Hotel Barcelona Review - Room for Improvement

Hotel Barcelona is a collaboration between legendary auteur developers Suda51 and SWERY, and when I heard about it, I had to double-check that the two had never worked together before.

After all, their styles feel entirely complementary; Suda51's stylish, totally unselfconscious weirdness seems like the ideal partner for SWERY's maverick disregard for established development norms. That's probably what led to the 2019 announcement that they'd be working together.

On first glance, Hotel Barcelona seems like it's going to tick both of those boxes pretty nicely. It's an action roguelite in which you play a lady who's possessed by a dead serial killer, and together, you must hack your way through a series of themed levels taking heavy inspiration from classic horror movies.

What follows is probably pretty much exactly what you should expect from a Suda51 and SWERY collaboration, and while that can sometimes play to Hotel Barcelona's advantage, many of the flaws of the two developers are in full effect here as well.

Hotel Barcelona Sure Is Weird, but That's Not Quite Enough

The division of labor in Hotel Barcelona runs thus: Suda51 contributes the overall world and concept, and SWERY serves as the gameplay designer, so this is really SWERY's baby wearing one of Suda51's characteristically zany hats.

Narratively speaking, however, Hotel Barcelona has plenty to satisfy fans of both Suda and SWERY. As you make your way through Hotel Barcelona's levels, you'll learn more about the hotel's history, its inhabitants, and even protagonist Justine's relationship with the serial killer Dr. Carnival.

Despite the oddness on display, the story here is grounded enough to follow, and I enjoyed the exchanges between Justine and Dr. Carnival, as well as the bizarre normality of some of the hotel's most prominent employees and guests.

It's a shame, then, that the narrative doesn't have much to offer beyond its initial thrills. We're a long way from the insane head trip of Killer7 or the Twin Peaks-inspired rollercoaster of Deadly Premonition, let alone the sheep-riding rural thrills of The Good Life.

All of the crazy twists you might expect if you've played past efforts by the two star names here just feel absent from Hotel Barcelona, and what few surprises there are feel underdeveloped. By the time the story ends, it feels like Hotel Barcelona is as bored with its premise as I was by then.

There are a couple of late-stage moments that recall back the offbeat, effervescent promise of the premise, but by and large, Hotel Barcelona feels far too rote for its strange, off-kilter ideas to support.

Combat in Hotel Barcelona Feels Janky and Stiff

This being an action roguelite with a heavy hack-and-slash emphasis, perhaps the story's flaws can be forgiven if the gameplay is fun. I'll admit to a strange "one more run"-style compulsion every time I failed or completed a run in Hotel Barcelona, but I don't think that's because the gameplay is good, per se.

Each of Hotel Barcelona's levels consists of a semi-linear sequence of platforming and combat challenges, with a variety of doors waiting at the end to offer different bonuses depending on which one you enter.

Right off the bat, there's a lack of weight and catharsis to the combat here that proves pretty much fatal. Hotel Barcelona is plenty gory; limbs and heads fly off with gleeful abandon, and a single mighty swing of an axe can easily take out four or five foes at once.

The problem is that the swings don't actually feel mighty. Hitting enemies feels weedy and unsatisfying, and while there's a heft to the parry that threatens to add some oomph, subsequent combos and advantage attacks just feel like depleting a health bar.

That issue extends to the boss battles, too. Each of Hotel Barcelona's stages has a boss for you to fight at its conclusion, and while none of them are overly difficult, actually fighting them on a moment-to-moment level doesn't feel like much fun.

Platforming here is mercifully rare and brief, but when it does occur, it's...fine, I suppose, with the exception of the shark-infested bonus stage. That's an absolute exercise in rage-inducing frustration that I would strongly recommend against bothering with.

Hotel Barcelona Is Undeniably Creative

It's a shame, because the stages and bosses on display in Hotel Barcelona are a lot of fun conceptually. Since they're based on classic horror properties, it's a hoot spotting the (admittedly rather obvious) references, and the bosses have that classic Suda51 mixture of comedy and splatter-style gore as well.

The employees and residents of the hotel are also a fun bunch to interact with, as are some of the other NPCs you'll meet outside of the liminal rooms and corridors of the hotel proper. Their non sequitur-style conversations are a joy to sit through.

Each boss battle also feels markedly different from the previous one, and they all call on different skills. There are a bevy of fun secrets to discover, and stages manage to pepper interesting new enemy types throughout, keeping things interesting.

It's heartbreaking that Hotel Barcelona's core combat and game feel are so mediocre, because with some extra polish and jank removal, this could be something truly special. Hotel Barcelona's gameplay feels like it does a disservice to its world.

In many ways, Hotel Barcelona shares a lot in common with Suda51's Shadows of the Damned; its world is full of life and flavor, but its gameplay is stiff and awkward, letting down the whole package.

Hotel Barcelona Review | Final Thoughts

Think very carefully before making a reservation at Hotel Barcelona. It's got plenty of both Suda51 and SWERY's signature style on offer, and if you unconditionally love what one or the other brings to the table, you'll probably find something here to like.

If, however, you're looking for an action roguelite to sate your hack-and-slash bloodlust and you don't have much tolerance for jank, it's entirely safe to look for alternative accommodation.

Hotel Barcelona was reviewed on PC with a copy provided by the developer over the course of around 10 hours of gameplay. All screenshots were taken during the process of review.