Hotel Barcelona Reviews
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.
I am left conflicted with Hotel Barcelona. It absolutely oozes the kind of style you'd expect its leading creators and there is real potential in the setting and story, but the actual game just isn't that fun to play. The clunky controls stand out against the many similar action platformers and the multiple currencies make upgrades an unwelcome grind. I can't help but think the story would be better suited to an anime rather than its current form.
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 doesn't motivate players to endure or dig through this pile of «brilliant ideas» from Suda 51 and SWERY.
Review in Russian | 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.
The minds of Suda51 and Swery65 combine to create a roguelike that fails its fundamentals and disappoints on almost every front.
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.
The best feature in Hotel Barcelona is easily its personality and style. The game is oozing with character despite its shortcomings. The outrageous climax completely won me over, and even though I didn’t need to, I kept coming back for more because I grew to love the characters and that God damned hotel.
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.
Hotel Barcelona has a handful of flaws, but if you're willing to stick it out, there is a gem of a game underneath the rough surface. While I would've liked to see more polish and a few more levels to explore, the core gameplay loop is solid. I continually went back to Hotel Barcelona for "just one more run," even after I'd beaten the main story. It's also a good choice for busier gamers with limited play time, since a single run can be completed in a 15-minute setting. Hotel Barcelona is not a game for everyone, but if you're a fan of cheaper, quirky titles (like me), this is your jam.
Hotel Barcelona is an entertaining but uneven experience. Its chaotic, unpolished, and occasionally frustrating nature will appeal to fans of Swery and Suda, though it doesn't fully deliver on expectations. The gameplay is serviceable but too ordinary, and the visuals feel bland. The story is enjoyable, some concepts work, and there's replayability, but it's hard not to feel disappointed it didn't come together better.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
By offering a bold approach to its chosen theme, Hotel Barcelona is unlike anything that came before, even if it doesn't reinvent the wheel in any of its most important aspects. It's violent, it's cruel, it's graphically stunning, and it reflects delightfully disturbed minds like few other games today. All of this would be incredible, were it not for the combat system and technical performance, both of which are less than ideal.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Hotel Barcelona might offer you a bizarre universe and strange characters, but in the end, it leaves you with an unsatisfying experience. If exploring the absurd worlds of SUDA51 and SWERY65 is enough for you, you might give it a chance. But if you're looking for a fun and fluid roguelike, unfortunately, it's very difficult to find what you're looking for here.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
Will you manage to escape from HOTEL BARCELONA?