The story of Hotel Barcelona, a collaboration between fellow video game auteurs each working under a nom de guerre, is as quirky as its creators are eccentric.

Virtually nothing is known about the title beyond a few administrative details—and even those are a little convoluted. That said, Suda51 posted to Twitter that the game will be released sometime in 2021. Naturally, he did so using a popular meme format, because to have not done so would be disrespectful of the game’s history up until this point.

Suda51 revealed the release date in a Tweet quoting a post by Devolver Digital. The end of 2019 saw many Twitter users posting ascii art of “2020” with a statement about the new year written inside of it. Devolver Digital used the format to joke about delayed release dates. Suda51 used that Tweet as his jumping off point to share ascii art of the year 2021 with Hotel Barcelona written inside of the numbers. In addition to the game’s projected release year, this Tweet also reveals that Suda51, or someone close to him, is talented at creating ascii art. Changing the “0” to a “1” and still ensuring that the text lines up on Twitter is no easy feat.

Hotel Barcelona was first announced during an IGN livestream in October 2019, during which it was revealed that the title was thought up 30 minutes before the two game designers went live. Among other details, Suda51 and Swery announced that it would be published by Devolver Digital. Shortly thereafter, Devolver replied to a Tweet that had shared that information, and seemed to indicate that this was the first they had heard of their involvement (but they were open to talking about it).

Devolver has since replied to Suda51’s latest Tweet asking him to “Prove it.”

For what it’s worth, all of this or none of this could be in earnest. It’s possible that Devolver was involved from the start with a game that Suda51 and Swery had titled well in advance of its announcement. Maybe the game’s story comments on the nature of truth, and the development chaos is a guerilla marketing strategy. Or maybe not, and Suda51 just has the clout to do what he wants and isn’t afraid to flaunt it. It’s very possible that no one will know until the game presumably sees the light of day in 2021.

Source: Destructoid