HOTEL BARCELONA

Hotel Barcelona is ... quite something. I mean that with a lot of affection, and being from Suda 51 and SWERY, two legendary Japanese developers who delve into the weird and wonderful, Hotel Barcelona is an unusual treat, with some heavy flaws. This quirky, 2.5D rogue-lite feels ripped out from another era, a time long ago where chunk HD visuals and staggering weirdness were supreme, the age of the 7th gen consoles. It’s quite the wild ride, for good and bad.


Welcome to the Hotel BARCEOLNA!

The combined brainchild of legendary directors SWERY and Suda 51, together bringing us games such as Killer 7, Deadly Premonition, D4, and Shadows of the Damned, it’s very clear that both directors have such a distinct, visceral style that you either love or hate. Suda often focuses on the overture of violence, sex, and style with neat gimmicks and solid gameplay. While the other is a David Lynch inspired powerhouse, driving deviously creative outsider-style gameplay and stories that spark jank and joy.  Having them both together on one project sounds like something beautiful could happen, the best thing ever and in many ways it is absolutely. Hotel Barcelona won’t be to everyone’s liking, and while it’s kind of clear it wants to be a cult classic misunderstood for a generation or two, there is quite a bit of charm to chew on.

Hotel BARCEOLNA is a 2.5 rouge-lite that brings us into the shows of Justine, a rookie US marshal who is possessed by an evil spirit called Dr Carnival, while also being trapped at the infamous hotel in question. The spirit is that of an infamous serial killer who has been told by the powers to be to watch over her. At the HOTEL BARCELONA, Justine is in pursuit of a devious witch who has pretty much put her in a time loop, where death is not the end, and the only way to break the spell is to kill the witch and her figureheads.

Justine will have to fight her way through the various compounds that make up the hotel and kill each of the infamous serial killers that control them. And like any good rogue-lite, Justine will power herself up over each defeat, learning more of the land, obtaining resources she can use to buy new weapons, upgrade her abilities, and learn more of the hotel and the poor souls trapped there.


When Sewry met Suda

The plot itself for Hotel BARCEOLNA is a rather peculiar one, that centres on a gripping mystery, filled with complete weirdos who are larger than life, and the central theme of extreme violence and trauma is something that feels directly from the Sewry mind warp. Only enhanced further by the deviousness and violence-overtones of that of one Mr Suda 51.

It has the stylings of both creatives, who, while both are quite different in many ways, are also frankly quite similar. We have our nerdy lead, turned bad-ass super killer, facing the unimaginable, including serial killers, supernatural fiends, and the greatest bartender known to humanity. It’s a tale about weirdos, the worst of humanity, and the far, even worse being tied together. Justine is a likeable protagonist, if not a little too much of a wet paper bag at times, early on. She finds her stride, and her development is quite entertaining and remarkable as a narrative thread. I also quite like the use of her companion being a horrid serial killer, tasked with looking after her. There’s an air of morbidness that meets humanity that could go awfully wrong, but that balance and compassion from Sewry as a writer really makes it work.

And all the other supernatural details, the twisted lore, and dialogue are all quite riveting, keeping my investment and interest throughout the short run time.


A hotel to match the Overlook in creepiness and blood-bathing

But you’re here for the rogue-like, bloodbath, limb dismembering gameplay, I hear!

Well … to say there are a few kinks might be an understatement.

Hotel BARCEOLNA gives you a solid framework for a rogue-like, with some neat ideas and sloppy execution. You will venture through several locations, each made up of smaller sections interlinked by doors. In each section are enemies you have to defeat within a set time, and you pick one of several doors leading to the next section of the map. There are bosses to fight at the end of each stage, there are resources to gather, various NPCs, and features to discover, granting powerups, resources and story elements to add meat to the narrative bones.

It's the same fluff, and tough you’ve seen plenty of times before! But what I liked most was the vast amount of choice on offer to enhance one of many playstyles. Each door grants a bonus, be it HP, strength, or something else, and unlike a lot of rogue-likes, this sense of choice is quite numerous, meaning you always come across vastly different variations of character stats, no matter what. But seeing how some routes might take longer to the boss, but have better stats, such as more HP and strength, versus a shorter route with far less powerful perks brings in a nice bit of risk, reward, and player urgency.

I was also a fan of the bright spots during a run, those moments where you meet another weirdo who then gives you a boost of stats, resources, and a nice little bit of story to please your ears. Such as the very fabulous casino owner who very straightforwardly informs me he is a man in drag, who loves women, and also is a massive Tim Curry fan! Amazing, love it.

Also, the bosses are often quite the spectacle, bringing us beautifully animated intros, a massive dose of pain, and cool set pieces that left me biting my nails! There is plenty to love about Hotel BARCELONA … and a few things I wasn’t keen on.

First, a small thing, I hate timers …. And here they add nothing to artificial difficulty. And this only magnifies when the combat feels so sluggish. It’s rough, very rough at times, and for the first couple of hours, it can be Hell.

Now there are difficulty settings, and honestly, the harder difficulties I would just avoid, as the combat responsiveness is limited, where hits don’t seem to register properly, and feedback for damage is so minimal that you’ll be dead before you know what hits you. The Jank and clunk of the controls don’t help, and attacking spongey enemies only to be killed from a cheap shot you can’t see due to restrictive UI/presentation just makes death frequent and usually feel unfair. 

Hotel BARCOLNA lacks the punchy combat, but worse, it presents a rather annoying sense of grind with resources, and all of this is due to one design choice. After each run, you get the chance to spend what you have and speak to the denizens of the hotel. But when you start a new run, all the remaining resources are discarded … I was kind of blown away by this, and thought just how it didn’t work in the grand scheme of things. You can trade resource types for other items, and even different resources, but this only solves a handful of awkward moments.

I was not a fan of this design choice in the slightest, and realised when I finished the game, it was to compensate for the somewhat short length of the game. The grind was there to slow things down, and the difficulty spikes didn’t help much either.

I feel like Sewry is to blame for these odd little choices, which add up to a bigger, complicated picture. The grind, the timer, and general jank just hinder what could have been a slick, sick, and heartfelt adventure.

The skill tree is a standout, being monumental in scale, and as deep as the ocean, lending further into meaningful character progression, and player choice/style. It’s a shame that grind can hold you back from fully appreciating and picking up your skills at a good pace. The progression for weapons, perks, and finding new costumes all add a small bit of joy that eases the tedium, and jank the rest of the game is bathing in. And I also like the Slasher Phantom mechanic, where when you die, it creates a memory version of yourself to help out and assist. So at least the many deaths you face can benefit you in some way.

But it’s only so much, and not enough to make up for the elements which don’t work.


Overall?

I can see Hotel BARCEOLNA gaining a cult following, simply through the names attached to it, and for the story, and weirder/wilder roguelike elements in play. These are great elements, and what kept me invested despite the more tedious aspects of the game, where the story, style, and grander moments of mayhem.

I wish the combat, difficulty spikes, and grind were such a problem, and in all fairness, they don’t tend to be, but just tip the scales often enough to make what could be a massively fun game, into an “alright, could be a lot better” one. If the combat was smoother, faster, and a bit more punchy, the resource management a little less tedious, and the artificial difficulty a little less artificial, I could see Hotel BARCEOLNA becoming a banging cult classic like Killer 7, or Deadly Premonition.

Hotel BARCEOLNA is a neat game, it’s a fine game, and a fun one at times. But then again, there are other roguelikes (no names mentioned) which have also come out, and they dominate the space. That’s a shame, as I would like this roguelike to succeed … but I think it would have been better fitted to arrive 15 years ago, when the jank, quirk, and grind might have been looked more kindly on.

++ Trippy, weird, and charming narrative
+ Some solid and fun roguelike elements
+ Some cool boss fights and lore

-- The game presents some intense grind
- The difficulty spikes
- Controls and combat can be very clunky
- Not very long as a rougelike

A PC key of HOTEL BARCELONA was kindly provided by the publisher for this review
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