A notable game mechanic is that while Sorina (usually) starts as a human, she suffers from vampirism and will turn over time. Once this happens, all enemy vampires become friendly, but the many other human explorers won't take kindly to your change...
Vampirism also comes with a host of other advantages, such as increased strength and the ability to hide in shadows, but also with disadvantages such as illiteracy, the inability to use weapons or magic, and weakness to water and sunlight. Changing back also requires valuable Soul Elixirs, so switching between the two forms isn't something to do casually.
The game also simplifies many aspects of Roguelikes. For example, all potions are unidentified at first, but you are shown three possible effects that they might have. Also, there is no equipment management: all equipment is either objectively better or worse than your current one, and if it's worse you automatically sell it, instantly gaining money.
Tropes found in the Golden Krone Hotel:
- Asteroids Monster: Wolf Spider produces a swarm of Baby Spiders upon death.
- Green Men and Elder Green Men are downplayed example, as while their defeat won't produce any monsters immediately, their husk will inevitably produce one of the Toadstool mushrooms, which will then give you grief at night-time through casting debuffing Miasmas.
- Blackout Basement:
- You can invoke this trope by putting out torches, which is handy as a vampire with night vision.
- The River completely lacks any light source, which makes it tricky to navigate as a human. And it's full of vampire-hurting water, so you can't just use their night vision. You'll have to either work through the darkness, or have a magical source of light (either a spell, or a potion).
- Bloodsucking Bats: The demon bats, which are the only creatures that are able to drain life directly.
- Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: The Goblin Anarchists, who hold sticks of dynamite and explode upon death. If you're a human, you can shoot them or cast magic. If you're not, you need to take the blast.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The color of a Solomonar's robe determines which of the elemental spells they will be able to cast in addition to Glow. Likewise, the color of the Toadstool's cap will quickly tell you what kind of Miasma it'll cast.
- Dem Bones: Skeletons make an appearance in the hotel as well. Normal skeletons are basic melee-tier grunts, but Greater Skeletons are both stronger, and more annoying due to their bones piles respawning once more as a normal skeleton.
- Dungeon Shop: The Hawker vampires provide these services to Sorina. In the earlier versions, she needed to already be in her vampire form for them not to attack on sight. Now, their avarice is stronger than their hunger, so they will simply charge her double the prices they would offer to a fellow vampire.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: The classic elemental triad is present amongst the humans. Their starting-level fighters, Mercenaries and Marauders can cast either Firestorm, Ice or Shock, though at level 1. High-ranking Solomonars can cast one of these spells as well, but at level 3: however, they will always be able to cast vampire-hurting Glow as well, and some of them opt to forgo any of the elemental triad in favour of Heal.
- Golem-creating Artificers have six varieties of their creations, and while all of them have an affinity for electricity (Shock attacks will always heal them) three are explicitly part of the triad. Of those, Ice Golem is the weakest, as while its attacks can slow down the player, it is literally made out of a large block of ice, and thus is hurt by not just fire, but also sunlight, and even water undermines it. Magma Golems are stronger in both pure stats and in lacking so many vulnerabilities, while being healed by both Shock and Fire attacks. The Electric Golems are pretty much as strong as Lava Golems physically, but they are able to cast Shock at range as well, and with a larger MP pool than any of the human spellcasters.
- Fur Against Fang: Downplayed, but there is a potion of Luna that lets you temporarily become a werewolf, which both humans and vampires are hostile to.
- Golem: There are six types of golems, all created by the human Artificers. The three elemental ones are listed above: the others are the basic, unfancy Lapis Lazuli golem, its big brother Emerald Golem (lacks anything elemental, but is much stronger and more durable than the rest) and the Sunstone Golem (2nd weakest physically, but particularly deadly to vampires due to radiating sunlight.)
- The Goomba: Vampire Grunts are some of the earliest and weakest humanoid opponents. Other then their decent speed, there is nothing special about them.
- Hell Hotel: The game's setting is a vampire-infested hotel. Some NPCs mention that they've slept in sewers nicer than it.
- Hive Queen: There is a Hive full of giant bees, and its boss is the Queen Bee.
- Humans Are Warriors: Their krone is made from the steel of a weapon, contrasting the vampires' golden krone.
- In terms of gameplay and roleplaying archetypes, however, humans are mages, with practically all of their fighters able to cast at least one spell. This is completely locked off for the vampires (outside of teleportation exhibited by some of them), but their raw physical strength is greater to compensate for that.
- Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: Here, they are Easy, Normal, and Despair.
- Interface Screw: The Delusion status effect changes the appearance of everything. The Pharmacopeia branch permanently applies this effect as long as you remain in it, making normal enemies indistinguishable from the boss.
- In-Universe Game Clock: Each turn is considered equivalent to 4 minutes, it takes 180 turns for the day to turn into night and vice versa. Moreover, the time being in the morning, midday or evening also affects whether the sunlight will be coming from the eastern, southern or western windows and thus determines where you want to stay as a human to avoid being ambushed by vampires or, conversely, where you absolutely want to stay away from as a vampire.
- The same cycle will also apply to the moon when it's full, which is one night out of four. This mainly matters if you were afflicted with lycanthropy and thus will turn into a werewolf in the moonlight - or if you suspect some other humans are really werewolves as well, and should be stayed away from when the moon is shining.
- Knightly Sword and Shield: Human Sorina fights like this in melee. As a vampire, her claws make holding onto them both impossible and frankly unnecessary.
- Life Drain: Interestingly, the actual vampires are unable to do that directly, although they will immediately go towards any tile where blood has been spilled to feast upon it. Demon bats, however, can skip the middle stage and drain life directly.
- Meaningful Name: "Arobase" is the French name for the '@' symbol which is typically used to represent the player in ASCII-based roguelikes.
- Mook Medic: Some Solomonars forgo the offensive elemental spells in favor of being able to cast Heal.
- Our Vampires Are Different: They are illiterate, have deformed claws for hands (which prevents them from holding swords or guns), and are harmed by water in addition to sunlight.
- Plant Person: Green Men and Elder Green Men in the greenhouse branch. They are notable for being the opposite of vampires, in that while the latter are hurt by sunlight, they are healed and substantially boosted by it. Moreover, the husks left behind after their defeat will also give rise to the annoying Toadstool spellcasters.
- Rat Men: There are Rat Soldiers, which are at the bottom of the tier list along with the Vampire Grunts and Goblins, and the substantially stronger Rat Assassins, whose attacks are always poisoned.
- Red Filter of Doom: The screen becomes increasingly red as your vampirism meter fills up. Once it's full the effect goes away.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: A revolver is Sorina's firearm of choice when she's still a human. The large claws of her vampire form make pulling on a trigger impossible.
- Savage Wolves: The wolves aren't particularly strong, but compensate for that by appearing in packs. Lycanthropy-afflicted players will find them friendly, however.
- Shout-Out: The titular hotel was mentioned in the very first chapter of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it is there that Jonathan Harker first meets the count.
- Suicide Attack: Played straight by the bees: much like in real life, they'll die once they manage to successfully sting the player and poison them. Killer bees are able to sting repeatedly with no ill effects, however.
- Taken for Granite: This is what a Gorgon's gaze does to its victims, so watch out!
- Gargoyles are able to turn themselves into stone for protection.
- Teleport Spam: Vampire Devourers will immediately teleport onto any square where blood has been spilled in order to heal.
- Vampires Are Rich: One random NPC conversation mentions that the vampires' krone is made of gold, contrasting with the humans' steel krone made from a smelted weapon, which reflects the values of each group.
- Weakened by the Light: Vampires are predictably weak to sunlight. Some of the Artificers have taken advantage of this by creating Sunstone Golems that outright radiate sunlight around them in pulses. Likewise, the strongest human mages, Solomonars, all know the Glow spell in addition to whichever elemental spell they prefer to specialise in.
- Wizard Needs Food Badly: Present in two different ways, depending on your form. As a human, you will starve to death unless you use food potions. As a vampire, your health slowly falls, and can only be restored by feeding on blood. Blood appears when you attack enemies, but can also be found in convenient bottles.
