Maya
Played by: Chloé Booyens
A student visiting the hotel with her friends.- Action Survivor: Despite being hunted by a violent stranger, Maya manages to survive pretty well on her own while uncovering many clues about his past.
- I See Dead People: Can see ghosts around the hotel, and communicate with them effectively using a spirit box. She can also use a scrying mirror to find items connected to ghosts' stories, and the game's tutorial refers to this as "Maya's talent", suggesting that she in particular as a character has medium abilities.
- Nerves of Steel: Downplayed. Although Maya's POV camera shakes constantly and she looks terrified during the opening, she's still brave enough to explore the hotel and even call out to Jimmy if needed. She never even screams while scared.
- Schmuck Bait: Maya herself can call out to Jimmy, luring him into various places. If she gains certain keys, she can even lock him inside certain rooms.
Amy Bell
Played by: Daisy Follin
A daughter of a hotel guest who was the target of Jimmy's bullying.- Death of a Child: Being one of the hotel ghosts, Amy Bell is obviously no longer alive. Sure enough, Maya can witness Amy's death scene at the bottom of the stairwell.
- Girlish Pigtails: Has them, emphasizing her innocence.
- Harmful to Minors: Ends up drinking alcohol, although she didn't realize it at the time.
Dr. Bose
Played by: Rohit Gokani
A clinical psychiatrist who Rose contacted concerning Jimmy's behavior.- Actual Pacifist: He claims to be unwilling to use violence on a patient when accused of abusing Jimmy, desperately using it as proof of his innocence. Somewhat downplayed, as while he doesn't actually inflict violence, attempting to force medication on his client can be seen as violent in Jimmy's eyes, which Jimmy takes advantage of.
- Ambiguously Evil: Downplayed. Forcefully trying to inject medication into Jimmy certainly wasn't the most moral move, even if he was desperate.
- Cassandra Truth: Tells Rose about Jimmy's behavior, but she isn't entirely convinced. The first time Jimmy lies, Dr. Bose manages to persuade her. The second time, she calls the cops on the doctor.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: His death scene features him tying a noose around his neck and fastening it to an elevator, so the elevator hangs him as it rises.
- Driven to Suicide: After Jimmy accuses Dr. Bose of some horrible crime heavily implied to be sexual abuse, the doctor believes himself to be ruined and ends up taking his own life with a noose tied to an elevator.
Harvey
Played by: Karl Haynes
The proprietor of the Sea View Hotel, who harbored great resentment towards Jimmy due to his behavior.- Butt-Monkey: Harvey is an odd example, often being on the receiving end of Jimmy's nastier tricks. Worsened by the fact that Jimmy is a mere boy doing this while Harvey is an adult, unable to stop him.
- Cassandra Truth: Argues with Rose over Jimmy's true nature, though she doesn't believe him easily.
- High-Pressure Blood: Once Harvey wrenches the letter opener from his neck, a high volume of blood pours out. It is oddly graphic for this game, which features little gore.
- Hot-Blooded: No-nonsense, intense, and aggressive when pushed. Unfortunately, this particular trait of his contributed heavily to his demise, as his retaliation any time Jimmy played one of his "tricks" on him led to an increasingly-escalating cycle culminating in Jimmy cutting his throat for trying to threaten him with a gun.
- Large Ham: Generally a very aggressive man.
- Only Sane Man: Out of all of the ghosts, Harvey is arguably the most forward about Jimmy's evil deeds as a child. Amy is a child herself, and lacks the maturity to fully comprehend it, while Dr. Bose tries to force treatment onto Jimmy, only making his behavior worse, and Rose vehemently denies his guilt.
- Say My Name: Is most often heard yelling Jimmy's name in rage, usually after Jimmy has done something horrible.
Rose
Played by: Joanna Bond
Jimmy's mother.- Cassandra Truth: Inverted. Despite horrible incidents involving both Dr. Bose and Harvey, Rose stubbornly takes Jimmy's side in all cases. Even in death she doesn't appear conscious of the part she played in their deaths.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Takes her own life by lighting herself on fire with turpentine and a lighter.
- Driven to Suicide: Ends up taking her own life after telling Jimmy the truth about his father and unintentionally worsening his condition.
- It's All My Fault: She blames herself for what's happened in the hotel, from not intervening sooner to save Jimmy from his abusive father, which is allegedly responsible for how he is now, to then telling him what happened and making his condition worse.
- Mama Bear: Dedicated to protecting Jimmy, regardless of whatever people say about him. She even interrupts Hugo beating Jimmy and kills the former, then later excuses all of Jimmy's actions when he causes the death of various hotel guests.
Jimmy Hall/Hugo Punch
Played by: Huld Martha
The main antagonist of the game, a seemingly mild-mannered, if eccentric man named Jimmy who runs the hotel. He attacks the player and her friends at night under an alternate persona named "Hugo Punch".- Bald of Evil: Jimmy covers up his bald head with a hat, leaving only the hair on the sides of his head remaining.
- Batter Up!: Picks up a bat from behind his counter and uses it throughout the game.
- The Bully: During his youth, he was one towards Amy Bell. This includes setting her teddy bear on fire and tricking her into drinking alcohol.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- Dislikes Maya and her friends for not watching his entertainment act, although he even admits that they don't deserve this. However, that ultimately doesn't stop him from chasing them around.
- His more evil behavior started when an audience member took offense to his comedy routine and yelled at him over it. He kidnapped her much like how he does to Maya's friends, and the player is left to imagine what he would have done if Rose hadn't found the woman and set her free.
- Driven to Suicide: In a flashback, he briefly tries to commit suicide after he loses control of himself and attacks a hotel guest who insulted his comedy act.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: His Hugo Punch persona was made for the sake of his comedy act as an in-universe Heroic Comedic Sociopath, but no one has come to see the show in a long time. The character was actually well-liked until he started insulting the audience.
- Jekyll & Hyde: Jimmy Hall is the current proprietor of the hotel and runs an unsuccessful comedy act starring the Heroic Comedic Sociopath Hugo Punch, which is also the name of the wicked alternate persona who drives him to do mad and murderous things.
- Jump Scare: Serves as one of the main source of jump scares, often by appearing around corners and hallways.
- Karma Houdini: Hugo Punch ends the night completely in control of Jimmy, who can only sob to himself in a corner of his mind in horror of what he has become.
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: For Dr. Bose's story, Maya must find Jimmy's which shows numerous graphic depictions of violence, something that sorta tipped Dr. Bose off about his true nature.
- No Sneak Attacks: Actually averted! Jimmy not only hides behind corners and walls, he can end up hitting Maya from behind if she's not careful. He'll even fake leaving the room occasionally if Maya hides in the wardrobe - if you don't hear the door closing, Jimmy has just hidden in the bathroom and will jump you if you leave the wardrobe.
- Practically Joker: What you get when a man's stand-up comedy character and his murderous persona are one and the same, evidently. Jimmy has a history of causing trouble around the hotel by way of a maliciously pranksterish sense of humor and getting the upper hand on people with craft and surprise, and during the game, when he's in "Hugo-mode", he even speaks in a harshly high-pitched, gleeful, theatrically lilting manner reminiscent of the Joker as played by Mark Hamill.
- Roaming Enemy: Jimmy is known to roam floors one through three, never venturing to the ground floor, the basement, or the staircase.
- Scare Chord: Used constantly whenever Jimmy is seen moving briefly out of view. It's some of the only music featured in the main parts of the game.
- Stalker without a Crush: The main conflict of the game is Jimmy chasing Maya all around the hotel.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: As it turns out, Jimmy himself was quite the troublemaker as a child. This includes putting glass in Dr. Bose's sandwich, getting Amy Bell drunk on "medicine", and causing the deaths of numerous people visiting the hotel.
- Would Hurt a Child: Subverted, as we initially think this is the case when the first ghost Maya finds is a child. But not only was Jimmy heavily implied to be a child as well when Amy was still alive, he didn't even kill her. However, him giving Amy alcohol did contribute to her death.
Hugo Hall
The inspiration for Jimmy's alternate persona, who the player only starts to learn about late in the game. He was a stage magician who performed at the hotel at least once.- Abusive Parents: Beat Jimmy for about 2 years, until Rose finally stopped him by killing him with a baseball bat and burying him in concrete.
- Ambiguous Situation: Despite the hotel being haunted by many spirits of the dead, Hugo Hall's ghost is never encountered directly. Hugo Punch invites Maya to come meet Jimmy's father at the start of the finale, but then refers to Jimmy's father as a log that burnt out. What this means in the context of the game's supernatural elements and interest in Jungian psychology is currently unknown.
- Asshole Victim: No tears were shed when Rose killed him with a baseball bat.
- Control Freak: Some of his quotes from his sessions of abuse indicate he was punishing disobedience. Hugo Punch notably makes a big point of being in charge to a sniveling Jimmy during the ending.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: His performance as a magician in a flashback seems to go beyond stage magic, though the game never confirms if it was real magic, despite the other supernatural elements of the game.
- Walking Spoiler: His very name spoils the fact that Hugo Punch is based on someone in particular, and everything else about him reveals the influence he had on Jimmy.
- Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: Rose notes how different he was until they got married and he showed his true, abusive colors.
