Skyhill: Hotel Survival taught me that being the lone survivor of a bio-weapon attack is tedious and tense

• Skyhill's long-overdue Android port has finally arrived
• It sees you trying to escape a 100-floor hotel following a mutant outbreak
• The tension built by the risk/reward gameplay is marred by floor repetition

If you were staying in the VIP suite of a hotel on company dime, would you consider yourself privileged? I'm sure most of us would. How about if said fancy hotel digs were bio-weapon-proof, meaning you'd survive the end of the world while everyone else in the building gets turned into zombie-like mutants that you then have to fight through to escape? That's the precise conundrum that the roguelike Skyhill: Hotel Survival looks to answer. It appears it's a fine line between tense and slightly boring. 

The goal is simple: battle through the 100 different floors and escape the hotel lobby to freedom. Which, in this case, most likely means waltzing into a world littered with more mutants with a fondness for attacking any humans they see. Anyway, even on paper, that's a fairly tedious-sounding premise, particularly given hotel layouts aren't exactly diverse and interesting. And the developer has done nothing to change that here.

After descending each set of stairs, the only options are to go left or right. There is a level of procedural generation at play, of course. However, that's merely things like the items you find, whether or not the elevator is busted or if an enemy is lurking in the shadows ready to engage in turn-based slap fights. Visually, it doesn't change enough to feel varied, so after about 10 floors, it becomes somewhat dull. 

To make matters worse, you'll need to go back up now and then. The VIP suite acts as a base of operations, allowing you to combine ingredients for tastier grub, craft better weapons, or invest in a bed with better lumbar support to recover more health when you fancy a kip. While all of this is undoubtedly helpful, it mainly serves to slow down an already slow game to a glacial pace. And that's before we get into the combat. 

They're livin' it up at the Hotel Skyhill

These tussles play out in a turn-based fashion, though it lacks any real depth. You simply choose your preferred cobbled-together weapon, target a body part and then take turns swinging until someone drops. After that, you might need to use some First Aid spray to top up your health and get back to it. The only real intriguing element at play, which is also at the core of how Skyhill: Hotel Survival builds tension: good old risk/reward.

Targeting body parts has differing percentages depending on what's being sliced. The higher the potential damage, the lower your chances of landing. That means you have to balance the rush of a potent shot with lower, but more reliable damage. This approach extends everywhere else in Skyhill. Moving from room to room depletes your hunger by one, so you can't rush around mindlessly forever. To replenish that bar, you can either wolf down everything in sight like you're playing the original BioShock or risk holding onto it to create a gourmet meal back in the VIP suite. 

Elevators, which act as a fast travel system, sometimes require fixing. This is possible with the item required or, if you haven't found it yet, by taking a gamble with your inventory. The elevator might get up and running with no problem, or it might come at the cost of a useful crafting item. These micro-decisions really ramp up the tension, particularly when they start to stack on top of one another. 

Tedium and tension are something of an oxymoron, so I imagine most people will lean on one side more than the other. Personally, the repetition outweighed those moments where a seemingly minor decision could determine the success or failure of the entire run. However, if the same three rooms over and over isn't a deal-breaker for you, then the resource risk/reward setup might be enough to convince you to stay the night at Skyhill hotel.