There’s a new simulation game out on PC this week, and if you’re a fan of renovation games, this is one you’re going to want to keep your eye on.
It’s called Hotel Renovator, and the clue is right there in the name: it’s a game all about renovating a hotel. As is often the case in these things, you’ve inherited a run-down hotel from your grandfather (who else?), and so it falls to you to get it up to speed. Thankfully, you’ve got a substantial amount of money in your bank account and a useful assistant to help you hit the ground running.
Equipped with a crowbar, a sweeping brush and a huge library of furniture and wall and floor coverings that can be purchased, you’ve got everything you need to turn this abandoned, crumbling building into a five-star hotel. It’ll take some hard work, though. You’ll first need to use your crowbar to tear out old fixtures and fittings, destroy old furniture and pull old wallpaper and paint off the walls (who knew crowbars were so versatile?). Once you’ve got a blank canvas, it’s time to put your mark on a room.
If you’re playing through Hotel Renovator‘s story mode, you’ll be given some direction as to how to decorate a room. There’s a vampire checking in? You’re going to want a lot of black and red stuff, thick curtains and absolutely no mirrors. But for the hen party staying in the room down the hall? You’ll want bright colours, neon lights and balloons. Lots of balloons.
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There’s still plenty of room for you to let your creativity run free, however. It’s ultimately your choice how each room gets decorated, and if you’re the type of person who plays The Sims for Build Mode only, you’re going to absolutely love unleashing your visions in each room of your hotel. You’ll also get to decorate the lobbies and hallways too, and eventually more areas like a bar/restaurant, terrace and a sauna.
The problem is, right now at least, Hotel Renovator is rather buggy. Coming back to a saved game, we found ourselves locked out of a series of tools we’d unlocked, and the three rooms we had already renovated were no longer generating any money. We’re not alone: a quick peek on the Steam discussion board shows several other people with a similar problem. There are plenty of other bugs, too, like textures not loading properly and quests not working as intended.
The good news is that developer Two Horizons has already released the first patch for the game, and more will be incoming imminently. The development team seems very keen to collate player feedback and address issues that are currently arising. Hopefully, then, in another week or two, most of the initial bugs will have been ironed out.
Even with its teething problems, though, we’re still rather smitten with Hotel Renovator. It looks great, its quests are engaging, and there are some genuine surprises in store (not least a vampire checking in as a guest). But most of all, its gameplay loop of destroying a room before being let loose with our wildest interior design ideas is utterly entrancing. Seeing this old and battered hotel take shape into something beautiful is a joy. And with a few more bug fixes, it might just be one of the best renovation sims out there.
Hotel Renovator is available now on PC, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions coming later this year.
