Hotel Galactic is a cute little Ghibli-inspired colony sim where players run a premier hotel at the furthest parts of the galaxy. Part Ghibli, part Treasure Planet, and all heart, Hotel Galactic not only aims to be fun and relaxing but also celebrates artistic expression and creativity. Impressively put together by a small team, there are many great things to say; however, this Early Access title still has hiccups that need fixing before full launch.
The game begins with a gorgeously animated cutscene (I’ll touch on the art later), opening as you discover an old, run-down hotel at the galaxy’s edge. Interacting with the ghostly previous owner and remaining guests, you quickly learn you have a talent for running such a place. Not wanting his life’s work to die with him, the previous owner entrusts you with refurbishing and running the hotel so a new generation can enjoy its amenities.
Mechanically speaking, Hotel Galactic plays as a colony sim focused on creating quality guest experiences and managing workers. You have an ever-increasing workforce automating work based on a player-modified schedule, guests demanding certain amenities dictating their enjoyment and pay, and rooms on a two-dimensional grid serving the needs of both guests and workers, providing storage, crafting space, or amenities.
You could say Hotel Galactic plays like a mix of a tycoon game, Fallout Shelter, and RimWorld, with players managing tasks between appeasing guests and the workforce. Essentially, everything needed must be crafted at a workbench, requiring materials gathered from the world.
This variety can make the game feel like it has an identity crisis: should I spend resources improving staff efficiency in gathering and crafting, or focus on guest needs to build a substantial hotel? The research tree further pads the game and detracts from its hospitality theme, while the hotel gameplay feels underwhelming. I would have preferred casting aside tedious colony sim mechanics to focus harder on the hospitality tycoon, giving more ways to improve the guest experience rather than balancing research times and gathering/crafting segments.
By far the most impressive aspect is the artistic direction. Featuring animated cutscenes, stunning hand-drawn flats, and 3D work translating the drawn look well, Hotel Galactic is an absolute charm. Clearly inspired by Studio Ghibli, it captures this well and includes ideas reminiscent of Treasure Planet. So pleasing and nostalgic was the art that I paused to watch Treasure Planet to get the worms out of my brain.
Given the recent controversy around AI-generated Ghibli-style images, I was a bit worried that computer-generated visuals might feature in this game. I was pleased to quickly learn that not only does the game use 100% human-created art, but it’s also fervently against AI-generated content as a whole. This stance makes the entire game feel all the more special for its emphasis on art, making everything feel like a tribute to human creativity rather than just a pretty game.
Being in Early Access, the game has a few bugs, as well as general decisions I would like to see changed before launch.
Besides gameplay tweaks, the tutorial felt heavy-handed, stopping you for dialogue every few seconds while learning. This is clunky and makes the start unnecessarily slow. Conversely, Sandbox Mode lacks any introduction or tutorial, with in-game help currently defaulting to text.
This essentially means players MUST play the story mode before going into sandbox, but that feels sort of counterintuitive when the sandbox option exists for those who don’t want all of the story content to begin with.
Bug-wise, I faced occasional progression locks in story mode where characters refused to research. They’d approach the desk, look at the task, then stand idle, making no progress. This even affected basic tutorial research like unlocking rooms, halting progress significantly.
Pros
- Gorgeous, hand-drawn art direction inspired by Studio Ghibli
- Charming and relaxing premise with heart
- High production value for a small dev team
Cons
- Early Access bugs can block progress
- The game feels torn between being a colony sim and a hospitality tycoon
- The tutorial is overly hand-holding, while the sandbox lacks any guidance
- Some mechanics dilute the core hotel-building fantasy
TryHardGuides was provided a Steam code for this PC Early Access Review of Hotel Galactic. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page!
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