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Hi, I finished the Kyle Hyde saga (Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Last Window: The Secert of Cape West) and I really want to talk about it.

This might be turned into a shrine later? We'll see down the line. The main reason why I didn't is because I played this a little too recently for me to think making a shrine is suitable.

Table of Contents
  • Introduction
  • Thoughts

    • What is the "Kyle Hyde" saga?

    The Kyle Hyde saga (unofficial naming from the fandom) is a duology of Nintendo DS mystery puzzle games created by CING, now currently held by Nintendo. It takes a noir approach to its narrative and presentation, with rotoscoped graphics and utilizing the system's features. The two games are titled: Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (2007) and Last Window: The Secret of Cape West. (2010)

    Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is about Kyle Hyde, an ex-detective turned salesman (and the character you play as), searching for his partner and friend, Brian Bradley, after he betrayed the police force. Before the years end, he’s sent to Hotel Dusk for a job (alongside being a salesman, he’s tasked to find “objects that don’t want to be found” and return them to the commissioner). During his (one night) stay, he meets a colorful cast of characters, encounters many mysteries and gets closer to his friend's disappearance.

    Last Window: The Secret of Cape West takes place a year after Hotel Dusk. Kyle is fired from his job and returns to his apartment. He’s given until the end of the year to vacate, as the complex has been sold off and will eventually be demolished. Alongside that, he’s been directly given a job to search for an item that’s been lost 25 years prior. Many of the mysteries that follow delve into Kyle’s own past.

    Both games are played with the DS on its side, replicating a book. The touch screen acts as your way of navigating the map, interacting with items, progressing through dialogue, solving puzzles and taking notes for important information (this is pretty much the gameplay loop).

    The game will ask for your dominant/preferred hand at the start and will accommodate accordingly. This (emulated) screen shows how it looks with the right hand dominant toggle.

    Both games' stories are divided up into 10 chapters. Due to the information heavy nature of the game's story, there are two vital gameplay segments: interrogations and chapter reviews. Each chapter is given an interrogation segment (excluding the first chapter) and a chapter review (excluding the final chapter).

    Interrogations (I personally like calling them "grill sessions") involve, well, interrogating a character for vital information. You have to ask the character the right questions in order to progress properly, lest you get a game over. This one you can't really brute force (unless you use a walkthrough) since you need to get a feel of the character you're interacting with first to question them properly (which the game gives you enough time to do).

    Chapter reviews are basically a quick overview and quiz of everything you did that chapter. You can brute force it, however you'll be stuck listening to Kyle repeat everything if you answer incorrectly.

    Throughout the game, you'll also encounter many puzzles you'll need to solve in order to progress. They all take advantage of the DS's firmware. Most of the puzzles require the touch screen but there are a few that require closing the device. It really helps the immersion but is also a detriment of you're playing it on anything that's not a DS. I played this game on a 3DS and nearly softlocked myself at the end of Hotel Dusk because of the final puzzle... There were two ways to solve it but one required getting a specific item in an earlier chapter in a specific segment and the other specfiically requires the DS touch screen (I think it has to do with how the screen itself is constructed?). I was able to solve the final big puzzle in Last Window but I saw that folks who emulated the game struggled with it.

    Thoughts

    Overall

    I heard of Hotel Dusk first in a video covering it. Usually, I'd let the video play out until the end, spoilers and all, but I thought the gameplay premise was so interesting I held it off to play it for myself.

    Fast foward to the start of June. I'm still in the early stages of transitioning to being an adult and I needed something to set my mind to for a bit. I have a few games on the back burner (rip) but I decided to pick this one up as a fresh start, plus I miss playing on my DS/3DS.

    I wouldn't be writing this blog if I didn't have some sort of strong feelings for it (maybe this might turn into a shrine. I was teetering on that so we'll see).

    Story

    If you asked me what type of stories I like, I'll become a broken record and say anything character-driven, especially when character relationships come into play. I also really like mysteries. It's a bonus that these elements intertwined in both games (I felt very catered to).

    A lot of the mystery media I've seen usually centers murders so it was a nice change of pace where the (main) crimes is something else (There is murder, though. However, it's framed as they're killed because of that something else).

    Also, with both narratives of the game, you're solving the mysteries long after they've happened, long after tragedy struck and took its effect. It forces characters to move on because they're already too late.

    Characters

    Both games have really good characters. Due to the nature of both games on their own, I feel like Hotel Dusk has a stronger cast. I like the ideas brought on by Last Window's, with how much more familiar the cast is with each other, but some of those ideas falter through or didn't have enough time to explore before their climax.

    There are a lot of characters. I'll only be talking about the ones that pop up as I am writing this.

    Reccurring

    Kyle Hyde

    Kyle Hyde is a fun protagonist. He's rude, hypocritical, nosey and lazy but never so much that it's unbearable. He bounces off nicely with other characters. It makes it more enjoyable when you see his character progress and be vulnerable. Both games has him search for someone deeply personal to him. Despite his rudeness, he has a strong sense of justice and willingness to help others.

    He's also an mess emotional mess of a character. I'll talk more about it with specific characters but, my god, this man needs to go to therapy. He's written in a way where you can feel something's wrong with him but never know exactly what. He is a sad wet dog of a man. I love him.

    Give this man a happy ending or put him in the ring. I need to open his brain and inspect it. Whatever I'm feeling that day.

    Rachel

    Rachel is Ed's secretary. Whenever she calls, I get so happy. She's understanding. She's smart. She has a bit of sass to her. She's really holding Kyle together. I love how she calls him petnames like "sweetie." I've seen a lot of people interpreting this as her flirting (and this is probably the intent) but I took it moreso that's just how she is. I saw her as someone who's very open and playful to folks she feels comfortable with. I get the impression that Kyle either likes it or plays along with it since he never says anything negative towards/about her (plus, in Last Window, he half-jokingly half-seriously asks about staying over once the apartment is gone so, at the very least, he's comfortable with her). She's never seen directly interacting with anyone else (unless you count Ed but even then, we don't know what their interactions look like). She's more than willing to read Kyle to filth though.

    Hotel Dusk

    Louis "Louie" DeNonno

    He's very cute, a goofy guy. I think the friendship between him and Kyle is cute. I feel like he'd be a cool guy to be around, given that he's lazy and avoids whats needed to be done.

    SPOILERS

    "Your boyfriend killed my boyfriend."

    I like how Louis is in a similar position to Kyle in the game. His story is essentially done and finished. He found a place to stay and settled down for the most part. Sure, he's not entirely happy with the way he lives and he's not entirely safe but it's something at least. By the time Kyle shows up, it's moreso about finding out what had happened. There's nothing to really fix cause it's already been done.

    Dunning Smith

    Dunning's also cool. He gives me "Animal Crossing grumpy villager" dad vibes.

    SPOILERS

    God, his story is tragic.

    I thought the build up to him being the antagonist was really well done. Following the theme of the game, he has his reasons for what he did and this poor guy. That one sprite of his and the song that plays with it in the final scene hurts.

    Also, a very awkward conversation between him and Louis for the assault.

    Mila Evans
    SPOILERS

    I like the role she fulfills and what her character offers but... Admittedly, not much to work with personality wise. Plus, her role in the story kicks in at around half-way and even then she barely shows up.

    There is a horrid implication to her where, since she lost half of her life and (either is or is close to being a) legal adult by the time she shows up, she is behind people her age (think of the existentialism) and I don't trust 70s/80s America to be super accomodating for her. This would've been a fun idea to explore, especially since it seems Kyle and Rachel are helping/supporting her through college.

    There's also the implication that she has to immediately deal with the death of her dad, the fact that her dad's a piece of shit who started this whole mess and that her friend/caregiver's friend (the one he's been searching for) killed her dad is also a lot to deal with.

    Brian Bradley

    We don't know much about Brian Bradley. The only things shown off in game was: he was Kyle's partner in the force and friend, he's taller than Kyle, he seems a bit more levelheaded than Kyle, they play billards together... A lot of their relationship is built off of implication. Bradley meant so much to Kyle that he shot him after hearing about his betrayal (Kyle doesn't talk about feeling any remorse either?) and spent three whole years trying to find him while working a job he doesn't care for.

    SPOILERS

    *Head in hands* His final letter at the end fucks me up so bad... It genuinely breaks my heart.

    We get to see more implications about their relationship on Bradley's side. He trusts Kyle's intuition so much that he strewn together this whole thing for Kyle to find the truth through one of his best skills: snooping around. He did all at a distance. He knows he's in a shitty, dangerous position and he does not want someone he loves to get caught up in that. He saw his sister die. He held her lifeless body. He's not gonna let his friend end up six feet under as well. Bradley gives what him wants: the truth. The awful, cold truth. And then he asks him to stop his search.

    There's so much genuine love and care on both sides it ruins me.

    Also, similar to Rachel, Bradley also calls Kyle by some nicknames ("buddy" and "partner"). He's only given two instances to talk though and even a much smaller extent of interacting with other characters.

    I know they're most likely written off to be good friends but it comes off as queer to me (whether that'd be from a queerplatonic partner angle or from a romantic one). Although he stops searching for him in Last Window, I get the impression that he's not over it. Also, this iconic scene:

    Last Window

    Margaret "Mags" Patrice

    I love her vibe. She's regal and mature but still down to earth enough with her tenants. I also appreciate how we interact with her more than Dunning (though, to be fair, she is Kyle's landlady so we have to interact with her more).

    SPOILERS

    Go, girl, fuck up your husband.

    Mags is in the similar antagonist role that Dunning filled. She's distinct enough in her character and story that I had a good time. Compared to Dunning, she's not as involved in her own story. I'm not exactly sure if that detracts the enjoyment I had from her story (I know my enjoyment of Dunning and hers is different, I'm just not sure how exactly) but it is understandable at least.

    I do wish she was the one to kill her husband though. She deserves to kill at least one (1) man.

    Tony Wolf

    Everytime I see Tony, I think of Louie and miss him.

    I think Tony was just in a bad spot if being so close to a character in the previous game (characterization, role (sort of) and appearance) that it kind of sours his existence for me a bit.

    SPOILERS

    I do like how he's in a very different point in life compared to Louie, though. Tony's in the midst of being sleazy and letting his anger dangerously get the best of him. He struggles with trying to climb out of that and coping with quick, emotional impulses. I felt like he was given a good amount of time to explore that. I would love to see this theme explored deeper in another story but, since Last Window has to juggle a lot of things, I think they did as good as they can here.

    Betty Meyer
    SPOILERS

    God... I wish she had a bigger role than being relegated to the "love interest" plotline she got. The idea behind her subplot is interesting but I feel like it wasn't explored enough before her interrogation. I'm probably more critical about this since the themes of her subplot also resonate with me so it was disappointing to see it end up the way it did. I think it would've worked well with her seemingly bubbly, more put together nature.

    I also thought she'd be more important in the main plot because of her background but that never came to fruition.

    Frank Raver

    Frank's importance kicks off in the second half of the story, so he's mainly just roaming around the apartment as the grumpy old man he is.

    SPOILERS

    I appreciate how different his interrogation segment was. His requires you to ask questions in a specific order.

    Claire and Sidney Reagan

    These two were honestly the other characters in Last Window that I would always be so happy to see. It's nice seeing a parent-child pair have a decently good relationship this time around. If I were to rank all of the characters, I'd put these two pretty high up.

    I'd also love to visit their resturant and chat with them. They seem like nice folks.

    Visuals

    The visuals of the game mainly comprised of character sprites and 3D assets for backgrounds.

    The backgrounds do their job well enough and there's enough detail to make the spaces feel alive. I really like how this is pushed a bit further in Last Window, where you can see how every character lives in their apartment.

    The real star of the show is the character sprites. Everyone is animated using rotoscoping. This video here goes more in depth with the process specifically for these games:

    Music

    I have a bad habit of not playing a (story-driven) game with its sound on. This leads me to missing the soundtrack as I play. This is just due to me being more paranoid/scared once the atmospheric music starts in tandem with the story.

    That said, I played these games with the sound on for the majority of it. It's like groovy elevator music. Sometimes I go back and have them play in the background.

    My absolute favorite, and one I play the most, is "Play it Again"

    Here are some honorable mentions:

    So, which one's better?

    I personally like both of them an equal amount, granted for different reasons.

    Hotel Dusk is more contained. I think it has a strong cast and lays a great basis for Kyle's character. The story itself is easy to grasp and I was able to suspend my disbelief, leading to me believing this story just worked on enough miracles.

    Last Window focuses more on worldbuilding and has a more personal journey for Kyle. There's a lot of fun additions (ex. game's noveliation, text history, etc.) to the game along with some needed quality of life bits. The game's chapters feels longer too.

    Bonus

    While scavenging around, I was able to find the Japanese original websites for both games. They're still up and running! (though, not built for mobile):

  • Hotel Dusk
  • Last Window
    •

    The English sites are archived on Internet Archive but I can't seem to pull them up without the sites breaking.

    I did find a cute little fan website for Hotel Dusk! It's very cute and stylized in a very neat way: Dusk Court Records

    I would also like to shoutout this Kyle Hyde edit by el on Tumblr, using Red Velvet's "Russian Roulette". Sometimes I put it on repeat and just vibe to it. It's also amazing what can be done with limited graphics.

    https://www.tumblr.com/kylehydesaga/783689672560869376/hop-on-kyle-hyde-sagamp4

    Anyway, play Hotel Dusk/Last Window.