Hotel Galactic Preview

I’ve been excited about Hotel Galactic since I first saw the trailer, so it was an automatic wishlist on Steam on my part; thus upon getting notified that the demo was now out, I was quick to jump into action and download it. It has everything I like: cosy management and Studio-Ghibli-esque art. But the real question is, does Hotel Galactic live up to my expectations? Well, there’s only one way to find out.

You start out becoming the new manager of the aforementioned Hotel Galactic, where you are tasked with building new rooms for the establishment, and notably, a new bathroom so the guests won’t keep using the staff one. As someone who works in customer service, well, that’s a vibe… so, I was quick to get to work. You can craft different items to add to the rooms and decorate them however you want, and it’s an easy process; all you have to do is assign your workers to each role.

Now, to find your workers and your task, you can explore the hotel with either the WASD keys or by dragging your cursor to the edge of the screen. Then, use the wheel of your mouse to zoom in and out. It’s a simple method and mostly has to do with pointing and clicking. Time moves quickly, so you need to be organised about your tasks and, if possible, assign your workers to each of their strengths. If not, focus on the role that needs the most experience for that employee.

Upon the arrival of your first guests, you’ll learn a little bit about them… well, outside the fact that they look like little trumpet-nosed Kodamas (the species that Totoro is). I loved them so much. They like certain foods, and they like to listen to music, so you’ll need to quickly build up a radio that you can put in the dining room or wherever you so desire. Once dinner is cooked and served, your job is essentially to clean up the rubble and litter on the floor. After that, when your guests have gone or awoken, as they’ll stay for different numbers of nights, you’ll just have to clean their bedsheets or make their beds.

Admittedly, it’s a pretty easy task, if not time-consuming. Although that isn’t all there is to do. You’ll be visited by a Merchant Ship, where you can buy seeds to plant in the garden, which you’ll need to water and then harvest when ready. So, that’s one more thing you’ll need to worry about during your busy days and nights. Once the fruit is harvested, you’ll be surprised to find different guests from what you’ll remember, who will have different tastes from our trumpet-nosed Totoro-like friends. When serving their meals, you’ll get the choice to offer them something else or even infuse the dish with the fruits from your garden.

Thankfully, they’re easy to please, and after you get these guests, it’ll be time for the demo to end, with a note of more story yet to come. Overall, Hotel Galactic’s demo focuses primarily on gameplay, which is essential and should only take around two hours to complete. As a whole, I really enjoyed it, and while there were a few niggles here and there, mostly to do with the camera angles and not being able to click certain things if there’s another item in the way, but these are minor issues. Although there was one confusing moment when the guests arrived too soon, and I still don’t know if that was intentional, as I didn’t have the rooms available for them. However, that wasn’t a bother, as they still returned in the morning. It was just strange that they arrived in the evening.

Outside of these minor things, I’d say that the Hotel Galactic demo is incredibly well-made, and you can see the amount of love and time put into it. It left me interested in what unfriendly faces are out there and more about the world that they’ve built. But for now, I’ll make do with my wishlist, and look forward to the full release.