There’s a particular kind of hurt that comes with a “Mixed” rating on Steam. A sort of limbo. And for HOTEL BARCELONA, the surreal slasher roguelite from two of gaming’s most beloved weirdos, that limbo lasted long enough to sting.
That’s not the case anymore.
White Owls Inc. confirmed this week that HOTEL BARCELONA has crossed over to “Mostly Positive” on Steam. The team is openly calling it the end of “the curse of MIXED.” It’s the kind of milestone that gets celebrated loudly when you’ve worked this hard for it, and honestly, they’ve earned the noise.
The turnaround traces back to March, when White Owls dropped the “Under New Management” update. Combat got faster. Parrying actually felt good. Enemies stopped being frustrating sponges. The update read less like a patch and more like a second chance.
To celebrate crossing the threshold, the game is getting free collaboration skins pulled from four titles that share its DNA: Shadows of the Damned, Bye Sweet Carole, Death Game Hotel, and The Good Life.
And because this is a SWERY and SUDA51 production, the announcement trailer is exactly what you’d expect: SWERY eating ice cream, directed by filmmaker Andrés Montero Bustamante, conceived as the unhinged mirror image of a pre-launch video where SUDA51 ate a burger. There is no reason for this to exist, and it’s perfect. Never change, guys.
HOTEL BARCELONA is available now on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. A Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 version is also on the way.
