Waaaay back in 2019 (before there was a pandemic, can you believe that?!) I wrote about Hidetaka “Swery65” Suehiro and Goichi “Suda51” Suda planning to collaborate on a new horror game. What we knew at the time is that the game would feature different rooms; each room would represent a different person, dimension, or time. Everything else was up in the air, from format (Swery65 wanted a side-scroller) to publisher (at the time, rumoured to be Devolver Digital). It’s been nearly four years since this game, tentatively titled Hotel Barcelona, was discussed. But now, it’s been “officially” announced, keeping the title.
Hotel Barcelona is written and directed by Swery65, with the original idea being credited to Suda51. It is described as a 2.5D slasher film parodic action game. Originally, it was meant to be about a magazine writer visiting a cool new hotel; it remains to be seen if this is still the basis of the game. Serial killers from across the United States are said to have gathered at Hotel Barcelona. You must defeat them and check out before all the blood is spilled.
The hotel is trapped by some sort of barrier that warps you right back there when you die; players must survive the death loop with their past selves. The villains are all familiar archetypes from horror films, including a creepy baby doll, a killer shark, an alien from outer space, and a sleepaway camp slasher. At the beginning of the trailer, someone says, “Do you think the witch is really here in this hotel?”
Interestingly enough, during that initial stream Swery65 and Suda51 said that they’d want the game to be easy to play, and to be downloadable on mobile platforms. The platforms for the game have been announced, and iOS/Android are unfortunately nowhere in sight.
Developed by White Owls Inc. (with no publisher announced), Hotel Barcelona will be released for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series in 2024.
Looks promising. Will keep an eye on that one.