Lemma Soft Forums

Not sure if anyone else already posted about these two games, but they're about as visual novel-y as a game can get I think. The two games were made by a company named Cing; which now doesn't exist, sadly. They're both for the DS, Hotel Dusk came out in Japan, US, and Europe, while its sequel, Last Window came out in Europe and Japan only.
That being said, the games do work on US DS's (as they are region free), and a friend of mine bought it for me a year or so ago. The story takes place in the 1970's in America, following an ex-detective named Kyle Hyde. Basically you go around in wherever building the story takes place (the first is in a hotel; the second an apartment building), and you learn about all the tenants' lives, connect them to your own, and in a way, all of the characters' stories relate to one another. I really loved the art style and characters; it may not be a visual novel in the sense everyone here is used to, but it has a great feel. Heck, when you play the game you ever have to turn the DS so you hold it like a book; I thought some of you might be interested in trying the games if you haven't already.

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I have Hotel Dusk. I haven't played it yet but I got it when I bought a group of three games on eBay. You make it sound really nice. I have a ton of games on my backlog but I might bump Hotel Dusk up now :>.

I love love love love Hotel Dusk and Last Window.

I love the style, characters, (the xmas tree scene in the first? omg <3 ), the puzzles, the dialogue, the story... just everything.

I would *love* to see another game in a similar vein. ;-; Like art-inspired, or noir-based.

I actually think I bought that for my mom like 2 Christmases ago, since she likes mysteries and games like that. Dunno if she liked it or has even played it yet. :< If she hasn't, maybe it's time to "re-appropriate" its ownership?

I really like Cing's game; Hotel Dusk and Last Window, Glass Rose, Little King Story, Another Code. Though I don't really like Again (the visual style and gameplay is bad).

So I was really sad when I hear Cing is closed down. I guess this is because Cing is always making niche games. Too bad really...

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"Double the princesses, quadruple the fun!" - Haken Browning (SRW-OG Endless Frontier)

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I loved another code too! I haven't played the other Cing games(and wouldn't be able to since I already sold out my DS >.<) but hotel dusk and last window intrigues me. Strangely, it didn't had many good reviews in JP's amazon but heard that it got good reviews in the English market.

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devART| |One Moment in Summer GxB/Supernatural/Mystery| |Orange° Blog

May be eastern market doesn't really like Cing's game? It's normal for one game to be liked by one market but hated by others. And just like I said, Cing's game is niche, their game almost always like VN and have mystery/detective theme (with the exception of Little King Story). It's not for everyone.

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"Double the princesses, quadruple the fun!" - Haken Browning (SRW-OG Endless Frontier)

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Yeah, I guess this is the reason. At times like this where I see old(is DS considered old now?) games, wanna play them then just regret selling my DS in a corner...

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devART| |One Moment in Summer GxB/Supernatural/Mystery| |Orange° Blog

I really liked Hotel Dusk, I played it right after Phoenix Wright and thought it was great. I certainly recommend it, it has a (mostly) western feel to it while being very visual novel-like, and with a cool non-bishie protagonist with a real personality. Last Window didn't hold my interest though, I guess it lacked the original mystique of the first, but I want to beat it eventually.

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I have and played through most of Hotel Dusk ( its weird I power through the first few chapters, and then I burn out and don't touch it for months at a time...) and I really enjoy it. It has a really good story and characters.

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I finally obtained a cheap copy of Hotel Dusk after all these years... now eventually maybe I'll get around to playing it

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Hanako Games

I do suggest you continue with it, it gets a lot deeper and I think at least matches the first; although, yes, it does use a similar formula to the first, I really enjoyed it.



Perhaps it has something to do with being a very Western game? Cing themselves seemed a bit..confused. The US had the highest sales for the game, yet they didn't make it a high priority to get it to the states before they shut down...not exactly the best business plan.

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Lol, I laughed reading this. But I guess they didn't had the budget to sell it out in the English world(seeing the bad sales they got in Japan).

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devART| |One Moment in Summer GxB/Supernatural/Mystery| |Orange° Blog

I absolutely LOVE Hotel Dusk: Room 215 & Last Window. It's really sad that CiNG went bankrupt, but I digress. I finished playing Last Window about 4 months ago and I'm SO glad I played the sequel. I felt like it sort of gave closure to the series. Oh, and there's a video on how the creators of Last Window/Hotel Dusk animated the art for the game. I thought it was pretty cool. ^-^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv6L26DZYEs

I've played Hotel Dusk, Last Window and the two Another Codes. I think they're pretty good, but... they are flawed games. Hotel Dusk is, in fact, a painful adventure game to me, with dead ends, some weird puzzles and pixel hunting (the art, music and the plot were wonderful, though). Last Window was a better game in my opinion. Another Code... The first one was really funny, but too short, and the Another Code R is the opposite: loooooooong and slooooooow and, at the end, really boring.

It's a pity, Cing had some real potential, but they were far from perfect.