🔥 Hotel Hell at Mysteriopolis redefines staying power
First of all, let’s be clear. Unless you have a very unusual idea of what a holiday entails, Mysteriopolis, the subject of this review, is not a vacation spot. Actually, it’s difficult to describe what it even is. It’s a psychological opera written in marble and madness. A destination for digital souls to wander through nostalgia, horror, humour, and grief.
At its centre lies Hotel Hell: a piece of Art Deco decadence and interactive terror created by Saskia Mysterious. Though the sim includes other zones like Mermopolis and Xanadu, it's this haunted hotel that steals the show, and this being primarily a hotel blog, it is what I’ve concentrated on.
Hotel Hell – Reception is the Last Thing You’ll Get
The arrival at Hotel Hell is deceptively grand. You step into a lobby worthy of a luxury boutique hotel.
A sweeping twin staircase spirals up to the upper floors.
Mesh servers staff a velvet-draped bar and dining room, mixing drinks and preparing food for other mesh diners who never seem to finish their plates.
On the right, the entrance to Cabaret Voltaire is a nightclub and dance bar. Broken toy robots are around the bar. This room has styling that feels like Weimar Berlin meets Blade Runner.
This downstairs area is actually the most “normal” part of your Hotel - and I should say it’s all relative. After this, the hotel structure dissolves into dream logic. And that dream for some could be a nightmare.
Mysteriopolis is an adult sim. It’s not overtly sexual, but there’s a definite erotic charge running through the artwork, poses, posters, and spaces.
Dante’s Staircase to Hell
Head to the upper floors, and you won’t find soft duvets or concierge chocolates. Upstairs, with the staircase walls looking like a scene from Dante’s Inferno, is where the interactive horror begins. Here, you’re the main character - not the guest.
In one room, a ghost bride floats above a decaying bed
Step too close to the furniture, and the entire room erupts in flames.
Other guests you will meet include Freddy Krueger and the twins from The Shining
There is a room of mirrors maze that is suitably disorientating
Every turn is designed to unnerve. But it’s not cheap jump-scare horror. It’s atmospheric, symbolic, and deeply personal. You don’t stay at Hotel Hell. You descend into it.
The Pub & The Pulse of the Town
Outside the hotel lies a town square, a surreal but oddly grounding shift. Here you’ll find:
A classic British or Irish pub rebuilt in wood and worn leather
A recording studio
A theatre with crimson interiors. Here, a stunning winged angel statue poses mid-fall by the staircase, holding a flaming torch — equal parts grace and agony.
And there is even a New York subway station, oddly out of time and place — perhaps on purpose
Throughout town, Kanjena—a well-known and beloved SL DJ—stares from a vintage snack ad: “Marty’s Nuts—Mmm... Salty.” It's irreverent, but it’s also a loving tribute. Kanjena recently passed away, and her memory lives on here in the most Mysteriopolis way possible: emotional, weird, and unforgettable.
Outside the pub, there's also a memorial to another SL resident no longer with us, Osimandias Dastardly, anchoring the overall experience in real-world emotion. These touches give Mysteriopolis unexpected weight, adding a canvas of memory.
More Than One World
Though this review focuses on Hotel Hell, the wider Mysteriopolis complex includes two other interconnected realms:
🐠 Mermopolis — A bright, underwater world filled with colourful mermaid-themed art and surreal sea creatures. Like if Fantasia had a lovechild with The Little Mermaid.
🛰️ Xanadu — A synthwave sci-fi lounge and club with strong 80s/90s vibes. A shuttle train exists here, though it was out of service during my visit — fitting, given the sim’s embrace of chaos and broken timelines.
Dr. Who-style TARDIS phone boxes connect each area, mixing metaphysics and mesh.
🧾 Final Thoughts – Haunted, Honest, and Human
Mysteriopolis, and Hotel Hell, in particular, is a triumph of creativity. It defies easy categorisation. It’s horror, it’s humour, it’s grief, it’s eroticism. It’s art, it’s memory, it’s wrapped in velvet and set on fire.
You won’t find breakfast buffets or pillow mints here. But you will find a lot of things you won’t expect and won’t see anywhere else.
My Rating - For an actual stay? One star out of five, though I can’t imagine anyone would. But for the experience? Definitely a five
Recommended
