DON'T SLEEP ON THIS ONE

Unearth the mysteries lurking in This Bed We Made

- ABBIE STONE

At the time of writing, I have never been employed as a space marine, supersoldier, bard, Spider-Man, or most of the jobs that characters in video games tend to have. But in This Bed We Made, you play as Sophie, a chambermaid in a 1950s hotel.

I have worked as a cleaner in a hotel, so I speak with some authority when I say that Sophie should be fired immediately.

You ‘clean’ each room by emptying out the bins (good), scrubbing the bathtubs (great), placing fresh towels in the bathrooms (lovely), and making the beds by just smoothing out the sheets without even replacing the bedding (a crime against humanity). ‘Nothing like a well-made bed’, Sophie even says afterwards. Psychotic.

So if you’re looking for an immersive hotel sim, you’ll be disappointed. But if you are looking for a nosy-amateurdetective adventure where you get to indulge your inner snoop, you’ll find a great little game here.

Considering how much shady activity they are involved in, the guests of the Clarington hotel are incredibly careless about leaving out incriminating correspondence, detailed records of debts unpaid, and all sorts of juicy puzzle pieces you slowly slot together to create a picture of the room’s occupant. One guest has converted his bathroom into a photography darkroom, and it’s hard to focus on giving the tub a good scrub when you notice that several of the photos hanging up are of Sophie. Yikes. Thus begins an investigation into why exactly a guest has taken an interest in you.