Hotel Barcelona Interview: Swery and Suda’s Collaboration Is a Horror Action Game with a Time Looping Twist

During the Xbox Digital Broadcast at Tokyo Game Show 2023, White Owls’ iconic Swery (Dark Dreams, Don’t Die), and Goichi Suda of Grasshopper Manufacture (Shadows of the Damned: Lollipop ChainsawThe upcoming ) announced the details of this year’s Hotel BarcelonaThe two authors came up with the idea for.

The title and genre of this game were already out in public, unexpectedly announced at an event four years ago – but the fact that two popular game creators with a huge following were planning to work together attracted the most attention. I had a fantasy of an agent with a dual personality wielding beam katana. My expectations grew as the title and genre were announced.

In the last four years, we’ve heard very little more, and as those years passed by without any announcement, I almost gave up and wondered if the game really was in development.

It is not just confirmation that we have received. Hotel Barcelona’s development through this year’s Xbox Digital Broadcast, but a gameplay reveal and an appearance from the two creators has brought back the feeling of anticipation and hype; we had to hear more about it. Xbox Wire immediately reached out to Swery for more information about the much-anticipated game.

What is the plan for the project and how will you start? Hotel Barcelona launched?

Swery: It all started when I was a guest at a talk event hosted by Suda-san called “Travis Monday Nitro 2”, which was held in Shibuya, Tokyo in October 2019. We discussed creating such a game together at the event. We also revealed the game’s title at that time: Hotel Barcelona. It initially was merely a vocal agreement between the two of us, where we just said “Let’s collaborate!” without much thought put into it. We weren’t sure if we were really going to commit or not.

Then, a few months later, at the Canadian event at the end October 2019, I met Suda-san once again. There, Suda-san gave me his firm commitment, mentioning he’d like to “pursue that opportunity seriously”. The plan was hammered out over a dinner together, in Canada.

The framework for the game was created at that time.

Swery: Back at the event, we had announced that our goal was to create a horror-themed side-scrolling game. The title of the game is “The Darkest Hour”. Hotel BarcelonaWe began to discuss ideas with this in mind. Our idea was to take horror film concepts, create an atmosphere and have the protagonist defeat serial murderers from all over the United States. The setting for all this was a fictional place called Hotel Barcelona. I decided the general framework at that point and worked with Suda to create a comprehensive proposal.

There are a number of weapons in the trailer.

Swery: Your main weapon is a melee item, like an enlarged medical knife. Subweapons are long-range weapons, like a Molotov Cocktail or a Shotgun. Each of these weapons will be used on your missions. Weapons can be obtained by grabbing treasure chests dropped during missions. Of course there are differences between appearance and performance.

Hotel Barcelona is the hub of all the excitement. It’s an integrated entertainment complex that includes a camping area and casino around the entire hotel. This creates a living, single world, with seven small worlds within.

Because Suda and I made the game, each world has a certain twist and each one also features a killer serial boss. To defeat the bosses and to clear all seven levels, the objective is to beat the boss.

You said that your bosses are inspired by characters from movies. Do you have an idea of what character each boss will be?

Swery: They aren’t a tribute paid to a single character. They’re more like an embodiment of a subgenre of horror films. There are many different subgenres in horror films, including slasher, zombie, summer camp, and babysitter. The tropes of each subgenre helped us to come up with our idea for the boss.

Tell us more about the Slasher Phantom, which seems to be one of the game’s main pillars.

Swery: I wanted to bring my idea of the Slasher Phantom into action games in future. This was brought in Hotel BarcelonaIt was because I believed it to be an excellent match.

Simply put, the player’s past character will move as it did in the last run automatically, while still retaining all hitboxes. It’s similar to racing games with the “ghost” feature, except that it uses hit detection. You will experience fighting against your own past. Slasher Phantoms are available in three different sizes to help you on each level.

You might then think, “If I have three Slasher Phantoms with me all the time, all the levels will be a piece of cake”. It isn’t that simple.

The boss is located in the final area of each of the seven universes. You can select a power up when you complete an area. This may increase your attack or restore your health. You may choose to take a different path if your health is reduced and you’re sent to the start of an area. Slasher Phantoms reset to zero when you choose another route.

You will be able, as you become more familiar with the game and gain experience, to defeat the bosses on your own. As you gain experience, we will make adjustments to the game so that it becomes easier for you.

─Where did the idea for the Slasher Phantom come from?

Swery: While there are many death loop games that make you start over from the beginning when you are hit and downed, I have always wanted to make an action game that would embed the looping into its “action” aspect well. I wanted to carry the actual action into the loop and not items or EXP. This led to the idea of looping your previous play along with the current character.

From what I’ve seen during tests, the less good you are at action games, the more the player will value the Slasher Phantom. It seemed that the players really struggled when faced with the decision of whether to recover health or keep their Slasher Phantoms.

Hotel BarcelonaThis is being developed in the same team as that which worked on The Island of Memories: J.J. Macfield’s MissingIt was at the beginning of my development that I said to them: Hotel Barcelona was a side-scrolling, battle action game, and didn’t discuss anything about the Slasher Phantom system. I wanted to ensure that we got a sense of the game, as the team was experienced in developing side-scrolling action games. Once the project began to shape up, I requested that the team add the Slasher Phantom systems.

What I liked most about the images was their intrigue. You took great care in some areas.

Swery: It was a difficult challenge to find out the visual characteristics of each game. As a first commonality, we found that both of us enjoy creating games with animated facial expressions. We started by trying to emulate the style of D4: Dark Dreams Don’t DieShaders were used to create abstraction. The characters, however, were simply too small for this style of art to work. We decided to switch to ray-tracing, and add glistening effect, but the frame rate became unreliable. In the end, we mixed the colors and atmosphere of Japanese animation along with the expression of shadows in a typical ’80s Hollywood horror movie to create what we have now. It was important to us to maintain a 60FPS frame rate, as it is an action-packed game. We also had to create an entirely new art style.

This transition to enter the boss fight was highly entertaining.

Swery: Saho Nandjo, an animation artist who has created many music videos featuring popular artists and anime in the past, was asked to make them. Please look out for cool hand-drawn animated sequences when the bosses appear.

You’ve mentioned that Hotel Barcelona’s launch is in 2024, but when do you envision it becoming available?

Swery: It is a good sign that the framework and content of the game are both ready. 2024 is definitely the year, but the true game-making process begins here… Speaking of action games, it all comes down the balance of the gameplay. The length of time it takes to perfect the gameplay is what really matters.

Please say a few words about the event to those who will be attending. Hotel Barcelona.

Swery: Thank you for showing interest in Hotel Barcelona. This is the result of a collaborative effort between myself and Goichi Suda. We have worked together to create a rewarding and challenging action game. White Owls is developing the game with the same team that created What is Missing?It is our pleasure to introduce it to you. Enjoy it!