Just finished the game

[Southern Corn]

I really did like it overall but...

HUH?! What? Who?

I was left soooo confused after I finished this. So many unanswered questions even though the characters feel satisfied enough.

Spoiler: The entire game

Where's Bradley? Where's Alan? Where's Grace? Where's Jenny? Is Evans really dead? What's with all the coincidental names here? There are 2 Dans and 2 Milas. What happened to Kyle's mother?

I know these seem pretty minor, but it's super confusing. This game is like Ghost Trick in a sense but I felt like it kind of lacked a little something to really tie everything up. It's really weird honestly. I know there's a sequel to this game but does it answer these questions?

Other than that I did enjoy the game a lot. The overall setting and characters reminded me of Gabriel Knight 3 and I enjoyed the style of the game. The interrogations were a blast as well (except for Jeff where you had to keep going in and out) and the music was incredible. My only gripes are the loose threads, the frustratingly vague puzzles, the weird sections at the end of each chapter where Kyle basically gave you a pop quiz on what had happened and well...the black and white stuff didn't exactly mesh well with the style of the game and just felt kind of odd. I know, I know, but it really felt more unpolished than sleek to me.

Anyway, this was a pretty fun game and I'll definitely be playing the sequel soon.

[Going for Miles]

I haven't played the sequel but I'm pretty certain its plot is unrelated to this one.

As much as I like a neatly tied up storyline, the loose threads didn't bother me in this case because I felt like they added to the beauty and atmosphere to the game. No we didn't exactly solve anything, not for ourselves or the other characters, but we were there for them and listened to their stories and helped them and ourselves to move on.

[Southern Corn]

I haven't played the sequel but I'm pretty certain its plot is unrelated to this one.

As much as I like a neatly tied up storyline, the loose threads didn't bother me in this case because I felt like they added to the beauty and atmosphere to the game. No we didn't exactly solve anything, not for ourselves or the other characters, but we were there for them and listened to their stories and helped them and ourselves to move on.

I guess I can kind of understand that. The characters' happiness were nice enough to be artificially satisfying to me in their own strange way, honestly.

Really about the sequel though? You'd think they'd at least tie up the Nile subplot or something. Are there any returnees in the next game at least?

[blahmoomoo]

There is at least one returning character, but they are not relevant to the plot, if I recall correctly (granted, I completely forgot what the plot is, but I'm fairly certain it is different). It's more of a look at who they are now, since the sequel takes place a few years later.

[Going for Miles]

The woman Kyle Hyde talks to on the phone (Rachel, yes?) is in it, at least. I think the plot has something to do with Kyle's dad.

[Southern Corn]

Thanks for the info. I actually managed to get a copy by luck so I'll probably start playing it this week and see how it goes.

I wonder how it will compare to this game.

Will update this post when I finish it

[Going for Miles]

Neat! I've been on the fence whether or not to try and get my hands on it so I'm curious to see what you'll think of it.

[Professor Yoshi]

From what I can remember, the loose ends aren't that loose, for lack of a better word.

Bradley is on the run, for the remainder of his life, from both Nile and the NYPD. He straight-up tells Kyle to forget him.

Not getting a game over gets you the "true ending", where you get confirmation on Jenny.

Evans is purposefully left vague, since it's just Kyle wondering if Bradley really would go that far. Same with the rest. All purposefully left a bit ambiguous, since Kyle is really only there to sort his own problems out, and chasing ghosts from someone else's past is not his issue, to put it bluntly.

The sequel is 95% unrelated to the first game. There are a few returning characters, aside from Kyle. And you get a lot more info about Kyle's past (beyond just him being a cop), and something mentioned in the first game.

[Southern Corn]

From what I can remember, the loose ends aren't that loose, for lack of a better word.

Bradley is on the run, for the remainder of his life, from both Nile and the NYPD. He straight-up tells Kyle to forget him.

Not getting a game over gets you the "true ending", where you get confirmation on Jenny.

Evans is purposefully left vague, since it's just Kyle wondering if Bradley really would go that far. Same with the rest. All purposefully left a bit ambiguous, since Kyle is really only there to sort his own problems out, and chasing ghosts from someone else's past is not his issue, to put it bluntly.

The sequel is 95% unrelated to the first game. There are a few returning characters, aside from Kyle. And you get a lot more info about Kyle's past (beyond just him being a cop), and something mentioned in the first game.

I can kind of agree on Bradley and Evans, but what was the point of Alan in the entire plot? And by extension, what about Summer and Helen? I guess you could say those were side stories but they really didn't get resolved and I didn't move really feel like those had a point.

Anyway, on your first sentence, I agree. But not on this game. On Last Window.

GfM, if you're reading this, you can stop here. I definitely recommend the game to you and you should play it now.

Anyway, onto my thoughts of Last Window.

Spoiler: LW

This game was everything Hotel Dusk should have been. There are loose threads this game as well, but here it isn't anything major. It's very clear that Nile and Hugh Speck are doomed even if we don't see it (unlike, say, Grace and Alan from the first game). The characters were just as great this time (except for you DYLAN) and I felt that Kyle's more personal connection to the story this time really helped amplify my wanting to see this mystery solved. The puzzles were, for the most part, not that bad (except in the final few chapters) and the music this time was just as amazing as in its predecessor.

I know it's kind of sad that the company behind these games went bankrupt but in all honesty...I really don't want a sequel just because of how nicely this game ended. I give this game a 9/10 (whereas I would give Hotel Dusk 7/10 or 8/10). Super enjoyable even if it was occasionally glitchy.

Favourite character would definitely be...well, I don't really have one, but it would be either Jeanie, Sidney or Frank.

Least favourite character is the dickwad himself, Dylan.

Phew. This was quite an interesting series to play.
Are there any other games like this?

[blahmoomoo]

Well, there's the 3DS eShop game "-CHASE- Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~" which was created by former CiNG employees, but it is far too short a game (less than 90 minutes) to make much of an impression, aside from giving a slight taste of what the developers could achieve in the future. That was released a year ago and I don't think there's been any news since.

I can't really think of another game that captures the feeling that Hotel Dusk had. The next closest thing would be the Jake Hunter series, but I heard the only localized ones were bad games.

There are plenty of other games in the genre though. A few I can think of right now are the SNES game "Famicom Tantei Club Part II" with a fan translation (haven't started yet), a Detective Conan game on the GB with a fan translation (have finished, was good), a Detective Conan and Kindaichi crossover game on the DS with a fan translation (haven't started yet), and the Parascientific Investigation series on the 3DS (finished the first game, was decent, but it's more about escaping rooms).

[Southern Corn]

Well, there's the 3DS eShop game "-CHASE- Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~" which was created by former CiNG employees, but it is far too short a game (less than 90 minutes) to make much of an impression, aside from giving a slight taste of what the developers could achieve in the future. That was released a year ago and I don't think there's been any news since.

I can't really think of another game that captures the feeling that Hotel Dusk had. The next closest thing would be the Jake Hunter series, but I heard the only localized ones were bad games.

There are plenty of other games in the genre though. A few I can think of right now are the SNES game "Famicom Tantei Club Part II" with a fan translation (haven't started yet), a Detective Conan game on the GB with a fan translation (have finished, was good), a Detective Conan and Kindaichi crossover game on the DS with a fan translation (haven't started yet), and the Parascientific Investigation series on the 3DS (finished the first game, was decent, but it's more about escaping rooms).

Alright, I'll look into those and see if I like them. Thanks for the help!