Rusty Lake Hotel

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 96%2016

$1.99

US Steam price, checked 2 h ago

The verdict

A short, macabre point-and-click puzzler with striking hand-drawn art and dark humor. Skip it if you hate moon-logic puzzles, squeamish content, or having to restart the whole game after a mistake.

Great for

Rusty Lake fans and players who like short, morbid, atmospheric escape-room puzzles

Main risk

Obscure click-spam puzzles and no way to redo a night without restarting the whole game

What players love

Creepy, morbidly funny atmosphere

Mentioned in ~2 in 5 positive reviews

“It has this weird mix of being cozy and unsettling at the same time, which fits the game really well.”
Steam review · 2.7 h played ↗

“bolstered by a deliciously macabre atmosphere (from the writing, to the graphics, to the music)”
Steam review · 4.5 h played ↗

“The atmosphere is gorgeous: cozy, strange, in places gross, but hard to put down.”
Steam review · translated · 25.4 h played ↗

Fun, mostly fair escape-room puzzles

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews

“The puzzles are clever without being unfair, the surreal humor lands perfectly”
Steam review · 2.3 h played ↗

“escape room style puzzles at just the right difficulty / zaniness”
Steam review · 3 h played ↗

“Most puzzles are fair and interesting.”
Steam review · translated · 3.2 h played ↗

Distinctive hand-drawn art and music

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews

“the hand-drawn art + sound design make every room feel unsettling in the best way”
Steam review · 2.3 h played ↗

“The hand drawn aesthetic gives it this eerie charm that perfectly fits the game’s strange atmosphere.”
Steam review · 6 h played ↗

“Magnificent art style.”
Steam review · translated · 3.2 h played ↗

Short, bite-sized and good value

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews

“This was creepy and spooky and bitesized. Really enjoyed it. More than worth its price.”
Steam review · 1.5 h played ↗

“Definitely worth the two dollars”
Steam review · 1.7 h played ↗

“The game is short, no filler, but with excellent pacing.”
Steam review · translated · 25.4 h played ↗

Great lore for Rusty Lake fans

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews

“It dives deeper into the mysterious lore of Rusty Lake while introducing memorable new characters and expanding the series' strange mythology.”
Steam review · 1.9 h played ↗

“As a fan of the series, I loved spotting the recurring symbols and details that connect this game to the rest of the Rusty Lake universe.”
Steam review · 2.3 h played ↗

Replayable secrets and achievements

Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews

“The twist that a recipe can be much tastier if you poke around more and find all the ingredients is really cool.”
Steam review · translated · 1.1 h played ↗

“The game is worth replaying to get perfect marks on the puzzles.”
Steam review · 3.2 h played ↗

What players complain about

Illogical, click-everything puzzles

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews

“This game is basically just the worst parts of point and click adventures - just clicking everything on everything in hopes that something happens.”
Steam review · 0.8 h played ↗

“Click on the deer skull's antler to make it grow, click again on it to make it grow rosemary, click it again later to make its nose bleed tobasco sauce. Aha.”
Steam review · 0.5 h played ↗

“Clicking the deer skull to get tabasco sauce... Seriously?”
Steam review · translated · 1 h played ↗

No room reset; mistakes force full restart

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews

“If you mess up at all, you're completely screwed - there is ONLY a total restart mechanic, even though restarting the nights individually would make much more sense and also be entirely possible.”
Steam review · 4.4 h played ↗

“BECAUSE THE DEV DIDN'T PROVIDE A LEVEL RESTART AND THERE IS NO SAVING AT ALL!!!”
Steam review · translated · 3.4 h played ↗

“I really wanted to like this game, but not having the option to reset just the day is really frustrating”
Steam review · 1.9 h played ↗

Thin, nonsensical story and abrupt ending

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“And the worst part is there's zero story in this.”
Steam review · 4.1 h played ↗

“The game ends with a "to be continued" which is a bit of a lacklustre finish after having spent a few hours working on it.”
Steam review · 3.2 h played ↗

Disturbing, gross and distasteful content

Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews

“This game is distasteful in a stunning variety of ways.”
Steam review · 3.5 h played ↗

“Extremely unpleasant. One character drinks his own blood. Another eats his own feces.”
Steam review · 1.9 h played ↗

“Sadism, coprophagy, suicide, cannibalism... Filth from a moral and ethical standpoint.”
Steam review · translated · 2 h played ↗

Missable ingredients and achievements need a guide

Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews

“you have to follow a guide because rooms have to be done in a certain order and certain ingredients are literally impossible to get unless you know exactly what you have to do”
Steam review · 2.6 h played ↗

“To get all achievements, you need to play the rooms in a certain order which the game doesn't tell you.”
Steam review · 0.6 h played ↗

Too short and too easy for some

Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews

“Maybe an hour worth of game.”
Steam review · 4 h played ↗

“but everything was overshadowed by 5th-grade puzzles: pouring water, rolling balls, etc.”
Steam review · translated · 1.4 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Verified

Minimum

OSMicrosoft® Windows® XP/Vista/7,8, 10

Processor1.8 Ghz Processor

Memory1 GB RAM

Storage40 MB available space

OSMicrosoft® Windows® XP/Vista/7,8, 10

Processor1.8 Ghz Processor

Memory1 GB RAM

Storage40 MB available space

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