If you have ever wanted to read a novel that played like a video game, or wanted to play a video game that read like a novel, Hotel Dusk is the game for you. Sure, it doesn’t sound interesting when I preface it like that, but Hotel Dusk is special. The game places your character in the middle of a detective noir-style storyline, taking place near New Year’s Eve in 1979. Your character, along with others in the storyline, has been brought to a strange hotel by a dark secret, which you are enticed to uncover through interesting interactive dialogue. In Hotel Dusk, you hold your DS sideways much like a book, using the touch screen to interact with in-game tasks. Although most of the game is based around the dialogue via on-screen text, you are also presented with the task of finding things by ‘pointing’ on the touch screen, and sometimes handy little techniques come into play such as closing and then opening your DS in order to check the flip side of an object you are holding.

The Graphics in Hotel Dusk are great. All done in a noir-style setting with stylish old-school colors, all the characters in the game are presented as black and white, stationary drawings that look great in terms of gameplay and in atmosphere. Though the graphics are very stylish, the storyline is really what brings the game together, so if you can’t decide between reading a good book and playing a video game, do yourself a favor and pick up Hotel Dusk: Room 215.