Game:

Lost Dimension (2014)

Duration: 59:00

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13

Well now... here's a fairly fun and whimsical little game where guests, quite literally, be wild 'n out. Galaxy Hotel (aka Uchu Hotel) is a Japanese-exclusive download game for the PS4 released through the PSN store in 2018 that just so happens to be dual language. Developed by Lancarse, the team behind such gems as "WiZmans World", "Lost Dimension" and "Ed-0: Zombie Uprising", the game is classified as a Strategy / Management / Business game, and it's also fair to call it a clicker and even an action game... but definitely not an idler. At 800 yen or a little more than $5 U.S. dollars, the game is a good value, but it's got quite a learning curve and can be played in two ways: either really fast and aggressively or excruciatingly slow. For the purpose of this video, we go the aggressive route.

So, you're the new owner of a shabby intergalactic hotel that features... you guessed it, a single lobby and a lot of dreams. Aided by your trusty pal, Navi, your goal is to increase your rank to a five star hotel and complete a multitude of quests to become the best hotel in the galaxy and overthrow your biggest rival and enemy, the notorious Gappo. Sounds easy? It can be... but it definitely won't seem that way starting out. While the game gives you a basic rundown of who and what will take place, the game bombards you with so much information that it's hard to process it all right away and you'll find yourself failing pretty easily the first few times. Indeed, I almost gave up on the game and didn't want to believe the game's lukewarm reviews, but just when I almost did... I got into a groove that worked, dived deeper into the game's many sub-systems and concocted several strategies to turn a profit and I felt like a shifty business tycoon before too long. Moral of the story? You gotta spend money to make money!

So what will you be doing? Building a bunch of facilities (but most importantly, rooms for sleeping), attracting a multitude of unique alien guests with different traits, selling gifts, serving food at restaurants, hiring employees, holding fairs, creating fevers, building stairs and elevators and such, taking advantage of weekly promotions, repairing facilities, upgrading facilities, balancing elements, trying to swindle rare guests, completing quests (some of which are timed and some which may require building certain facilities, earning a certain amount of money, setting up a certain number of structures, etc.), raising your level, expanding your territory, rearranging your facilities, buffing your buildings and nerfing certain guests, stopping customers from brawling, and even stopping guests from dying! You can do a lot in the game and you don't have a lot of time to do it; the game lasts up to three years which is EXTREMELY LONG if played normally (estimated in the ballpark of 100+ hours), but the game is constantly running in real-time and as the tempo picks up, even 15 in-game minutes can feel pretty hectic to manage. Additionally, every week requires you to get an evaluation... if you fail to generate a profit three weeks in a row, it's game over.

However, if you DO turn a profit at the end of the week, your slate will be wiped clean. The game feeds you guests at an alarming rate and you will constantly find that you don't have enough room to house them all, which means you'll have guests leaving, and their money along with them! You also have particular guests like the early Gyopas who will die constantly and reduce the reputation of your hotel if you don't set up aquatic facilities in the right configuration starting out (and they are wealthier early guests, so you want their money). While it may seem counter-intuitive, you will need to go in the red (and quite a bit depending how much you want to accelerate the gameplay) to get what you need starting out, so don't be afraid to fudge the first two weeks of evaluations... if you build the right facilities, you'll be able to turn a steady profit by week three.

The game's one main gimmick is that each guest travels in a route and will only go where their favorite facilities lead them, so you want to make sure you have a nice selection of non-rooms for them to choose from (and a room shouldn't be before a non-room if want them to visit it). The game has a fun gameplay loop, but there will be intervals where guests brawl constantly and this can go on for minutes at a time, making progression difficult until things calm down. At least the game has a lot of notes you can reference for guidance. The game has nice 2D graphics with many little accents and animations (I like how each building looks different as you level them up) and a snazzy futuristic soundtrack. The English translation is also very good for the most part with a lot of personality! Overall, I recommend it at its low price point. This is a video of the game in action... it was originally over 2hrs but the editor crapped out at the hour mark. It still covers the essentials. Enjoy.