Tiny teams and one-person passion projects are no longer novel in video games. Propelled by the success over the last decade of titles like Undertale, Stardew Valley and Tunic — not to mention this year’s Game of the Year contender, Blue Prince — they’ve become a vital and necessary pipeline of storytelling and self-expression. An antidote to the increasingly risk-averse and trend-chasing AAA space.
Yet, despite all of the above, the two-man team behind Concierge — Brazilians Yan Boente and Lucas Gerosa working as the studio KODINO Artes — are worthy of note. Not only for what they’ve been able to accomplish by taking the road less travelled, but by blurring the lines between film, art, and video games more than many of its comparable titles.
Billed as a surrealist puzzle horror game, Concierge has a deceptively simple set-up. An old man wakes up in a dilapidated hotel room with seemingly no recollection of his surroundings or identity. The phone won’t connect and all guests appear to be absent, save for the peculiar man on reception. It is, you might think, just another haunted hotel story with more than a whiff of Alone in the Dark.
But like the complexities of the Lament Configuration, a few twists and buttons pressed open up the game’s complex inner workings. The apparent simplicity of Concierge belies labyrinthine mechanisms beneath that reward patience and lateral thinking. While it looks like a lost relic from the nineties, it’s nothing as vexing as its inspirations. Where it truly sets itself apart is in how it directs its player — or, rather, how it doesn’t. The inherent puzzling nature of the title begs curiosity and experimentation, though players aren’t told why they’re solving puzzles. The puzzle experience is streamlined and intuitive with each of the six hotel rooms (or ‘worlds’) only taking around an hour at most with just enough light touch handholding to see you through. So while the puzzles and scene-searching remind one of the best of Tim Schafur’s point and clicks, you won’t need a walkthrough.
The other area that Concierge sets itself apart in is its art style. Or, more appropriately, its art styles. Like a palimpsest, the game layers one style over another, taking a ‘genre agnostic’ approach, though one that wears its myriad influences on its sleeves. The use of mixed media creates an anarchic kaleidoscope of different styles, pulling in painting, sketching, photography; an art school sketch book come to life. The first world, for example, comes to life with a moody colour palette and a noir feel as if Rand and Robyn Miller remade Disco Elysium. The second world this reviewer experienced is a brighter, off-kilter rotoscope looking space with real performed dialogue in contrast to the nonsense babble from the first. Each of the other worlds boasts its own art style.
Sandwiched between are seemingly self-contained puzzles that add a jolt to the brain whenever interest might be waning. Not only are these some of the most exciting sequences in the whole game, they’re also the most unsettling. The first comes as a total surprise and plays like a demonic Where’s Wally. It has to be noted, however, that these puzzles in particular aren’t very accessible, especially to those with any degree of colour blindness. Moreover, some of the fonts, while evocative, can often be hard to read (although every text found in the game itself can be converted to plain text).
Other than the typical point-and-click mechanics, the game’s principle tool of discovery is an analogue camera that players use to scan environments for items and clues. It also reveals paranormal goings on reminiscent of Don’t Nod’s Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, itself a piece about nostalgia, recollections, and the supernatural.
As well as the games already mentioned (and a healthy dose of Silent Hill), the biggest influences here are film. Concierge is indebted to the works of David Lynch and Andrei Tarkovsky, though this reviewer was just as often reminded of found footage horrors. Indeed, there’s a sense of rediscovery woven throughout, of spending time in the company of ghosts.
Tying the whole game together is the synth soundtrack. Although there are some bouncier elements that don’t work as well, it uses drones to conjure Lynchian soundscapes that give the eerier sequences a palpable sense of dread. Although the game tells you outright, it bears repeating that this is an experience designed for headphones. Take it a step further and, if you own one, play it on a Steam Deck for an even more intimate and unnerving experience.
Concierge is a strange chimera. On one hand, it feels familiar and nostalgic, as of a half forgotten game played in one’s youth. On the other, it’s fiercely idiosyncratic and inventive, pulling apart genre and art styles and putting them back together in fascinating new arrangements. Although it’s an acquired taste — and the often plodding third person approach will likely turn some players off — it truly is a game that needs to be experienced to be understood. If, as with emotions, memories, and connections in real life, it can be understood at all.
DEVELOPER
KODINO Artes
PUBLISHER
Digital Tribe
STEAM
17 September 2025
