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

Spoilers in this review.

This game was my favorite game on this site years ago. I would have given it 15 stars if possible. Which is why giving it 3 stars now is so disheartening.

I don't know precisely when it happened, but this game went from a plot that consisted of getting your girlfriend a job at a pizza joint and making ends meet on your new and rather unsuccessful business venture to *SPOILERS* watching one of your extremist abolitionist sex partners fail to kidnap a queen and watching her get electrocuted into near death before being carted off to be, presumably, raped by someone she doesn't want to marry.

What the fuck happened?

I get that even originally the game had slightly darker undertones with the elf slavery thing, and I was content to let it be a backdrop of the story, something that was there to lampshade being able to have elves in the story and have a slightly more male dom slant on the culture/gameplay. That's fine. Not great in my eyes, and not my favorite, but fine.

But just like with Dragon Age: Origins and the mage/templar conundrum, the elf slavery thing went from being one part of one story in a big tale, to the entire focus of the rest of the game/franchise.

It's so disheartening, because looking through all these reviews, I'm not the only one blindsided by a game that was lighthearted for years turning steadily more and more dark.

But even though I'm not going to be playing the rest of this game and its updates, I can't in good conscience give it less than a 3/5 star review. The characters are sexy (when they're not plot vomiting their all of the sudden horribly depressing backstories and/or asking me to sit through an actual sermon on two different pantheons and cultures), they're funny, they have unique personalities. I just don't think things needed to get so god damned depressing for them to be sexy and have unique personalities.

All in all, don't play this game if you like lighthearted fun, but do play if you like being depressed by horrible fascistic regimes, a loose and very not subtle parody of USA politics and policies, horrific backstories, and a whole boatload of slavery.

Version played 0.15.1

Harem Hotel was great when it first hit the scene, offering fairly quick progress to a few characters, looking decent enough at the time.

I remember looking forward to the next update.

As time went on I feel like it simply overstays it’s welcome, with much longer often not very rewarding story lines, lots and lots of characters it simply overstays it’s welcome.

In terms of scenes you get to the point you have seen everything there is to offer and the story I personally just don’t find that interesting.

I wish the dev would just try to round things off and move on to something new.
This will also be the last version I will play.

play V 0.14.1 with a french trad (which explains my poor written English, sorry)

story: 4/5 Overall very good, but the more the game progresses the more some stories become convoluted and a bit boring

characters: 5/5 A very large number, a lot of diversity

sex scene: 5/5 Absolutely fabulous, good length, massive amount, and full of different kinks

renders: 5/5 When you go for this kind of rendering for the first time, it takes time to get used to it, but then you really become a fan! I love!

animation: 5/5 It is without any hesitation that I say it loud and clear, they are very beautiful

sound: yes

gameplay: 4/5 I don't think it's one of the strong points of the game, but it does the job very well.

Great visual novel game. Long plot and beloved characters. Many options to perform during the day with the girls, and the repetition does not bother. My favorite character is the android, but the rest of the girls are also cute.

I must say the plot for this game is quite interesting and really easy to follow, the character growth for most of the characters is really good especially Ashley.
I’m 27 hours in the game and I’m very entertained and running out of tissues cause the sex scenes are so good at this point I’m wishing I owned a harem.
I’m glad the next update will focus more on the side characters, I really hope we get more scenes and story development for Ann cause I really like her character and I feel like we should see more dark elf characters.
Great game
Off to look for more tissues

Came to fap
Stayed for the story

I like the characters especially after going through their stories.

The downsides was the pacing of game itself cause money was a bigger factor of the story progression than I expected. (I hate myself for buying the bar late into the game).

incredible story and excellent game waiting for the new updates after having dedicated many hours to complete it!

setting the bar high to get other games that catch like harem hotel did

PD: Kali Besto Waifu <3

The review concerns v0.14.
Huge vn with multiple girls, harem style as the name implies.

Plot
The story starts really strong with girls but then as their stories go on it kind of goes downhill mostly. Apart from Ashley and Maria most girls late events are kid of boring. I can see that the dev has a talent for vns but short ones as the stories that don't involve connecting emotionally with girls are kind of boring. The girls are varied with different personalities which is good. The game is very long (even as of 0.14).

Graphics and Lcontent
The overall graphic is average. The girls are different from one another with many costumes options. The lcontent is massive and varied. If not for the average graphics it would be 10/10 in this aspect. There are lots of events that can be trigerred with additional content.

Overall
On the scale of 1-10(1 trash, 5 average, 10 masterpiece) I would give it a 7. I'll see where this goes, if the stories get longer and more boring the score might drop, but right now its definitely worth the play even if for the Lcontent alone.

Very well made game that'll get you attached to every single one of it's characters for largely different reasons. Every girl is an adventure, a different one at that. Even if it's not completed yet, there is a lot of hours ahead of you - not to mention the consistent flow of updates and love put into it.

Highly recommend.

What more can I say, it's fantastic game and easily one of the best on F95.
The story is interesting, well-paced and intriguing.
The characters are varied, colorful, and intersting to interact with.
They all develop brilliantly as time goes on, and as you inteact with them.
(My favorite rn is Felicity. IDK, there's something about those characters that start by despising the MC, and slowly come around... And when they do, they kinda fuck up because they don't know exactly how to be nice)

Besides that, there's plently of content... I mean an asinine amount, just check the file size.

As for complaints... eh... I tend to prefer these games to be slightly more game-y? Have more gameplay.
Though, I can't really take points off for that, because I realize that's subjective and there's probably some people out there that believe this already has too much gameplay... so, eh...

So, overall... Good game, would recommend (for the characters and their development especially)

Story is rich, intriguing, nicely paced imo, catchy, fun.
Character development is everything you could ask for and then some.
There's no shortage of lewds and funny business.
Play at your own pace.
Time spent in the hotel is time well spent.

[v0.15.1 Public]

This is a fantastic game that goes above and beyond to create complex characters with an interesting world to deliver a deep and engaging story.

The characters in this game are obviously the main attraction and they succeed in keeping you interested in their development beyond their excellent character designs. From brainy computer whiz to bratty cheerleader, there's a wide variety of characters to become invested in and looking forward to seeing where their personal stories go next. I frequently wonder what the next story event for a character could be rather than what new sex scenes could be added because I just enjoy seeing how they evolve as the story progresses.

The world this game takes place in, Syl'anar, is also filled with a deep and complex history of events and locations that deserves its own wikipedia just to cover it all. It's really impressive that it all manages to stay coherent with the scale the world that is presented and more so that it keeps your interest as you learn more about Syl'anar and how you can have an effect on it.

The story itself is expertly written and delivers on giving you something to think about even after you've turned the game off. Between juggling political intrigue and the consequences of a slave society, there are also a number of poignant personal character moments to keep you invested in what happens next. I'm very happy with the direction of this story's development and am always excited to see new updates and how the story progresses.

Overall, with all of the loveable characters living in a rich and well developed setting traveling through a gripping story that leaves you begging for more, this game has more than earned a 5 star rating.

[Rewiewing v0.15.1 Public]

Spoiler: Short Version

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From here on, there will be spoilers

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The Good(aka “Keep going with these things”)

—The Plot and storylines are amazing: We go from silly moments where Emma & Felicity are getting “disciplined” by Lin to Maria being captured for being a half-elf to Android being a loving mother. It's quite a roller-coaster of silly moments and tear-inducing drama, mixed with moments that may trigger an overdose of cuteness. 5/5

— The graphic is HS1 but damn if it's good, clearly the dev put the effort...it's just *Chef Kiss* 5/5 once again

— The amount of content in this game is absolutely outstanding, both on a story-level or a simple "side-events" and repeatable scenes(like the exhibitionist ones or the ones in the dungeon) 5/5

The Annoying (aka "Not urgent but you may wanna fix this")

— The hint system...if we wanna call it like that, that thing that informs you which character has still unseen content...because Okay i know that i've yet to see (for example) Lin's new content but i went to her room or the kitchen and nothing got triggered?There is a requirement or must explore the whole hotel in different times during different days until i trigger something?...So yeah a supplementary hint system may be helpful, i mean it's fine but i'm talking about it only because i did explore the hotel twice just to find an event, until i triggered it casually XD

The Bad (aka "Fix it asap or your game won't last long")

- Nothing to see here, because the game is just THIS good.


Conclusions: The game is good, the bugs and typos get fixed, the characters are likeable and have unique stories and like every other person in this universe they've good and bad moments. There are reasons why this game is in my signature, and i just exposed them. Have a good day Mr./Miss Reader! <3

Good Points
+ Sex scenes are well-made. They are animated and animations FPS and physics are pretty good as well.
+ Most girls/women look hot.

Bad Points
- Game progress and dialogues are kind of boring...
- Couple of main girls looks un-attractive a lot and it's pretty disappointing... While their stories are interesting physically they do look pretty bad. The first one is Lin, she is just a plain girl without any good assets. She has a plain face and body without any unique features. It could be more acceptable if she wasn't one of the main characters, but at the current rate her existence is taking down this game's quality of girls, and of course, especially as the main slave it's a big disappointment for slave content as well. Since 2018 DEV could have changed her for something better and after all these ''remake'' things this was one of the things I hope DEV will change... Looks like he didn't... Adding her at least unique (or classic but good looking not boring plain) face could fix this problem, but she is literally plain from feet to head... The second one is Ashley and she is maybe a little bit worse than Lin... While Lin is just plain Ashley is nearly ugly, her character being about maniac is not helping at all either, and don't even want to start talking about things https://prnt.sc/gDF0pnU77aPm she is doing whenever she thinks to say something lewd, sexy, cute, etc... I'm gonna be honest here: even the girl DEV using to show outfits inside of the store on the PC screen looks better than these girls... And while woman like Ellen is inside of side girls and getting pretty less content girls like Ashley and Lin takes a lot of content... That's just... Wow...
- This bad point makes the first bad point worse than it could: you can't choose to avoid girls you don't like... Some events tied other girl's stories progress along with lewd stuff and you are literally forced to do them... Like if you want to see Slave Girls content you gotta reach Lin level 25, or if you won't have any content with Maria you need progress with Ashley (Which I would ignore all the way down because of her annoying and crazy act) and same goes for other girls or scenes as well. You can't avoid anyone because of not being your liking etc and it just makes the whole Sandbox thing pointless, it's nothing different than a kinetic novel style forced story and having forced to play sandbox and click around despite having zero choice over girls just makes things worse. So while it's a so-called ''sandbox'' game as a player you have zero freedom to choice which girl you want etc... And yeah you can't avoid things you don't like either, and this game has a lot of extreme sex scenes you might be not like... Cool right? Very cool...
- Like I told you can't avoid girls you don't like and especially with a game like this, which has a lot of annoying girls it's just painful... Especially Ashley is just a pain in the ass. She is egoist, rude, bossy, annoying and crazy AF. It's just makes my blood boil to see she is treating other girls like a shit and constantly saying MC is his boyfriend and acting like she owns him... And hypocritically MC saying her mom he will let her stay for free?! Seriously?! Why do I have zero right about this subject as a player?!
- Despite developing since 2018 a lot of women/girls like Ellen have literally zero content and it's just nonsense AF...
- Girls/Women routes don't have good enough diversity while we have a lot of different women/girls. Nearly every girl route is heavily based on Lust. We have some so-called ''Love Routes'' but their content is the same as Lust Routes, so don't wait for any romance scene, etc from this game.
- General quality (drawings, renders, animations, etc) of the game needs to improve. Girl's bodies, faces, etc looks undetailed and nothing more than average. And interior and outdoor place designs are kind of same as well. Honestly, I wasn't playing the game for nearly a year because of DEV's remake tryings and I was waiting for improved visual quality, not the same quality as 1-2 years ago.
- MC is... Well... How can I say... He is not likable? Plain? (Because of you can't even affect his act against other characters etc) Have zero character and development? He got bossed around by other people, sent to get packages for them like some errand boy while he is literally hotel manager and owner? I guess that explains...

For The End
Well, what can I say? Its have great potential but DEV executes that potential terribly... If he fixes the bad points I told in this review this game could be a 4-5 star rate game easily and would be enjoyable a lot. Currently? Currently, it's just painful to play and nothing more...

v0.15.1
A grindy sandbox with honey select models. With meh UI and time blocks.
Sounds common enough, but the quality of execution can make a game stand out despite those.
This is a pretty old game that has been years in development and has lots of content.
Although the reason for the 10GB size is due to poor compression rather than sheer quantity of content.

Originally this was a charming and fun game. With happy waifus and relatively bright tone.
It was fun and joyful to play, even if somewhat tedious due to the grind.
You had an interesting cast of varied girls in the harem.

As you make progress in the game you move unto the newer content and experience some drastic tonal shifts. The game gets darker and darker over time. The harem lose their joy, you start getting reveals about dark depressing sad histories. Peppy waifus because traumatized wrecks.

Then the various character plots all get taken over by a new Elf Liberation Movement arch plot. The game gets even darker still, your waifus suffer more, suddenly MC is at the forefront of abolitionst activism.

More and more you are given info dumps about religion and history, all of which turns out to be a ham fisted unsubtle caricature of USA politics.
Also rather hypocritical considering how earlier you were a slaver training your slaves and women into submissive sex pets in your dungeon but now you are supposed to feel bad about it.

It even gets lampshaded, as Lin (your first elf slave) is being confronted by another elf about how Lin did a 180 on her interest in elf liberation movement. Right before she tries to get involved in national politics in a pretty stupid way (with everyone's blessing) and then gets kidnapped and tortured. As the game becomes even more of a downer.

Overall the game had a strong start followed by a downwards spiral of missed potential.

It's a great game, really like all of the girl.
My favourite is maria, ashley, and the twins. Ashley is a girl that have yandere personality at the begining, then become more lovely and kind after we found out about her story
Maria is a fun girl, and can get along with everyone, i love the story when she got depressed and we can't move further with her story, until her get better.
The twins is a bully at first, but in the end they become much loving and softer.

Simply one of if not the best game out there.
Comedy, drama, world building, character writing it is all here and well put together and paced. You age getting good content within five if not ten minutes of starting the game and while it offers hours of new content that is almost just as much repeatable events.
The lore building doesn't start until you are well into meeting the cast and you already care about them as people. All of this growing out of a classic idea of the genre "Elf slave what do?"
The comedy that does exist is situational rather than meme based or pop cultural which is very good.

I could gush on and on about this game but to sum up this game is hours and fun and should not be missed.

Amazing Game

Fun characters. I am particularly a fan of Autumn. She really encompasses that feeling of having grown up in a religious household and then being exposed to the reality of the real world.

I'm not really that good at lewving reviews, but I just wanna say, this game is really, really good. It has a good mix of funny, and serious moments. Adorable and interesting characters, each with their own stories and quirks that are very in depth. It doesnt have as much of a grindy feel that some VNs have to get money either, if you take the advice of your assistant to fix up and upgrade the bar. The animations are good too as well as all the character's designs, each one is quite unique. I've tried and kept playing with a lot of VNs, but this one has got to be one of my most favorites.

Silly concept. Silly characters. Surprisingly deep for a bang-em-all harem game. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't come out of this game (15.1 as of review) feeling somewhat invested in more than one of these girls.

Things I felt that were expected: horny. Things I felt that were unexpected: sad, sympathetic, soothed, uplifted. Despite being a silly harem game with all that entails, I feel like it kind of all makes sense in the way that for several of the LIs, you can actually watch their growth and healing and feel why they would be attracted to the MC as he makes their lives better.

Stupid sappy review for a silly horny game