and world.

H-scenes
Overall the animations and statics are simple but it has a charm to it.

The "worst" complaint you will find is the sandbox nature doesn't help with the start, when the hotel's residency is a bit sparse. So it feels aimless. It's tolerable once you've got a few more guests.

Mostly vanilla in terms of kink variety; though plenty of anal, lesbian, and threesome content. There's a Dungeon upgrade that adds a few more options.
A decent selection of positions in each girl's room; alongside a few outfits for each of them.

In conclusion: If you can you make it past the initial "what am I supposed to do?" start, you'll find the gem of a game/cast/story that you see praised. And it's absolutely worth it

I rarely review games on here, so it should be with little surprise that when you see me around you will find me signing the praises of one game moreso than any other: Harem Hotel. Why do i consider it F95’s version of Homer’s Odyssey even if its not done yet and completion generously seems a year out? Because the characters are deep and unique. Even small gripes like “what with the smol booba elf” because you know I am glad they broke the massive booba elf trope and this character, Lin, is a joy to get to know. You care about them and you want to get to know them. Even Maria who I had ticketed for the Akeno/Xenovia, she sets up the multigirl scenes character got a nice character update recently and now even she is feeling alive and deep.
I dont want to blab forever, so this here is my cream of the crop. I chose 5 stars and i have been giving Runey more money than anyone else. Its worth your time to give this an extended chance tenfold. Cheers.

First impressions are not positive, a short introduction for the setup, and basically nothing beyond that. A splash screen with some basic help, but once you're in control you're free to do what you want straight away. And nothing is really explained.

The user interface is awful. At a bare minimum for a game like this being able to navigate between locations in one click is a must. Having to click multiple times to get somewhere is extremely annoying after a couple of minutes, let alone the hours I imagine it takes to progress.

The introductions of new residents are over in no time at all, barely any conversation or anything when they arrive.

Also a very weird setup with elf slavery. Is that really necessary?

Review as of v0.14.1 (some spoilers)

In one of the story interactions, the character Maria asks MC whether he always intended upon building a harem as a goal upon inheriting the hotel, or if it was more of a side effect. There is a third response you can choose here - that building a harem is just Step 1. Obviously that response is left open-ended in a vague and teasing manner, but in this game, building the harem is very much step 1 for bringing together all the important characters that will eventually bring about major political and social changes for the land of Syl'anar; while having a ton of lewd fun along the way.

I recently discovered this game, and tbh, I really wasn't too excited about trying it, going by the title. The unfortunate name and initial few comments in the main game thread made it seem like it would be about a bunch of lewd content tied together in a shallow harem game.

But now having completed all main and side content, I'm simply amazed. There is a a ton of lewd content yes, but also, so much good story content, and all of it without any noticeable bugs and very very few typos/ grammatical errors.

I'm completely onboard with Lin bringing about the fourth elvish revolution with the help of Android, Kali et al, and toppling this slaver regime ( or realistically at least bringing about wholesale policy changes to establish equality for the elves).

The character arcs for Lin particularly, and also Android, Kali, Ashley are very well done. Lin's character for example starts of very tropey with typical traits like innocence, naivety, optimism, submissiveness, and being cute as fuck. But over the story she has basically evolved into an unstoppable rocketship that is ready for lift off and that will launch all of the surrounding characters alongside MC into bringing far reaching societal changes.

The couple points of criticism one might have are the relatively lower quality of art assets compared to some recent games, and the lack of player agency in influencing the story routes. However, the lesser quality of art assets probably allows for much more content to be developed and I don't mind the trade off at all. The lack of player agency allows the author to tell the story of Lin et al in the manner he intends to, with substantial story content and lengthy character arcs. So I don't mind this trade off either.

All in all, I really didn't expect to like this game so much, but right now it is my favorite AVN alongside BaD.

Review for v0.14.1

When I first played this game back in earlier versions, I thought it was going to be a simple sandbox harem game with some managing elements. Turns out I was wrong!

The more you play the game, the more this sort of over-arching plot gets revealed with every character playing a role in it. Each harem member still has their own story, but eventually they all seemingly tie in to the bigger picture. It's a lot deeper than I gave it credit for.

The writing is very solid. Each harem member's story turn into something deeper as it gets told. You grow a lot more attached to these characters because of that. I actually hated Ashley, one of the earlier characters to join, during her first events. But then you get shown why she is the way she is and help her become "normal" again. The events are just very well put together in general. Lots of smaller side activities as well like dates and the dungeon which is a nice touch.

My only real gripe with this game is the MC. A lot of the time he feels more or less like a background character. In one sense it lets the harem members shine a bit more as individuals, but I think it some events it's actually a detriment. You do get a lot of choices in dialogue but it mostly boils down to "be a dick, be crude, or be nice". Overall he's just very passive. One event in particular I really had an issue with.
Beyond that though, renders are great along with the animations. There are a bunch of sex scenes and a lot of content as a whole to sink your teeth into. Be aware that there are some darker themes in the game if you're uncomfortable with that. The game is definitely worth checking out at the least.

Harem Hotel 0.14.1

I finally caught up with the story and finished all main and side girls....

What a great game.

The only thing I didn't enjoy as much as I thought would are the later parts of Androids story.
Not because it's bad or badly written but the story itself gets very dark.
I miss her innocence...

It's basically Maria all over again but with even broader implications.
I hope Runey is kind enough to gives her some more light-hearted scenes where she can just be happy and feel loved.
I think she deserve it.

I would rate this game: Crispy Fairy Wings/10 ~ simply delicious

Game is Great …

It’s most definitely a WiP but updates are frequent and the sex & story is FUN.

There are some aspects lacking but my guess is that they are further down the development timeline … seriously patience is a Virtue folks.
I would love to see some sort of gallery for Lost scenes(non repeatable content) Ash morning TF play, Kali bedroom stocks, Jin dungeon bits, Moon (almost everything) but I imagine these lost scenes will be recaptured eventually … Moons scenes for example are mostly story and since she is “support cast” it was probably a real challenge to integrate her scenes into the standard repeatable content. Kate & Jin both end up somewhat lost like Moon … pretty much all activities with the large(ish) amount of support cast get lost as you progress … but that’s why they are support cast.

This being said …the other 15 main(ish) characters are repeatable with many multiple options from act to position to wardrobe to location which is AMAZING.
I personally would love to see MUCH greater utilization of the “dungeon” for the whole cast but thats just in a perfect world … However I do feel bad for Lin after she asks for treatment in the dungeon (lobby conversations) and I can’t treat her because the option isn’t available…. I am very thankful for the amount of bdsm dungeon content there is because …like irl …actual bdsm dungeons are few and imo EVERY game should have a bdsm dungeon!!!

Runey … if you need some fun bdsm ideas to “pay homage to”(steal) play through the pinktea games (SLOG) and quite a few of his others.

Best Girl Lin … sweet, caring, and actively encourages her own corruption.
(saying Lin is best girl was slightly difficult…because other characters are equally great … but without Lin they would lose points)

TLDR; This game is great and worth it in every aspect.

almost finish 0.14 and gotta say the dev(s) of this game are on another level. I don't think I ever seen a hentai game to have such indeepth story with the thoughts, backgrounds, and consequenses after actions of each character in this game, like it just keep going, and DID NOT feel forced at all, small details are connected from the past to the present and future, in every little conversation. Very charming and makes the game very lively.
Also, small note, thanks for all the dank back stories of the girls and how they all find their own happy path in the end, cuz bad stuff like that actually happen irl and im sure people will appriciate that very much that they can find pce with similar stories

I've seen (good) references to this game and although I do like the harem aspect of it, as much as the BDSM elements, I usually don't care much about HS generated characters.
HOW WRONG I WAS! This is a superb game, one of the best here. The developer could do a simple harem game but, instead, decided to go with a smart and well written narrative (the moral and ethical aspects of the elves' and androids' struggles are really well developed) and interesting character development.
All this with well thought-out harem mechanics, HOURS of gameplay... and a sex dungeon. What more could we want?!
This will be another developer that I will be supporting on Patreon in 2022.

This is probably my favorite game on here,
What elevates it above most other games is the great Story set in a World with a good ammount of Lore.

The game looks nice and is pretty user friendly, events are generally easy to find. When they are not there's usually a hint at where they are.

There's also a good variety of Fetish stuff, less popular things are usually avoidable.

Probably one of the best stories ever in a adult VN.
To get the boring stuff out of the way, girls are good looking, scenes are great too (especially the new stuff). For people who've played the older versions, the character models have come a far way. They used to be a bit on the generic side, slightly low poly but not they feel way more reasonable. And when I mean reasonable I mean like 'human' proportion realistic. Girls arn't crazy busty or have ridiculous hip-waist-bust ratios and its a good thing in more ways than 1. This kind of detail is what sets what I think is the core underlying idea that Runey has built this game around.

Honestly this is some of the best writing I have seen. Harem Hotel (HH) starts you off pretty simple. You are a standard MC who's thrown into a situation surrounded by girls. When you meet the women for the first time, it seems like they follow a basic trope/archetype. But quite quickly this changes. Each girl actually gets a solid piece of character development and some of them get a really strong backstory.
*Thematic spoilers ahead*
But where HH is different from other games, or even regular stories is that Runey seems to be REALLY good at managing how characters interact together. Characters outside of their crazy sex drives are believable and consistent. Theres never a moment that I felt like, "Oh what just happened? That wasn't very [character_name] of her." Even as characters grow and change, they actually act accordingly. Most games would give a character a arch and story beat containing some character shift. But in HH, characters change and remain changed.

During group story events, characters interact with each other in a believable way, and I think a lot of care has been put in to how these stories play out. Yes, theres some 'But we love the MC so we'll throw are differences aside' trope. But theres enough personality written into how characters start to build relationships with each other ASIDE from the MC. A lot of harem games and even stories really fail to add this bit of realism. People who arn't in a harem who live in a dorm or in close proximity together eventually come around to be friends (assuming they stay long enough). Theres a bunch of small (and i wish there was more) story beats that happen without the MC that show characters that might of started off on the wrong foot are at the end of the day 'decent' people. From rivals to bully/victim conflicts, characters won't let those things define who they are, they still have a multi-dimension personality and seeing it play out, and have conflicts resolve realistically was some of the best things that happen during the story.

And we haven't even gone into the world building. I found the background world that HH is part of so interesting. So many other games just say 'dont think too hard, its a porn game'. But I have to point out how much work has gone into making this world feel grounded in its own rules. Technology and magic both feel believable. There's limits and neither magic or tech feels like its doing something too insane. (And I hope it remains like this). The most powerful magic wielding character actually has to hide behind a facade of mystery. Mainly because the most powerful part of their magic is a ruse. I thought this was such a great touch, that even though the power in itself is still magic, its not some world breaking power. Tech on the other hand is a bit more advanced but its not anything super new.

World conflict is another part of world building that really helps with getting invested into the story line. Theres a conflict between elves and humans and then humans and androids. Like Detroit: Become Human and the elf conflict in The Witcher 2, I think Runey does a stellar job painting us to have an expectation and then flipping it. If you've played The Witcher 2 (wow congratz), you'll know that I'm talking about the elf and human conflict. Elves are done in a similar way, where the are undoubtedly better for the world. But in the current state, those who are free have failed to adapt and make peace. Free elves outside of your group are violence obsessed, and the humans who support them are blind to their nature. I think this is the most twitter-woke but also touches grass idea I've seen to date. The largest faction of elves are so aggressive they are willing to fight a obvious losing battle than to try and broker peace with parts of the world that don't want to enslave them. (id go into this more but i forgot this is a review and not an analysis for yt.)


Runey clearly draws a lot of inspiration from films that explore 'AI so advanced do you consider it human' and incorporates it well. There's a bit of Detroit: Become Human, Blade Runner, Ex Machina, and Transcendance going on and it put a smile on my face. For these themes, even tho they are wildly popular, I really like how this is my personal first time thinking about it differently - in the perspective of 1st a owner, then a love interest. Games don't often take advantage that some of the interaction gets to be chosen by 'you' the player rather than just a character. And I think maybe I'm giving Runey too much credit here, (since this is a VN and choices arn't real) that I still feel to some extent that my interaction with a AI/android-based love interest is more first-person and personal than it should of been. When you watch or play the movies and games mentioned earlier, theres always some level of disconnect, because as limited as VN choices are, they are more powerful than films and games that currently explore this idea.

Now the game isn't 'perfect'. I don't think any game is. But this will probably be my only review I write on this entire website. This game goes so much farther into character, story, worldbuilding than any other game i've played in the VN genre. Its incredible how much has been done here while remaining fap-able. Seriously, its really good. 5* cause I don't see another game coming close.

Negative stuff because I didn't know where to write it.
This shouldn't be addressed in this game, BUT I really wish I could see what happens in a world where Runey had enough time/dev power to write out a game like this with more player options with consequences. This is a ridiculous ask, but I can't help but think of it. I wish sometimes the story would continue but if you made a choice that you could see the impact it had later (no loss in number of scenes, more like who does it).

Intractability, I wish a few more things in the hotel were intractable with. Eventually money is meaningless and I wish there were some visual changes that the player could buy or something. Furniture, wallpaper, etc. Early on its really nice but I feel as if this portion has been abandoned as the rest of the game has progressed.

Android character being too annoying to grind scenes with. I don't like how the Android character has to get reverted to the original form even after you've unlocked and asked for perma outfit changes. And I don't like how theres no option to have the android 'default' to a certain look for scenes. This wouldn't be a problem you are at the point where the android is making choices. BUT having to go through the same question each time gets really tedious. There should be a QoL change for this. Later, this is especially strange when their role of maid forces a part of them to change outside of JUST the outfit.
On the android topic, I hope the android story gets fleshed out a bit more. Especially including other androids and how that works out. (pls no irobot ending).

And yeah I think thats it. I have no idea why I wrote a review this long. Great game. 9/10, closer to an 8 than a 10. (somehow better story than fallout 4)

Love this game, perfect game just to sit back and have some fun, girls are cute story is wholesome and you love all the characters excited to see how the elf story further develops, updates are big and the renders and animations are awesome too. Keep up the good work.

This game is great, I really mean it but I dont think its old player friendly, recent updates have been adding content and remastering scenes at the beginning/middle of the game, which is great, but if you want to see them you have to play it again from the beginning and it's not exactly a short game, hours re-reading the same history, and you can't just skip it to watch the scenes because the story might have changed and you would miss it, then having spent so many hours reading and paying attention to the story would cease to matter and you would basically waste your time.
In the end, who am I kidding? I will play it from the beginning one last time with the hope that they don't add new things AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME, if they are going to do it wait until you have practically finished the game, that way it will be worth replaying it for the final version.
Not everyone has all the time in the world to play.
Also, the story starts to get boring, sometimes I even got very sleepy reading it.

this game is really great. there is a long story but it holds up and is not too redundant. There are a lot of possibilities with a large choice of characters, with many different sex scenes.
The only negative point that I would find is the cash flow and the clothes of the girls which could be more numerous.