{"id":1982750,"date":"2026-06-10T15:35:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1982750"},"modified":"2026-06-10T15:35:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:35:59","slug":"the-curse-of-mixed-is-broken-swery-turns-opinion-around-on-oddball-roguelike-hotel-barcelona-by-removing-gen-ai-voices-and-substantially-reworking-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1982750","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The curse of Mixed is broken&#8221; &#8211; Swery turns opinion around on oddball roguelike Hotel Barcelona by removing gen-AI voices and substantially reworking the game"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/hotel-barcelona\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Hotel Barcelona<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">&#8220;The curse of Mixed is broken&#8221; &#8211; Swery turns opinion around on oddball roguelike Hotel Barcelona by removing gen-AI voices and substantially reworking the game<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">New Management.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Hotel-Barcelona-key-art.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Hotel Barcelona key art\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Hotel-Barcelona-key-art.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"320\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>White Owls<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-06-10T15:35:59+00:00\">June 10, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"e6752bf5-37b5-40fa-b4e1-013898dd9915\" data-name=\"Hotel Barcelona\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Hotel Barcelona\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Hotel Barcelona\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Hotel Barcelona\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Hotel Barcelona\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Hotel Barcelona\" title=\"Follow Hotel Barcelona\"><br \/>\n  Follow Hotel Barcelona<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Hidetaka &#8220;Swery&#8221; Suehiro&#8217;s oddball roguelike <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/swerys-oddball-roguelike-hotel-barcelona-isnt-exactly-good-but-its-janky-jaunt-through-horror-movie-history-is-endearing-all-the-same\">Hotel Barcelona didn&#8217;t impress us<\/a> when it dropped last year, but there was something charming and earnest about it. But months later &#8211; and many updates later &#8211; Swery and White Owl appear to have turned opinion around.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Swery65\/status\/2063967229742649752?s=20\">Swery shared the news<\/a> that Hotel Barcelona has left behind a &#8216;Mixed&#8217; rating on Steam in favour of &#8216;Mostly Positive&#8217; reviews. In fact, at the time of writing, recent reviews are showing as &#8216;Very Positive&#8217;, which is, um, very positive.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Hotel Barcelona: Under New Management &#8211; Official Announcement Trailer<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nFXoVas5Iwo\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;Since <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/news\/app\/2286600\/view\/509607220045938695\">Under New Management<\/a> in March, every player, review, and bit of support helped us get here. The curse of MIXED is broken,&#8221; Swery said, thanking players who&#8217;d checked it.<\/p>\n<p>Under New Management is an update that marked the game&#8217;s &#8220;re-opening&#8221; with improvements to combat, flow, and player control, as well as stage and enemy rebalancing across the board. Moreover, it took care of the invasion-based multiplayer experience and deployed quality-of-life changes &#8211; including user interface tweaks and localisation fixes &#8211; that upped the game&#8217;s level of  overall polish.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/news\/app\/2286600\/view\/657107080095728140\">More recent Hotel Barcelona patches<\/a> have iterated on these changes further while adding more  free new skins and skills and <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/news\/app\/2286600\/view\/503963131223999762\">removing AI-generated voices from the game&#8217;s VHS segments<\/a>, which explains the game&#8217;s steady rise when it comes to reviews. Nevertheless, <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/swerys-hotel-barcelona-breaks-free-from-mixed-steam-rating-following-large-scale-update-and-removal-of-gen-ai-content\/\">work on Hotel Barcelona is said to be far from done<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Hotel Barcelona is currently available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X\/S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2026\/05\/swery-and-suda51s-hotel-barcelona-is-coming-to-switch-1-and-2-soon\">Nintendo Switch 1 &amp; 2 ports<\/a> are in development.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Hidetaka &#8220;Swery&#8221; Suehiro&#8217;s oddball roguelike <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/swerys-oddball-roguelike-hotel-barcelona-isnt-exactly-good-but-its-janky-jaunt-through-horror-movie-history-is-endearing-all-the-same\">Hotel Barcelona didn&#8217;t impress us<\/a> when it dropped last year, but there was something charming and earnest about it. But months later &#8211; and many updates later &#8211; Swery and White Owl appear to have turned opinion around.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Swery65\/status\/2063967229742649752?s=20\">Swery shared the news<\/a> that Hotel Barcelona has left behind a &#8216;Mixed&#8217; rating on Steam in favour of &#8216;Mostly Positive&#8217; reviews. In fact, at the time of writing, recent reviews are showing as &#8216;Very Positive&#8217;, which is, um, very positive.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"primis_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"primis_video\">\n<p><span class=\"embed_placeholder\" data-type=\"targeting\" style=\"display: none\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"message\">To see this content please enable targeting cookies.<\/span><br \/>\n<button class=\"optanon-show-settings link\"><br \/>\nManage cookie settings<\/button><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption>Hotel Barcelona: Under New Management &#8211; Official Announcement Trailer<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nFXoVas5Iwo\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;Since <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/news\/app\/2286600\/view\/509607220045938695\">Under New Management<\/a> in March, every player, review, and bit of support helped us get here. The curse of MIXED is broken,&#8221; Swery said, thanking players who&#8217;d checked it.<\/p>\n<p>Under New Management is an update that marked the game&#8217;s &#8220;re-opening&#8221; with improvements to combat, flow, and player control, as well as stage and enemy rebalancing across the board. Moreover, it took care of the invasion-based multiplayer experience and deployed quality-of-life changes &#8211; including user interface tweaks and localisation fixes &#8211; that upped the game&#8217;s level of  overall polish.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/news\/app\/2286600\/view\/657107080095728140\">More recent Hotel Barcelona patches<\/a> have iterated on these changes further while adding more  free new skins and skills and <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/news\/app\/2286600\/view\/503963131223999762\">removing AI-generated voices from the game&#8217;s VHS segments<\/a>, which explains the game&#8217;s steady rise when it comes to reviews. Nevertheless, <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/swerys-hotel-barcelona-breaks-free-from-mixed-steam-rating-following-large-scale-update-and-removal-of-gen-ai-content\/\">work on Hotel Barcelona is said to be far from done<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Hotel Barcelona is currently available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X\/S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2026\/05\/swery-and-suda51s-hotel-barcelona-is-coming-to-switch-1-and-2-soon\">Nintendo Switch 1 &amp; 2 ports<\/a> are in development.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Hotel Barcelona &#8220;The curse of Mixed is broken&#8221; &#8211; Swery turns opinion around on oddball roguelike Hotel Barcelona by removing gen-AI voices and substantially reworking the game New Management. Image credit: White Owls News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on June 10, 2026 Follow Hotel Barcelona Hidetaka &#8220;Swery&#8221; Suehiro&#8217;s oddball roguelike Hotel Barcelona [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1982750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1982750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1982750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1982750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1982750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1982750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}