Rusty Lake Hotel

 
As the first premium game in the Rusty Lake meta-series, I was a little hesitant to spend my hard-earned money on this. However, the Cube Escape games had seriously hooked me, and I couldn't just skip ahead, so I eventually gave in. Right at the start of the game, I knew this was unmissable. Presented as a prequel of sorts, Rusty Lake Hotel stars some familiar faces, but also introduces new characters that are poised to become more important in future games. Although it doesn't answer every question I've stored up from the previous games, I didn't really expect it to. However, it did provide a couple important reveals, and it gave me a few more things to be curious about. All of that makes for a pretty solid Rusty Lake experience.

As an employee of the Rusty Lake Hotel, you are responsible for both keeping the guests comfortable and collecting the ingredients for each dinner. That all seems pretty dull and straightforward, until you figure out that the guests and the ingredients are the same thing. Each in-game night tasks you with a full Cube-Escape-style puzzle room in which you both help a guest, and collect their body to be used for the next evening's meal. I'll let you discover the time in between those events on your own. Now that you're thoroughly disgusted, I'll remind you that you aren't really playing the good guys here - that's for Cube Escape. Unique to this game when compared to it's predecessors is achievement ratings. Each puzzle segment asks you to complete a task. If you go above and beyond, you can earn additional "stars." These stars don't actually have any consequences, whether you collect them or not, but they do provide a nice sense of accomplishment. However, if you miss one, there is no way to get it without starting the game over from the beginning, which is super annoying.

Ultimately, I found Rusty Lake Hotel to be a worthy investment and a solid exploration into the origins of the Rusty Lake and its strange inhabitants. There isn't really much replayability here, so it might seem like a sizable investment for a mobile game. However, each Cube Escape game before it was completely free without ads, so it helps to think that you're buying the whole series up to this point. If you are working through the Rusty Lake meta-series, please don't skip this game just because of the price tag. There is too much here for you to miss.

The game is available on Steam here (as of 10/22/20): https://store.steampowered.com/app/435120/Rusty_Lake_Hotel/
The game is available for iOS here (as of 10/22/20): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/rusty-lake-hotel/id1059911569

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