Hotel Barcelona Review: Along for the ride

And coming from SWERY and SUDA51, it's a weird and wild ride at that.

Hotel Barcelona is the latest from cult favourites SUDA51 (No More Heroes) and SWERY (Deadly Premonition), and is as weird as those who recognise those developers’ names will expect it to be. A 2.5D sidescrolling roguelite, White Owls’ latest title will surely appeal to those who lap up surreal experience, though those who want a proper roguelite experience may find this one lacking.

Players will fill the already cramped shoes of Justine, a green federal marshal who shares her body with that of Dr Carnival, a dangerous serial killer. The pair wind up in the titular Hotel Barcelona, hot on the heels of a dangerous witch that has played a large part in both Justine and Dr Carnival’s pasts. To get to the witch, though, you’ll need to take on a series of environments, each protected by a boss that borrows liberally from horror movies that have come before this.

Hotel Barcelona‘s gameplay loop is rather simple — you set off in a stage that is divided up between several different (yet still large on their own) rooms. Doorways lead from one to the other, and each tells you of the benefits or bonuses the next room can provide. Justine — or really, Dr Carnival — is tasked to get to the end of a stage, take on its final boss, and use resources along the way to grow stronger for what comes next.

It’s classic roguelite: play, kill, be killed, learn, evolve, and continue on. The biggest difference between this and others in the genre is that Justine is able to take advantage of the runs she’s made before by employing Slasher Phantoms, ghosts of her four previous runs that duplicate the movements of each said go. It’s a clever little concept that saved my bacon in numerous runs — and upgrades to Justine’s abilities mean you can even loot corpses from fallen runs to better yourself for the next time.

Justine has a wide array of weaponry at her disposal, including light and heavy melee attacks, a ranged attack, and combos. Devil May Cry-like stylish combat will fill your Blood Splatter Gauge, which lets you pop off a super-powered finishing move… provided you keep killing to keep the gauge up when you want to use it.

There’s a big economy at work behind the scenes, with currencies including ears, bones, teeth, and cold hard cash; all that can be used to level up abilities and gain new weaponry. Some of that can also be exchanged for myriad items, which include keys for treasure boxes, coins for a pinball machine or for a special bonus level, or re-entry tickets that let you take on a boss again if you happen to die. 

There’s admittedly a lot to balance with that economy, and it’s made a little harder in that you have to spend what you earn after a run, or else most of what you earned will be lost. Keys are vital, used in a floating casino that can help to build up cash or re-entry tickets too. Room-by-room missions also assist with this; you’ll be rewarded if you can execute a certain amount of parries, as an example, and doing so will also offer up much-needed resources.

Multiplayer does unlock itself near the end of proceedings, though I was unable to matchmake in PvE or PvP modes. Doing so will also cost you valuable cash, which those looking to max out weapons, abilities, and access to a hidden boss will also need to factor in.

Hotel Barcelona is incredibly difficult, but mostly in the wrong ways. After a couple runs, I was pretty good at avoiding damage and dealing my own on Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties. The trouble is, I kept getting hit and losing valuable health because of numerous, frequent frame drops. I feel like some of those occurred because I had Slasher Phantoms on-screen, or because there was just so much happening on screen when crates were breaking and killer tomatoes were on the loose (no, really). Frame rates are much better on PS5 Pro as compared to  PS5, but still pretty abysmal in certain scenarios.

As expected from the notable duo behind it, Hotel Barcelona is all kinds of weird, quirky, and edgy… but sometimes in ways that are extremely dated and perhaps just too try-hard. An introduction to casino dealer Frances Francis best demonstrates this; the heterosexual-identifying man goes to great lengths for some reason to tell you that he’s decidedly not queer and just enjoys the works of Tim Curry. The exchange fell flat and left a bad taste in my mouth, as did several other exchanges or long-running gags throughout.

I’ve been playing Hades 2 at the same time as Hotel Barcelona, and the former captured my attention more than the latter. Hotel Barcelona sure is quirky, but lacks some much-needed polish that could have truly elevated it. Know what you’re in for, and pull the trigger accordingly; though kudos to publisher Cult Games for setting this at a very digestible $60 AUD price point. I had a blast setting things to easy in order to blow through the lion’s share of its story (as in I missed a side mission or two) in roughly 6 or 7 hours.

Hotel Barcelona will soon be available on Windows PC via Steam, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PS5.

Hotel Barcelona was reviewed using a promotional code on PS5, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.