Hotel Sowls

Studio Sott

Adventure

Nintendo Switch

I made my way onto the second floor where the cook was waiting behind a counter. On the floor nearby is a cooked egg, in the same place as the cupcake I stepped on the day before. Taking it I can see the Cook say “Ah, die already.” Whether that was directed at me is yet to be determined. All I know is somebody took my stone, and I am going to find it.

Hotel Sowls is a bizarre adventure game about drugs, lemonade, and cosmic horror. I should explain.

The player (an unnamed pharmacist) sold all his possessions and buys a mysterious stone, resulting in him staying five nights at the Hotel Sowls. The Player will encounter many strange characters, some with seemingly random or insane responses, along with a variety of items to interact with.

Hotel Sowls is rather simple, as far as mechanics go, a simple movement system, and cursor to interact (a holdover from its original PC version). This can be slightly annoying for clicking on stuff (done with the right joystick) but is otherwise fine. The Player will need to solve the various puzzles using these systems, in order to progress through the five days.

I will give a brief overview of the game’s story (too much would spoil the fun). The Player arrives with The Stone, and checks in to the bizarre hotel. The next morning The Player finds The Stone stolen and must venture through the hotel searching for clues, chatting with the staff, and tracking down the stolen Stone. And of course, the hotel has its mysteries and a surreal vibe.

Without spoiling, Hotel Sowls has eight different endings, with a variety of achievements. It has decent re-play-ability but is a bit slow on repeat visits, so most players will simply reload the save to encounter the other endings (where possible, it is not always so simple).

I would like to comment on a few odd design choices, such as the aforementioned cursor. Hotel Sowls isn’t buggy but can be a little off when talking to NPCs, causing the player to select the first option when trying to skip past the NPCs greetings text. There is also a puzzle that involves giving an item to a character that is smoking, the item being a match, so the character can start smoking. The graphic is slightly misleading in that regard, which I’m unsure if is a bug or a design oversight.

I will say the biggest strength of the game, aside from the story, is the graphics. The game is a weird mix of monochromatic tiles, almost like pictures pasted into the rooms, and hand-drawn characters that wiggle and wobble. Hotel Sowl’s music is also good at times, adding to the atmosphere, knowing to even drop the music entirely when needed, adding an eerie silence.

Hotel Sowls is an enjoyable experience for anyone looking for a surreal adventure game. If it looks like something you’d enjoy or want to try, pick it up. Fans of OFF may also enjoy it for the art and world.