Hotel Barcelona
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Hotel Barcelona
Hotel Barcelona had potential with its intriguing premise, but it falls short due to lackluster gameplay, visuals, and stage design.
If you can overcome its tight combat and find beauty in its bizarre world and characters created by SWERY and SUDA51, Hotel Barcelona is a solid roguelite with some innovative additions (I love the Slasher Phantoms) and some very cool moments. If that's something that piques your interest, why don't you check into the hotel and join me?
Enemies are lacking in character, all drawn from the B-movie guide to horror monsters.
With Hotel Barcelona, I feel as though both Suda and Swery's typical shortcomings are multiplying against each other, resulting in a game that has good bones and a fun, wacky premise, but falls well short on actual execution. If a game with this kind of slow, sticky gameplay and graphical shortcomings came from any other directors, it probably wouldn't be on my radar.
If viewed more as an arthouse piece, Hotel Barcelona has a striking charm, but its trap-filled roguelite formula feels too hostile and unpolished to be enjoyed by a general audience.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Hotel Barcelona adds in just enough quirky things to stay on brand with the reputation that its legendary creators have forged for themselves. Just like most of their other works, Hotel Barcelona is far from perfect, showcasing its own intentional nuances that can either make or break a game for some people.
I really wanted to love Hotel Barcelona. It has such an interesting presentation and game world. But its gameplay is just plain awful. It has a generic roguelite structure, and controlling Justine feels abysmal. The UI is also an overcluttered eyesore. I hope fans of SWERY and SUDA51 find something to love in Hotel Barcelona. But as it is, I just can’t recommend a game that plays this horribly.
Hotel Barcelona is plenty weird enough for an overnight jaunt, but it's too janky and stiff to recommend an extended stay.
