This Bed We Made, developed by Lowbirth Games, invites players into a world set against the backdrop of a 1950s hotel. As the protagonist, a diligent maid named Sophie, you’ll navigate a day filled with cleaning rooms, solving puzzles, and making pivotal decisions that shape the fate of ten individuals. In this honest review, I’ll delve into the gameplay, character depth, and technical aspects of the game, offering insights tailored to gamers who love a good mystery and storyline. And thank you to Lowbirth Games for the free game!
This Bed We Made is Set During One Day
This Bed We Made explores a mystery about a man who has photographed Sophie snooping through guests’ private items. The game is a narrative-focused story with clear instructions to move forward. Your actions will alter the fate of at least 10 people at the hotel, which is pretty impressive. I expected the story to last over the course of several days like a daily routine situation. What I learned is the entire game takes place in just one singular fateful work day. My first playthrough took between 3-5 hours, and this was a very leisured playthrough.
This Bed We Made: Room Cleaning
Gameplay in This Bed We Made is divided into three parts: cleaning rooms, solving puzzles, and choice-based decisions. Playing as the maid, Sophie, you have several options when it comes to cleaning rooms. Wash the tubs, clean toilets, make the beds, replace towels, pick up cups, and throw away trash. How well you clean the rooms does have a minor effect on what happens at the end of the game too. There are no obvious signs if you are cleaning the rooms correctly, which is the only part I dislike. I wish there was a signal somewhere to let you know the room has been completed.
Puzzles: Unveiling Secrets
Solving puzzles leads the narrative forward as you snoop around the guests’ rooms and find more clues to reveal their hidden secrets. Sift through clues to find a combination to a safe, decode a secret message, find objects to progress the story, and some others. I really enjoyed inspecting items and doing the puzzles because they felt more like learning about these characters who are relatable rather than just figuring out the clues for the plot’s sake. The snooping for clues reveals such huge insights into the characters and this feeling of knowledge positively impacted my time while playing This Bed We Made.
Choices that Matter (and Some that Don’t)
Decisions, decisions, decisions. What you choose to throw away in your guests’ rooms is a large factor in figuring out the big mystery. After playing through This Bed We Made several times, I figured out a few things though. I was disheartened to learn that one specific room has no impact on the story and only relies on one specific dialogue choice at the end. Of course, new players wouldn’t know this, but the realization had me sad that my choices in the room never mattered at all. Like a slap to my face. On the other hand, I respect and appreciate the finer details within the other important rooms because what you do to those DO MATTER.
Subplots: Colleagues and Consequences
The main storyline of This Bed We Made focuses on the guests of your floor. But there are a few “side quests” that relate to your coworkers at the hotel. Your choices during these events, even by omission, also effect the story. For example, a non-spoiler related one is the choice to mop up a puddle of water in your manager’s office. Your choices in the office will be the difference between an employee being fired or not. There are also relationship dialogue choices with your allies, Beth and Andrew. You can be normal coworker buds who like to hang out, or maybe you’ll find your relationship blossoming into… something more.
Gameplay Efficiency: This Bed We Made Replayability
Now let’s talk about something that bothers me about This Bed We Made. Cutscenes are not skippable and most dialogues are not skippable. Although the playtime is short per playthrough, I wish it could be done at an even faster rate. Since there are 10 people who are affected by choices, that unskippable time really adds up. As a helpful tip for new players, manually save at the beginning of every room or choice so you can load back up later down the line when you go for other achievements.
Aesthetic Marvel: Recreating a Bygone Era
I love the graphics and hotel details in This Bed We Made. The quality of the character models radiates an engaging aura. Sophie’s face clearly showcases her pores and freckles. It was truly remarkable when I saw the light refract on her eyeballs and had to remember that it’s a game engine processing the lighting and not real life. Based on the visual fidelity, it was like being in a museum for the 1950s. I loved it!
Sound Design and Voice Acting
When you have no complaints about sound design, that means it’s job was done well. Music stands out in the opening act and sound effects fit everything into a nice 1950s package. But let’s talk about the breadwinner in This Bed We Made: voice acting. The amazing voice talent brought the characters to life. They were emotional and raw. I actually felt like I was having a conversation with them instead of hearing lines being read behind a script. All of these acute attentions to detail created a real sense of immersion.
Technical Performance: A Smooth Ride with a Minor Hiccup
Performance-wise, I was locked in at 60 FPS on ultra graphic settings all the way to the end. From my experience, there were no significant graphical glitches or performance bugs. There was one key bug that ultimately broke me out of being immersed though. At the very end of This Bed We Made, a detective’s face was not animating when he talked. This bug occurred about 50% of the time when I played the ending.
Navigating towards the True Ending
If you are curious about how to get the true ending in This Bed We Made, here are some non-spoiler related nuggets of wisdom. Think about the time period of the 1950s. Read the context of the era and think about how people are treated. Be meticulous in what you throw away. Last but not least, the lockers are VITAL to the true ending. I wish you luck!
In summary, This Bed We Made offers an immersive experience for the mystery/detective genre. I guarantee you will need to play this game at least twice to uncover the full details surrounding the escapades of the hotel. Its blend of engaging gameplay, well-developed characters, and attention to detail creates a rich narrative world. While minor technical hiccups persist, they don’t overshadow the game’s overall strengths.
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