Hotel Barcelona Reviews
Once you get enough upgrades, Hotel Barcelona becomes a decent enough action game with an interesting mechanic, but it never reaches a point where it really stands out from the crowd. Considering the fascinating creators behind it, it can only be considered something of a disappointment. Despite that, if you’re a big horror fan willing to put some time into it, you’ll eventually find a solid roguelike.
Seeing how far the roguelite genre has come over the years, it falls short of what it could have been with the combat, platforming, difficulty and level design not being up to snuff. Hotel Barcelona may be worth a stay if you’re a die-hard fan of Suda and/or Swery and can muster through the lack of polish, but only at a discount. For anyone who’s wanting a more enticing roguelite experience should find it elsewhere.
Flashy, inspired but flawed, Hotel Barcelona is a blood-drenched, frenetic but clunky action roguelite. Leaning towards style rather than substance, its creative story, breadth of replaybility and brilliant horror-inspired art direction make this one for the cultists.
Hotel Barcelona is rough, unfair, and buggy but also charming, challenging and fun - Suda51 and SWERY are an acquired taste but fans will relish this bold and bizarre roguelite.
This is a worthy creation from the minds of Swery and SUDA 51, with a distinct identity thanks to the freedom of the two Japanese developers in charge. All its musical references, classic horror films, and extravagant sense of humor are perfectly woven into its raw, contemporary, and irreverent story. Unfortunately, this ambitious artistic vision is marred by technical execution issues, such as a clear graphical deficit accompanied by performance issues like frame rate drops and its relentless difficulty for the casual player. Despite this, we can safely say that Hotel Barcelona will become a cult game like the classics from SUDA 51 and Swery, and why not, some more obscure titles like Illbleed.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Hotel Barcelona presents itself as a delirious and provocative experience whose strengths lie in its universe and its extravagant characters.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Hotel Barcelona is a wild, unfiltered roguelike horror-action experience from the minds of Swery65 and Suda51. Packed with creative chaos, the game delivers a surreal narrative, inventive systems, and unapologetically janky gameplay that somehow keeps pulling you back in. Despite technical hiccups and clunky combat mechanics, its relentless pace and bizarre charm make it a standout for fans of experimental indies.
Due to the collaboration of two of my favorite developers, SWERY and SUDA51, Hotel Barcelona was one of my highest anticipated games of the year. Unfortunately, it’s a disappointment. The best way to describe Hotel Barcelona? A 2D Soulslike(-like) mixed with roguelite mechanics; two genres that don’t mesh all that well. Having to repeat the same things and levels constantly with ever changing conditions doesn’t allow gamers to practice and remember patterns. Due to the difficulty, there’s a focus on grinding to level up and upgrading your skills, but it gets frustrating after a while. The levels are enjoyable, but you’ll get annoyed having to replay them for the 10th time. There’s potential here buried under forced grinding. I can’t recommend this to anyone else but the masochists.
Hotel Barcelona by Suda51 and Swery65 has style, but it's seriously lacking in substance.
Review in Greek | Read full review
Hotel Barcelona is a complicated game in every imaginable way. While it offers an interesting challenge thanks to a high degree of unpredictability, it's hard to ignore its performance issues and clunky gameplay. It's a stylish game that lovingly pays homage to horror cinema, but it nearly ruins everything with its clumsy and almost inconsequential execution. It takes effort to see its precariousness as its own charm, like a genuine low-budget trashy horror film with questionable intentions. Once this hurdle is overcome, it quickly carves out its niche, for which it can be seen as one of the best games in the world.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Hotel Barcelona is a blood-soaked fever dream where pop culture horror, time loops, and twisted minds check in, and sanity checks out.
Swery and Suda together! What could possibly go wrong? Well, unfortunately, quite a lot of things. It’s just a true shame that personality, good music and horror movie references alone doesn’t make for a good gameplay experience. Maybe masochists and roguelite veterans will get more out of this, but for me it fell disappointingly flat. Here’s hoping that Suda’s next epic will deliver on its promises better next year.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Hotel Barcelona is every bit as wild and unconventional as you’d expect from SWERY65 and Suda51, and that’s its biggest strength and its biggest weakness. It’s stylish, creative, and packed with clever ideas, but also weighed down by sluggish combat and a tendency to overwhelm the player. When it all clicks, it’s a bloody good time, but in those early hours when it doesn’t, it can feel like a grind. But if you’re willing to stick with it, embrace its quirks, and unlock some new combat abilities, there’s a unique and satisfying roguelike here that’s well worth checking into – just don’t expect your stay in Hotel Barcelona to be perfectly smooth one.
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.
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