Review – HOTEL BARCELONA – Gamerview

There are two types of games, in my view, in this great market we follow: those who deliver exactly what their premises promise and those who destroy all their expectations. It is an excellent example of the second type. Created by the minds of two of my favorite directors, I did not know what to expect from the beginning and admit that I received much more than I was waiting.

Born of Suda51 and Swery65’s creative and “bizarre” union, Hotel Barcelona is an ode to the great horror classics and the RogueLite games. Set in the homonymous hotel, young Justine will face enemies she never imagined, even if she always had the unusual presence of someone on the other side. The Barcelona Hotel welcomes the player with open arms to a world of absolute violence.

An exemplary fusion

Suda51 and Swery65 have always captivated me with their works, as they produce what I like to call “video games” games. What do I mean by that? These are fictional works that seem to have emerged within another fictional work, such as one of the games that Mordecai and Rigby would be playing, being extremely banal and exaggerated. No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw and Deadly Premonition fit perfectly into this picture.

Hotel Barcelona fits because it is so absurdly self -referential and referential to our world that it corresponds exactly to what I would expect from a game created by Suda and Swery. On the one hand, you have the hotel’s look and cozy setting, which hides numerous dangers, such as the quiet city of Greenvale and its Great Deer Yard hotel, hiding the shadows under dusty rugs.

On the other hand, you have the sweet Justine, frightened and shy, but it becomes a deadly machine when it allows your other I take control, bathing in the blood and guts of enemies. The hotel, its guests, Justine and the region are being shaped and misrepresented over time, revealing the rotten and fetid flesh under the beautiful makeup that paints the Barcelona Hotel as a dream destination.

Bringing different influences from both creators and numerous horror movies, Hotel Barcelona is an excellent choice for fans of the quoted games and great challenges, either in normal mode or in “Bondage Play”. No doubt it is a great place to stay, especially for those who, like me, spent years of torture and pleasure inhabiting the Barbs Tower Tengoku in Let It Die.

Exactly what Doctor suggested

Hotel Barcelona opens with our heroine Justine and her partner Mad Fury traveling to the so -called hotel. Both are federal agents in charge of the mission of capturing a witch that inhabits the region. An accident occurs due to Mad Fury’s “companions”, who distract Justine. She ends up dodging a group of tortured civilians, causing the death of her partner and girls.

However, Justine survives and wakes up at the hotel, without understanding how. Soon we are introduced to his “hitchhiker” spirit: an entity that considers himself an ancient Titan, an irretivable force of pain and pleasure, called Dr. Carnival. Like Justine, he also seeks the fall of the witch who controls the hotel and allows psychopaths to live in her facilities.

By exploring the hotel, Justine and Dr. Carnival will find allies, enemies and obstacles. However, what will really “back them” is the amount of deaths that expect the heroin and subsequently the player. These deaths are extremely necessary to understand certain mechanics, know new characters and even generate allies with the return of mechanics seen in another famous indie.

The secrets of Hotel Barcelona are many, but during his journey through camps, kitchens and underground spacecraft, Justine will learn more about herself, Dr. Carnival and her father, who was killed in this same hotel. All this written with a lot of blood, shouting and frozen in static pupils.

Welcome to the HOTEL BARCELONA

Since the tone of the description may have already made it clear, we are not talking about a simple investigation, but a mission to eliminate high dangerous targets. When it allows your alter ego to take control, Justine turns into an unshakable killing machine, eliminating any kind of obstacle, regardless of age, stature, planet or metaphysical state.

Your journey will not be simple, and dying is a common picture in the game, which makes each attempt a challenge. Therefore, maintaining a good level of bloodthirsty is essential. This way, Justine will be able to collect the four coins of the game: money, teeth, bones and ears.

With these exchange coins, Justine can talk to the spirit that inhabits your room’s closet to expand your skill tree, making your attacks more dynamic and gaining more life, dodge and other enhancements. It is also possible to improve your white and firearm weapons with the hotel’s guard, and can alternate between knives, axes, revolvers, shotguns and flames.

At the hotel bar, it is possible to change ears for items and other currencies. There is also a mysterious Pinball and the option to buy reentry tickets, special tickets that allow the player to face the boss again after dying, without having to go through the entire level and risk coming with his life low.

Who can be now?

I mentioned earlier that Hotel Barcelona brings a mechanics of another remarkable indie, being the Super Meat Boy and your ghosts. Unlike the meat square, Justine’s ghosts are not just reflections of past lives. They are active combat forces that help the player by level.

The more often you get back to a phase, the more ghosts you will have by your side. If you change your setup of items with each raid, you will have an even greater variety of “allies”, which facilitates navigation. Since the game is a RogueLike, there are several paths to the boss, and whenever the chosen route changes, the ghosts of the previous path are erased. Think and calculate the risks.

While they help us, there are also the “ghosts” that appear to delay us: the Doppelgangers. These are other players who invade your world in search of coins, tickets and the simple pleasure of tormenting the weaker. Always be prepared for an invasion, either during the phases or even on boss fights.

You can give luck and find a weak invader, but the time and size RNG also influences. This factor determines Justine’s climate and height at the beginning of each phase. If she’s small, believe me, everything will be twice as hard, while a giant Justine makes things much easier.

The Pleasures of Sin

Justine and their arsenal do not have a common form of equipment improvement so to speak, after all very easy, does not generate added value. Despite buying different models of hotel guard weapons, it is possible at certain random levels, finding dimensional doors that will lead us to the casino and bonus level. The bonus level is a brutal motion challenge that guarantees unique awards, while the casino allows you to improve your weapon.

The casino is a place where the player will be able to open two chests, a simple that can give tickets and money, while the second needs keys that can be found in the beaters of the doors. Each mistake has a value, with green recovering 50% of the player’s life, red increasing the blood bath and attack, blue, increasing the speed and yellows giving a key. This chest with the key can give a lot more money and tickets, plus rare skins.

In it is also possible to find the master of bets, French the gambler. He always invites Justine for a simple $ 13 bet, where the player must choose one of five cards, if he hits his gun, whether it is fire or white, will receive an upgrade or random element. Which makes it more powerful and unpredictable, as well as making each run, as stated earlier something totally unusual.

Each white weapon also gives Dr.Carnival a different secret ability. In the middle of the screen during the gameplay outside the hotel and in combat, there is a skull from Dr. Carnival in the middle of HUD, whenever we fight and kill enemies it fills, from 0% to 100%. Every 20% Justine receives a bonus of attack, speed and amount of blood spilled with each attack, if you do not wet what washes the blood, completely diminishing or erasing the marker, it is possible to use a devastating ability of Dr. Carnival!

A Loop of Violence

Suda and Swery love to work on the concept of repetition, and at Hotel Barcelona could not be different. The game, even after “finished”, will make you return several times to see the different finals and challenge yourself against the bosses X. Each boss, as stated, is based on a classic cliché or character, such as the Diamond camp’s killer rebate.

The game makes you very free to explore and find out how to take advantage of your tools. Bondage mode, for example, “ties” Justine with challenges like not being able to use certain weapons or not being able to touch the water. This increases the difficulty, but gives rewards that would otherwise depend on luck or more laborious methods.

Another secret that the player can discover by chance is the bar’s pinball machine. When I saw her, I knew there was something there, but I didn’t expect the result of overcoming her challenge. It was a fun and unexpected shock that rewards the player’s curiosity.

Even though it is such a special work, I admit that the biggest problem with Hotel Barcelona is in the act of forcing this repetition loop about the player, something that not all roguelite fans hug so well. Combat sometimes does not connect either or is as pleasurable as in other Suda games, being, in my opinion, less polished than.

An endless stay

The unique style of art and writing has married perfectly in this work, bringing impactful visuals, a narrative that is being expanded according to the player’s curiosity, causing him to talk and become a “friend” of the inhabitants and guests of the Hotel! A fun experience and that for the strong references will please the most diverse types of players and movie fans.

The game’s soundtrack is also excellent, with a heavy team of legendary composers to bring hotel areas and their premises to life, bringing names like Junya Nakano (Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years), Takahiro Izutani (Yakuza 2, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots), shota nakama (Founder of the Video Game Orchestra), Takako Yumishima, double the direction of Technouchi (Dark Souls, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Ace Combat X: Skies of DECPTION). I admit that I have my pocket scratching to buy the physical version of OST!

Hotel Barcelona is a bizarrely welcoming and challenging stay for those who are looking for a really tortuous challenge. Bringing the sadistic and dark humor of both producers and their bizarre manner, Hotel Barcelona is one of the excellent jewelry that 2025 brought me, I hope to see you also through the corridors and soaked bloods of the Barcelona Hotel.