Hamster Inn review - "A warm and fuzzy stay"

• Cute and cosy atmosphere
• Balance between active and casual gameplay
• Easy and flowing management

If video games have taught us anything, the most threatening conditions can be cured with a good night's rest. And the purveyor of such a service is the local inn you expect every town you come across to have, even if hamsters run it. That's what HyperBeard Inc. thinks should be the norm by releasing a game called Hamster Inn. This 2D stylized management game has you overseeing the operation of an inn operated by hamsters and serving all manner of woodland creatures, but thankfully none that are hostile to hamsters. Here's what you can expect by taking over such an operation.

About Hamster Inn

Hospitality is a booming industry, with people always looking for a place to stay whenever they arrive somewhere new. In Hamster Inn, that's the service you provide for little animals looking for a change of scenery. You take over the inn as it's just starting to get its footing, and by that I mean you don't even have a single room available when the first guest arrives. This is where you learn that you're going to need to step things up and invest time and money into making this inn a cosy place that everyone and their mums will be raving about on whatever constitutes social media in the small woodland creature world. You've gotta turn "No Vacancy" into "Go Vacancy".

Rave about the Hamster Inn

So many games put a lot of pressure and strain on you, which can only worsen if you're not making solid progress. Hamster Inn may have rush elements, but it's overall a calm and comforting experience that you can appreciate at your own pace. This is emphasised by the general cuteness of the game. Everything is simple, smooth, light, and adorable, as if you're playing make-believe with a small house and some hamster plushies. The more staff you recruit and the more guests you unlock, the more new cuteness you get to see and put into action when it comes to running things.

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Speaking of running things, the management can be both active and passive. The busiest part of the inn is the main section where you're checking guests in and out of rooms constantly while trying to drum up new business. It starts slow as expected, but it's designed to generate revenue fairly quickly so that you can reach a point where you'll have a line of guests leading offscreen. Each bedroom becomes a revolving door with the different guests behaving in various ways, ordering room service, tipping, paying, and then making a mess that you've got to clean up. You get into a routine that's only aided by the additional staff you can choose to hire and put their special abilities into action.

The other areas of the cafe and the pond provide nice little breaks for you to check on guests and collect some spare change. While they're not as active as the main part of the inn, they create a bigger sense of running a whole business.

The Hamster Inn suggestion box

Lots of services nowadays will ask for your feedback after you've been served and will sometimes give you Satisfaction cards to fill out. If I'm filling one out for the Hamster Inn, I know what I would put on it. The main one is that many staff members are largely ineffective. Some have a base passive ability which can be quite helpful, but others literally won't do anything until their special meter fills up. This means that you're literally just watching them sit there until they finally decide to wake up and do maybe 30 seconds of work. As a result, you'll be putting a lot of cash towards making sure their active periods are as long and efficient as possible.

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The lack of offline earning is also a bit of a setback in a game that seems set up to earn when you're AFK. The only way that you can do this is if you buy Tip Jars for the parts of the inn that can have them. But even then, these jars only hold a certain amount of money and it's not much compared to what several minutes of active playing and watching ads can earn you. Be prepared to spend money so that you can make semi-decent money offline.

Booking the Hamster Inn

Hamster Inn is a cosy 2D management inn about working with hamsters to run an inn for a variety of guests. It does exactly what it's supposed to in creating a friendly, low-pressure, low-maintenance, and cute environment that still manages to keep you active. Unfortunately, it needs to make hiring employees feel more worthwhile with more generous opportunities to earn money when you're not playing. Other than that, I'd be happy to stay a few nights at the Hamster Inn.