Capturing the butterfly with the jar is also not particularly intuitive. The scientific equipment by which the poison is made, however, is never fully explained (particularly because one does not know if they have the necessary items) and one has to work at it for a while before getting it right. The mixing of the drink feels innovative and fun (I don't know what it is that makes grinding those seeds feel so satisfying), and many Rusty Lake games incorporate this mechanism. Much like The Mill, many weaknesses are countered by strengths. This is a reasonably standard room, giving players a chance to acquaint themselves to what the game is going to be. It interrupts the flow of the story, and it seems like the hallways, the dining room, and the kitchen could have been eliminated, simply leaving the lobby and the five rooms, since all the important events occur there (more on this on my discussion of achievements below). The return to the cube rooms as "levels" is a refreshing return to form, but the travel time in the interludes feels tedious and unnecessary. It can be thought of as an expansion of The Mill's gameplay, but with separated rooms. The gameplay is not too far departed from the regular series, as most of the action still takes place in isolated rooms, with a central hub connecting them in the interludes.
This is not necessarily an awful thing, but it is a fundamental part of the Cube Escape series that I missed. I was never afraid while playing this game. It is simply unusual, with brief forays into the dark and gruesome. This being said, however, the game never quite has the creepy atmosphere of the Cube Escape series. Progressively eating a hotel guest every night is a twisted concept that feels perfect for the series. The story itself is rather creative, however, if simple. As it stands, while having more of an impact than Arles in that there are characters we recognize, the story of Rusty Lake Hotel is still rather tangential. That being said, the story implications for all five guest were clearly retconned in Paradise, and thus I will consider this in my review of Paradise, not Hotel. Rabbit, who appears in the next game and was clearly a part of the developers' plan. Now, one could argue that the five guests are characters that are a major part of the overarching story, and I will give that honor to Mr. We simply see more of his casual manipulation and twisted position as ruler of the Lake. Owl, but this has not really been addressed in the games since then. We learn a bit about Harvey, in that he was more than just a bird and has lived as long as Mr. The story seems to be only tangentially related to the main storyline at first. Rusty Lake Hotel is a bit of a departure from the series as a whole, in more ways than simply costing money. Thus my opinions on the difficulty of puzzles may be skewed somewhat. I then purchased the premium games at a later date and played them myself. A note before I begin: I initially did not purchase the premium games, but rather watched walkthroughs to get the story.