Watch On
Back in 2019, Goichi “Suda51” Suda and Hidetaka “Swery65” Suehiro announced a forthcoming horror game under typically bizarre circumstances. As Fraser reported at the time, the duo—who are responsible for No More Heroes and Deadly Premonition respectively—basically brainstormed the project during a livestream. At the time they decided it would be an indie horror game called Hotel Barcelona. The PS2 game Siren would be an inspiration, and Devolver would publish.
Six years later, it turns out Hotel Barcelona is an actual game that will see an actual release next month—on September 25 to be exact—but it has clearly evolved away from those early ideas. For one, Devolver isn’t publishing: the relatively new Cult Games will handle that duty instead. Another big departure, at least to my eyes, is that Hotel Barcelona doesn’t look scary. It’s a 2.5D sidescrolling action roguelite set in a bizarre hotel, with all the surrealist flair you would expect from this duo. If you came away from that 2019 livestream thinking “great, two of the weirdest fellows in games are making a Siren tribute”, then maybe keep your expectations in check.
The trailer above is ample evidence that Suda51’s affection for 1980s edgelord trappings remains undiminished, but as for the basic gist of what you’re doing in Hotel Barcelona, I’ll let the publisher’s note do the talking. “With trippy anime-style visuals designed by the artists behind genre-defying Japanese hits like Chainsaw Man, Persona, and Final Fantasy VII Remake, try to escape this luxury getaway turned psychedelic nightmare and defeat the hotel’s bloodthirsty new management – tough as nails brutes, psychopaths, and criminals from all over America. Suffice to say, you won’t be alive by checkout.”
The precision-oriented combat comes with an interesting twist: as the protagonist Justine becomes drenched in the blood of her enemies she’ll build towards a special attack that unleashes Dr. Carnival, who is a “deranged murderer” she happens to share her brain with. The game will be split across seven areas, each inspired by different sub-genres of horror. There’s also three-player online co-op and PvP invasions.
Hotel Barcelona releases September 26 and it’s on Steam now. It’s also launching on Xbox Game Pass.