In 2019, it was first unveiledthat legendary auteur game developers SWERY and Suda51 would, after all the time, finally be collaborating on a game together known as Hotel Barcelona. The game finally made its official debut last year during the Tokyo Game Show,with a stylish trailergiving us our first look at the gameplay, which seems about as delightfully insane as one would expect from a project between these two legends. And at this weekend’s INDIE Live Expo, where a demo was on display, it was also revealed thatthe official Steam page for the game went live,complete with a new trailer for the game over there that you can check out, where you can also wishlist the game and check out all the details on it in one handy spot.
Checking In
While the new trailer does seem similar to the TGS trailer upon first glance, showing off a lot of the gameplay and even being set to tune of “Paranoid,” the latest clip does have some additional looks at the game’s story and cinematics, based on an original idea by Suda. The setup is that you play as Justine, a novice federal marshal who finds herself at the titular Hotel Barcelona, a luxurious hotel located just outside of Pittsburgh. It would seem like paradise, if not for the fact that the hotel plays host to all of America’s serial killers. Not that Justine is in a position to judge, having her own serial killer, Dr. Carnival, living inside of their head. Still, it’s Justine’s goal to defeat all the serial killers in their way and escape the loop in place that resets when they die, fighting across various settings parodying the slasher genre.
Gameplay-wise, Hotel Barcelona is a 2.5D roguelike action game, with a heavy focus on melee combat, rather befitting a slasher homage. Among its unique hooks are the ability to fight alongside Slasher Phantoms, illusions from your past runs that can deal additional damage and act as decoys, and a blood meter that encourages players to not let up on the carnage, as filling it up lets loose a massive “Carnival Awakening” attack. You’ll need them to defeat the enemies in Justine’s way, which include killer butchers, creepy baby puppets, and a giant shark with an AI in it. Yes, this is a game where “giant serial killer shark battle” can be used as a selling point, and rightly so.
PAX East 2024: Suda51 Talks Shadow of the Damned, More
Grasshopper Manufacture’s Shadows of the Damned returns this year with a remaster, and we got to talk with Suda51 about it, among other things…
While the Steam page says that the game’s release window is “To be announced,” the trailer states a 2024 release for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X, courtesy of SWERY’s team, White Owls, who have been handling development. While it isn’t the team’s first foray into 2D gaming (that would beThe Missing), it is their first roguelike game, so it should be interesting to see how things go here, and just what other craziness lies within Hotel Barcelona.
