Hotel Dusk: Room 215

Lore & Background

Hotel Dusk was in production for about a year and a half, with a development team of 20 staff members. Director Taisuke Kanasaki stated the team wanted an unprecedented visual expression. The game uses rotoscoping to animate its characters, with environments illustrated in a brushwork style. Many character designs were influenced by the appearance of their actors. The game was re-released in 2008 under the Touch! Generations line of DS games. A sequel, Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, was released in 2010 for the DS in Japan and Europe, but not in North America because Nintendo of America did not pick it up.

Reader's Guide

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 received generally favorable reviews according to Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 33 out of 40. It was selected as one of Gaming Target's '52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2007' and was the 76th best-selling game in Japan in 2007, with 213,208 copies sold. A Kotaku retrospective described the experience as 'a big puzzle; everyone has a secret, and the writing (and localization) is done so well.' 1Up.com gave the game a B+, praising the dialogue. Nintendo Power gave it an 8 out of 10, praising graphics and story while criticizing simplistic puzzles. The New York Times called it 'unrelentingly linear,' and The A.V. Club gave it a D+, criticizing its patronizing tone. In 2011, Adventure Gamers named it the 65th-best adventure game ever released. Its significance lies in its distinctive visual style and narrative-driven gameplay, though its linearity and puzzle simplicity drew mixed reactions.

Did You Know?

• The game is played with the Nintendo DS rotated 90 degrees like a book.
• It supports the Nintendo DS Rumble Pak accessory.
• The game uses rotoscoping to animate its characters, a technique rare in most games at the time.