Hotel Barcelona Reviews
Hotel Barcelona is a 2.5D side-scrolling action roguelite and a creative collaboration between two of Japan's most eccentric game directors, Goichi "SUDA51" Suda (known for No More Heroes) and Hidetaka "Swery65" Suehiro (known for Deadly Premonition). It was released on September 26, 2025, and is currently available on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation 5.
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.
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 delivers a wild, stylish, and often thrilling experience, blending the best of SUDA51 and Swery65's chaotic sensibilities with clever mechanics, gorgeous visuals, and an audacious sense of humor. Its combat is fun, its world is memorable, and its story, though flawed at times, is engaging in all the right ways. However, the game's brevity and underused mechanics leave it feeling like it's missing a larger piece of the puzzle, hinting at the potential for something far greater. Playing through it feels like being promised a full-course steak dinner, only to get a quick salad, a bite of steak with some potatoes, and then being rushed out before dessert. The pieces are there, and what you taste is good, but the meal ends just as it starts to get satisfying. Fans of offbeat, over-the-top action-horror with a cerebral twist will find much to enjoy here, while those expecting a fully realized roguelite epic may leave wanting just a bit more. Nevertheless, for those who revel in the bizarre, the bloody, and the brilliant, Hotel Barcelona provides a uniquely satisfying experience that rewards exploration, experimentation, and repeated play, even if it occasionally teases more than it delivers.
HOTEL BARCELONA is enjoyable from start to finish, even if that finish comes about too swiftly. It's also definitely over the top and not something to take too seriously. HOTEL BARCELONA is really just a fun game, no matter how you look at it.
Swery65 brings us yet another game full of unusual ideas, cinematic references, constant fourth-wall breaks, and an art direction that makes up for the lack of visual polish, but much like the creative director’s earlier projects, Hotel Barcelona works on paper and not much beyond that.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
HOTEL BARCELONA is a chaotic roguelite sidescroller that blends dark humor and inventive mechanics. With challenging combat and high replay value, it rewards persistence and creativity. Fans of VHS-inspired horror will find it endlessly entertaining.
Hotel Barcelona stands out for its unique style, gradually revealing strong gameplay after a shaky start. Flawed design, balance choices, and technical issues limit its impact, and like the B-movies it emulates, it entertains without cutting deep. Yet its atmosphere and personality linger, giving it the potential to become a cult classic: imperfect, but memorable for genre fans.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Poorly made, overly complex, and full of clichés, Hotel Barcelona is far from a creative experience.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Hotel Barcelona is a a frequently enjoyable collaboration between Swery and Suda51, bringing together two of the industry’s most eccentric minds into an often times uniquely rewarding roguelite with an enjoyable story and cast of characters. However for everything the game does well, there is a frustrating downside that keeps it far beneath the best that either creator has to offer.
HOTEL BARCELONA is an experience as intriguing as the hotel itself and its residents. On the one hand, there are moments that are super fun, followed by others that leave us a little frustrated.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
While a bit uneven, Hotel Barcelona is a blast to play. It starts a bit rough, but as more upgrades and abilities become available, the creativity behind the game really shines through.
At the end, it’s impossible not to feel disappointed by the end result. I know that not all games by both Suda and Swery are bangers, and that some jank is basically expected from their outings, but Hotel Barcelona could have been so much better. From a concept standpoint, it’s a banger, I really liked the premise. Regarding the gameplay loop, and the roguelike mechanics as a whole, again, all great… in theory. In practice, this game is hampered by framerate hiccups, infuriating input lag issues, and some juvenile humor coupled to some really poor writing.