Goichi Suda stands out as one of the most inventive and visionary game designers in the industry. His games boldly incorporate elements from pop culture, spanning punk rock to grindhouse cinema, infusing his narratives with a distinct, sharp, subversive wit. While the plots may come across as incoherent or fragmented, echoing the techniques of experimental film, his games emphasize emotional impact and thematic depth over plain accessibility.
Hidetaka Suehiro is a lot like Suda, but with a greater focus on surreal, heartfelt mysteries laced with dark whimsy and naive protagonists. He prioritizes emotional resonance over polish, crafting worlds where everyday Americana collides with the bizarre. Most of the time, he rips off Twin Peaks and has made a career standing on David Lynch’s shoulders, but he has the talent to deliver stories with a sentimental payoff and humanity.
When it was announced that these two cult talents were collaborating on a game, no one knew what to expect. The result was a stupefying love letter to horror cinema, featuring a baffling blend of game genres. Whose game is this? Find out in our Hotel Barcelona review!
Hotel Barcelona
Developer: White Owls, Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: CULT Games
Platforms: Windows PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 (reviewed)
Release Date: September 26, 2025
Price: $29.99
Justine is a wimpy federal marshal investigating a bizarre, cursed hotel on the border between Pennsylvania and West Virginia that’s been mysteriously taken over by America’s most notorious serial killers. During a car accident, Justine is possessed by an evil entity known as Dr. Carnival, granting her supernatural killing powers but twisting her into a vessel for vengeance.
The Hotel Barcelona unmistakably serves as an homage to the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. It is a place that exists in a perpetual purgatory, where ghostly guests are held captive by a devil-worshipping witch, directly responsible for Justine’s father’s death.
If they want a chance to stick it to that dastardly witch, Justine and the Doc will need to explore the regions around the hotel and collect the serial killer hearts, and offer them to the legally distinct Pennywise altar.
Various horror movies and video games are the inspiration for each of the legendary serial killers. You got a Jason Vorhees-type masked killer in the woods who wears sports equipment. The sexy alien creature, from Species, rules the sewers, commanding an army of spider-head beings from The Thing that relentlessly try to kill you.
If you’re in the mood for a barbecue, head on over to the slaughterhouse stages and go toe-to-wheel with an animal-faced, Leatherface-like butcher in a hot rod wheelchair. Want to mix things up? Feel free to order room service and rent out the haunted video game cartridge of the dead and play a cursed RPG that climaxes with a turn-based battle with a legally distinct Sadako.
Getting far on the pinball machine means gearing up to take on the mecha baby. Don’t forget to head out for some exciting gnome shark hunting at the water park! While there is a lot to see and do in Hotel Barcelona, and it may seem like a genre grab-bag, it is, in fact, primarily a 2D action platformer with very forgiving rogue-lite elements.
Most of the game has players take control of Justine, who is under the control of Dr. Carnival, as they try to make it through a gauntlet of randomly shuffled stages, with a boss waiting at the end. Where the gameplay gets tricky is how it has a lot of variables and randomization to keep the action interesting.
Enemy placement has multiple configurations and cycles through different power levels. Other factors, like Justine’s size, fluctuate, making her look like a child or like she’s Wilt Chamberlain. Stages might be shrouded in darkness if the moon is in the wrong place, or a casino will appear for a chance to play the worst card game ever for a plus-one upgrade.
The casino area is amusing with its proprietor being a lawyer-friendly Dr. Frankenfurter who lets you pick one of five cards. Pick the right card, and you get your currently equipped weapon a permanent boost. There is no skill or technique involved, just pure blind luck of the draw. The dealer only lets you draw once (unless you upgraded Justine for more chances), and if you pick wrong, you’re shit out of luck and will need to wait for the next time the casino shows up.
Since there are so many possibilities for things to happen during a run, the chances of something very stupid happening can make it prematurely end, sending Justine and Dr. Carnival back to their hotel room. Mercifully, the developers understand that most of the time, progress in rogue games can be painful or too punishing. Who wants to have their time wasted by unfair RNG?
The devs are thoughtful enough to let players keep all their collectibles and currencies after Justine dies. Her skill tree relies on multiple currencies picked up from foes or in caches, and it’s expansive enough that players will have plenty to work toward in maxing her out. The catch is that any unspent currency is lost when leaving the hotel hub, so she has to use it or lose it.
All the teeth, ears, and cash are also for buying weapons. There are three melee types with their bespoke branches on Justine’s skill tree that expand her moveset. The melee mechanics won’t feel great at first. Regretfully, most of Justine’s playability is locked behind several upgrades, which require several boss hearts to access.
There are tons of unlockable abilities, outfits, and weapons, many of which can be found in random treasure boxes or earned through the bondage mechanic.
That’s right, Hotel Barcelona caters to the thrill-seekers, and Justine can embrace the challenge by having the concierge impose harsh restrictions during a run. Defeat the stage boss with one or more bondages activated, and you’ll earn a worthy reward.
The bondage challenges can get pretty wild and even ridiculous at times. Locking out all forms of attack can make it impossible to win, but the idea isn’t to turn them all on. For example, runs with instant death, breakable objects, or no blocking are more manageable. There are ways to ease the difficulty, like hoarding revival tickets, and starting over gives you an opportunity to spend upgrade points before losing them entirely.
Controlling Justine feels weird and off. Even after fully upgrading her and acquiring the best weapons, fully maxed out, there is a certain level of stiffness to her movement. This is how you know Hotel Barcelona is more of a Swery game than it is a Goichi Suda product. Fighting and platforming do not feel polished, and it takes some time to get used to.
The UI graphics are a lot to take in at first, but after putting time into it, things start to click. After a few runs, the gameplay comes together despite the rough patches, and I found myself getting sucked into Hotel Barcelona’s loop. There’s always a ticking clock counting down, keeping the cycle fast-paced and tense.
The bosses in the game can range from absolutely brutal to ridiculously easy. As Justine grows stronger, the game tends to get easier, but there’s always the possibility of something unexpected messing things up. Hit boxes can be inconsistent, and it’s not always obvious when a boss’s temporary invincibility has ended.
Other areas with noticeable lack of polish are some voice casting choices for incidental background NPCs. The hotel’s lobby features a few characters that are obviously intended to be male, but are voiced by women.
It’s not like they are women trying to sound like men, either; it’s like the actresses did performances unaware that their performance would be used for a male NPC.
Hotel Barcelona can feel sloppy. The Dark Souls-like invasion mechanic is more of an annoyance than anything because nobody likes getting invaded when you are barely alive with several bondages active. I opted to play offline to avoid the headache, but it’s cool that Hotel Barcelona is jam-packed with features and amusing gimmicks. You feel like you’re getting your money’s worth.
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 was reviewed on PlayStation 5 using a code provided by CULT Games. Additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy is here. Hotel Barcelona is now available for Windows PC (via STEAM), Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.
