Hotel Barcelona was provided by CULT Games for review. Thank you!
I’m a sucker when it comes to games that are so outlandish and weird that it’s obvious big-time publishers would pass them up. That is exactly the feeling I got when I saw Hotel Barcelona. Coming in from the crazy minds of SUDA51 and SWERY, I was extremely excited to see what their brainchild could be. However, no matter how stylish or exciting the ideas in the game may be, I just could not find enjoyment due to its clunky issues that made the overall gameplay feel slow and unresponsive.
Hotel Barcelona has a lot of unique and interesting ideas, and there are many instances where I can see it wanting to come out, but it just gets overshadowed by the issues when it really needs to just work.
The first aspect that initially drew me to the game was its artwork. The aesthetic reminded me almost immediately of No More Heroes, with less obvious video game references. The 2D character, artist, fantastic, the voice acting is solid, and the opening looked like it included some real-life footage. It just gave me this pure indie feel to it, and in a way, it was very endearing. I would consider the overall presentation to be one of the best parts of the game.
The story and conversations were also quite interesting. The world of Hotel Barcelona is a weird one. You play as an FBI agent who is hunting the witch who his stationed at this hotel. However, you are possessed by a serial killer, and that’s where you get your powers. The hotel has some sort of time loop to it, and you will need to kill the murderous residents that have taken up there. And once all of them are gone, you can finally take on the witch.
The story very much feels in line with what the two people behind this game would come up with. It’s odd, take some time to understand it, but it’s entertaining through and through. Conversing with our serial killer ghost, learning about the weird people staying at this hotel (like the bartender who is obsessed with ears), and watching the intro videos and backstories of the people we are killing is just straight-up entertaining.
Despite the awesome artwork and lots of intriguing ideas, it never seems to come to fruition. Combat itself just feels slow and clunky. Games like this benefit from snappy, quick combat, and while Hotel Barcelona has some great combos and complexities as more of the skill tree gets unlocked, it never changes how sluggish it all feels. From attacking to dodging, I just always felt one step behind, and trying to deal with tougher enemies and Doppleganers felt near impossible at times. It always felt like there was some delay after pressing a button to attack and dodge, which led to my death so many times.
What makes this all the more frustrating is that the gameplay and its shortcomings overshadow the elements that feel well implemented. The blood meter that goes up when you kill and slice enemies, which enhances your stats, the expensive skill tree that unlocks new attacks and interesting upgrades, the different ways to enhance your weapons, both in and out of a run, and even the phantoms of your last run that come with you to attack enemies, it all feels cheapened by the core mechanics just not being enjoyable. It really is a shame. Every part of me wanted to love Hotel Barcelona, and it’s filled with so much charm that I liked seeing, but it was so hard to just have a good time. There are other weapons you can buy that do make it a little better, but it never fully erases that janky, slow feeling that creeps throughout combat.
This makes the very monotonous grind that we have come to be used to for games like this much harder to enjoy. To be forced to go through the combat over and over, and starting the game by losing all of our resources after each run that we don’t use, just adds to the frustration. It does get slightly better after the first boss, but we only get about 5% kept. It's better than nothing, but it adds to the grind, never feeling like it ends.
I also found myself almost never using ranged weaponry. I like having the option of being able to use a gun, but unless I’m fighting a boss where I can shoot from afar in between striking, I almost exclusively use melee weapons. Luckily, there are multiple types of each gun and melee weapon, so there is some variety in playstyle.
Hotel Barcelona is also a bit tough to play on the Steam Deck. While some inside stages, like in the second level, run a lot better, the first stage that takes place outside shows a lot of inconsistent performance. There are constant drops below 40, which makes it hard to recommend playing above 30 FPS, but playing at 30 feels quite slow at times. There are also still some stuttering issues, and the gameplay feels even slower at 30 FPS, which is definitely not helpful for overall playability.
While we can't customize and choose specific settings to enable and disable, we have default quality modes, and none of them will be able to go above 30 FPS. The Very Low setting will still have some drops, and it makes the game look much worse than "Low" quality. It's a shame, since this is a game that would be perfect for the Deck, but its performance issues exacerbate the issues that are already present in the game.
Is the game technically playable on the Steam Deck? Yes, yes it is. However, I ultimately don't recommend it. The drops make it very hard to enjoy, and it's already a bit tough to play without the drops.
We do have an accessibility tab, which allows us to choose from four colorblind options and modify the UI size. We can also change blood visibility, toggle vibration, disable whether the HP bar is above the Player, Boss, or Doppleganger's head, change language, rebind keys, and change audio settings.
The game doesn't support 16:10 resolutions, but it does have cloud saves and controller support. There are no HDR settings.
Hotel Barcelona is a game filled with fantastic ideas that never get their chance to shine. The story, aesthetic, and roguelike mechanics are all sound and interesting to play around with, but the slow, janky combat makes it hard to play through. It's a very tough one to enjoy, and while I really like the skill tree, phantoms, and the blood meter, I don't have enough time to appreciate and dig deeper because I get frustrated by the issues the game already has.
It's also a tough game to play on the Steam Deck. While there are some levels and stages, including our hotel hub, that can run decently, there will be stages that are too much and will result in some drops that make this the most stable at 30 FPS. However, playing at this framerate doesn't feel great and just exacerbates the already-established problems. It's technically playable, but not one I would recommend for the best possible experience.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Hotel Barcelona is filled with fantastic ideas that unfortunately aren't given the time of day due to the slow and janky combat, and it's a bit tough to enjoy on the Steam Deck.
