Hotel 626: Check In A Room

Have you ever stayed at a hotel room that just didn’t feel right? During the daytime, the hotel looks perfectly fine, what with its decent Victorian-like wallpaper, and pretty metal plates. Perhaps you needed a place to stay during a long road trip, or just wanted to get away from it all.

Hotel 626 offers none of the comfort you seek.

Now, Hotel 626 is a horror game produced by Doritos. Now I’m sure you’re wondering “How the bloody hell can a corn chip snack company think of making a horror game? I mean, what’s so terrifying about a snack?” If you were thinking that, I can assure you, Doritos did not spare anything when it comes to this game. They created ten levels of hellish torture that only masochistic people would play. So I did.

To make it even more terrifying, you have the option of enabling your webcam and microphone to make the game feel a little more realistic (of course, it’s no big deal if you lack a mic and camera, as you can continue on with the game just fine without it). To terrify you even more, the hotel is only open during the hours between 6 P.M. and 6 A.M., but if you’re paranoid enough as it is, you can always change the time on your computer. They suggest that you put on some headphones and turn off the lights, and you may do so to make it feel much creepier, but, again, if you’re one of those paranoid people, like me, you don’t have to. Although, if you have an air conditioner next to you, or something even a little noisy is going on, I, too, would suggest putting on some headphones, because the clearer sound will help you greatly.

As the game begins, you’re see the suggestion of headphones and what not, and the Snack Strong Production credit. After that, you’ll see this sort of glowing sentence. It reads, “ONLY BY CONFRONTING YOUR DARKEST FEARS CAN YOU FIND THE LIGHT.” You wake up in a hotel room in the middle of the night. Off in the distance, you can hear screaming of some sort. Breathing heavily, you pull on your shirt and head out the door, wanting to do nothing but get the hell out of that hotel. This proves to be a difficult task since to get to the exit, you have to face ten tasks. Now, some of these tasks are not so difficult, but even so, you can still feel the adrenaline coursing through your veins. This part is one of the levels, but is just a movie scene, so take the time to sit back and enjoy it, get a beverage, or change diapers or something.

Like I said, you exit your hotel room and look around a hallway. Your character will look around paranoid for a moment, before the game lets you take control. The screen will then show the words, “ONE IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS” To move, all you have to do is move your mouse forward, or up, whatever. Now this level is one of the simpler tasks. All you have to do is find the door that is different from the rest. Now, I’m not going to ruin that the answer is. Just know that you have to get through that door before the darkness, or whatever evil thing that lurks in it, gets to you first.

“SHE LIVES IN DARKNESS, SHOW HER THE LIGHT” This level is harder than just going through a door. You’ll find yourself in a bathroom of some sort and you’re main defense is a camera and what you have to do take a picture of the girl, or ghost, or whatever the fuck that terrifying thing is. This sounds like an utter rip-off of Fatal Frame, but I assure you… it kind of is. Still, it looks cool, and fits in with the eerie atmosphere. You have a certain number of chances before you have to start the level over again. This goes for most of the levels. Along with the option to retry the option, they are also kind enough to offer the ‘Skip?’ option, which is great if you’re tired of dying, or just don’t have the balls to go through with it again.

After taking the picture, you’ll continue down a hall to an exit. “JUST IN TIME.” You’re faced with a dozen, or more, flight of stairs. You go down these stairs and you’ll see a door with, what looks like moving darkness, creeping upon it. You have to get to the door before darkness consumes you. If you don’t get there in time, you can always try again.

Another hallway and you’ll come upon a door. This has got to be one of the creepier levels. You walk in and see a little baby sleeping, but if you’ve played your share of horror games, horror movies, or just have common sense, you’ll know that this probably isn’t some innocent sleeping child. And you’re right. It’s some sort of demonic junior baby son of a bitch. Now this is where that whole “Turn on your microphone” thing comes along. If you have your microphone in, you have to sing a lullaby into to lull the baby to sleep. If you sing too quietly, or too loudly, you’ll wake it up, successfully bringing yourself into a type of hell only main characters in horror movies would be subject to. Now, if you don’t have a microphone, you’ll move your mouse in circles, but just like singing too loud or soft, moving your mouse too fast or slow will result in the baby waking up.

The next level is a continuation of this. Now that you have gotten it to sleep, your next task is to get the hell out of there. Apparently, this baby can stay asleep with people screaming in the distance, but footsteps across the floor is just unacceptable. This time, you move your mouse side to side, trying to keep the white circle in the middle. You really don’t want to wake the child, so keep calm and gently move the cursor side to side.

After you get out, you take a couple of steps before getting knocked out by something. The next level, “HELPLESS?,” is another movie scene. Relax and watch. You’ll see figures in the doorway, as you’re being dragged down the hallway. Just as the level name says, you are pretty helpless, and all you can do is look around, before everything goes black again.

“HE KNOWS THE WAY” and by “he” they mean the insane, straight-jacking wearing roommate, urging you to “do it.” (Remember; don’t listen to anybody that tells you otherwise, drugs are bad. What happens when you take them? You wake up in a mental hotel room with nothing but your sanity) This is where the headphones come into play. If you don’t have headphones, turn the volume up. You need to hear him. On the walls, you’ll see drawing of different things like horses, hands, spider, and so forth. Each one will have red marks on it. The number of red marks is a number to the keypad on the door. He’ll mutter three things, each time you play the game, it’s different. In whatever order he says, find the number and punch it in the keypad. Again, you have a certain number of tries.

In the next level, you’re faced with many, many photos of actual players, all clipped onto a string. Here, you’re being timed. If you have enabled your webcam, they have already taken a picture without you knowing. If you haven’t a webcam, look for a picture of a hallway. You can look at the next row of photos by clicking below the row or something.

“ANSWER AND YOU WILL BE ANSWERED” You have the option of giving them your phone number (If you live in the U.S.), or not. If you do put in your phone number, your phone will ring and a “friend” will give you directions to help you get out. If you don’t want to, then you’ll hear a man give you directions through your speaker, or whatever. Simply follow these directions. One or two wrong turn and you’re lost in the hallway, and will have to try again (or not).

When you get to the exit, this last level, “YOUR CHECK-OUT TIME IS NOW.” This is just a pleasant little movie, and the end of the game. I don’t want to ruin the ending so you’ll just have to play the game to see what happens.

Visual: 5/5
The quality here is fantastic. It looks like there are real actors and the hotel looks as if you have really stepped into hell. If you did turn off your lights, that makes it even better. I mean, it really draws you in. You can see every terrifying detail.

Sound: 5/5
I know that there are parts where you really have to strain your ears, but that was intentional and makes it that much better. You hear your character groaning, the murmurs of a madman, the gurgling of a child, the screams of a crazed woman, they didn’t skip this stuff.

Interaction: 5/5
The game really includes you in it by offering the use of your webcam, microphone, and phone number. Again, if you don’t have any of these available, they allow you to play the game just fine without them.

Value: 5/5
You can play the game again and again, and it’s still as fun. Send the game to a friend and watch their previously joyful expression turn into a horrific one, which is sure to fulfill your sadistic side.

Overall: 5/5
This game really does it for me. The atmosphere, the interaction, really, this game has it. Unfortunately, it’s short. That’s the only downside. Still, if you want to waste time, and want to scare yourself a bit, this game is for you.