Dream Inn: Driftwood Review

Have you ever dreamed about owning your own inn? Well now is your chance. The Driftwood Inn is up for auction and you decide it’s time to chase your dreams. After the very long winded narrator fills you in, you are off to see your new inn. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly what you were expecting. The Driftwood has fallen into disrepair and it’s up to you, and your very enthusiastic manager to restore it to its former glory.

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Dream Inn: The Driftwood is a relaxing HOG without minigames or adventure elements

Have you ever dreamed about owning your own inn? Well now is your chance. The Driftwood Inn is up for auction and you decide it’s time to chase your dreams. After the very long winded narrator fills you in, you are off to see your new inn. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly what you were expecting. The Driftwood has fallen into disrepair and it’s up to you, and your very enthusiastic manager to restore it to its former glory.

Dream Inn: The Driftwood is a pure hidden object game. If you are looking for puzzles or adventure elements, this is not the game for you. If you are looking for a relaxing hidden object game with a side of decorating then you’ve come to the right place.

 The Driftwood

The formula for Dream Inn is very straight forward. You will be unlocking each of the rooms in the inn as you go along and earning coins for finding hidden objects. You will use these coins to purchase upgrades for the Driftwood. By the end of the game you will have hopefully restored the inn to grandeur.

You will visit each room in the Driftwood three times. The first time you enter a room you will be placing objects in the scene. Some of these are easy to place, such as a phone receiver with a telephone base, others leave you wondering where it goes. Trying to figure out where you’re supposed to place a basket in a room can be frustrating when there are numerous places it could go.

The second time you enter the room you will be given a list of several items to find, as you find the items more items will be added to the list. Finding these items is how you unlock the other rooms. Each room has a certain number of specific items that have to be found before it can be unlocked. These items are the ones you will be placing in the room on your first entry.

The last time you enter the room you will be looking for 15 of the same items for a buyer. You could be looking for anything from pipes to chalices.

 The Driftwood

Finding items earns you coins that you can use to repair and upgrade the Driftwoods exterior. You can also find additional coins hidden in the room for extra money. You will have a lot of upgrade options such as what color to paint the inn and how to landscape the yard. This is a fun side game that is reminiscent of Gardenscapes.

If you get stuck during your visit to The Driftwood, don’t worry, there are plenty of hints to be had. In each scene you can find magnifying glasses that will give you an additional hint. You get a coin for each unused hint at the end of the scene so you might want to hang onto them. There is also a cat hiding in the scene that will cause the items you are looking for to shake, a magnet that pulls you toward objects and a party popper that briefly illuminates all objects that are currently listed.

After a while the game does become repetitive. You know you’ll be visiting each room three times and you know exactly what you need to do each time. The most irritating aspect of the game though is the inn manager. She follows you around giving you information about everything. She is quite longwinded and you’ll likely find yourself clicking through her dialogue at some point. This makes the already thin storyline even thinner. She is also voiced on occasion but keeps saying the same lines over in a forced British accent. It’s funny at first, but starts to grate after time.

All in all, Dream Inn: The Driftwood is a solid hidden object game, but it just doesn’t stand out. It doesn’t really add anything new to the genre and it get old quickly. It also doesn’t offer much in the way of replay value as the objects are always the same. On the other hand, if you are looking for a relaxing game with pleasant graphics, I would recommend giving this one a try.

The good

    The bad

      60 out of 100