From the creators of Ship Graveyard Simulator 2 comes Pets Hotel, a cute but flawed simulation game that offers far more tugging of those heart strings but sadly leaves a lot to be desired in terms of playability and, indeed, finishing touches.
If you haven’t guessed it already, Pets Hotel throws you into the responsible role of looking after people’s beloved furry (and feathered) companions. An ideal career choice for those that love all creatures great and small but as a simulation game it doesn’t quite hit the mark.
Pets Hotel presents you with the challenge of turning struggling pet hotels into flourishing businesses. Rebranding my first hotel “The Fur Seasons”, I set to work on my first day in animal husbandry, picked up my work phone and started making reservations for the lovable creatures.
First Impressions
Starting out in my newfound fictional career, I found the opening stages quite fun as I answered the phone and used the computer to make reservations with all the relevant information: name, age, length of stay, size of room and any additional needs for the incoming residents. However, the cracks began to show (quite literally, with gaping holes over doorways) when I started a new day and took the pets into my care.
I understand that running such businesses would demand a lot of hard work, but you would think the developers would ease off a little for the sake of making the game a little more fun. Each animal under your care needs constant attention, be it cleaning, feeding, stroking, or toilet stops, there’s always some mundane errand that needs to be ran.
This brings me nicely onto when it comes to the animals doing their messy business. Unless I missed the memo, there’s no guidance pertaining to toilet rituals. My cats and dogs just ended up laying steamers in their rooms and even taking my dogs outside to defecate resulted in nothing other than a wet and miserable mutt and a garden full of holes. My best guess is that I was supposed to wait for the animals under my care to simply do their smelly doings on my lovely carpets and waiting for me to clean it up.
Pampered Pets Make Happy Customers
While there seems to be a lack of toilets in Pets Hotel, the game does provide you with a fully equipped grooming room; a place to pamper the pets with nail clippings, soapy washes and blow-dries. On checking pets into your hotel, pet owners can add these options when booking in on the phone. However, you should err on the side of caution; clip those claws just a tad too short and a $200 vet’s bill will be on the cards.
Like with any domestic pet, the creatures of Pets Hotel enjoy nothing more than being played with and a whole host of cat and dog toys are available from the game’s fictional store. To add a little more cuteness into what’s admittedly an already cuteness-crammed game, the pets respond to being stroked by rolling onto their backs (birds excluded) and omitting floating hearts to further indicate the animal’s contentedness. It’s a rewarding game, if not a little monotonous and frustrating.
Summary
Pets Hotel has all the groundwork laid to offer an enjoyable experience, but sadly falls a little short in terms of some much-needed variety. With a few more features to break the repetitive gameplay up a little, Pets Hotel would have been a true gem. As it stands, however, its an average title with a somewhat niche audience.
Pets Hotel is available now on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
REVIEW
OUR SCORE - 5
5
SCORE
Pets Hotel has all the groundwork laid to offer an enjoyable experience, but sadly falls a little short in terms of some much-needed variety.
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