GameWatcher visited Guadalindie 2026 in Málaga, Spain, and went hands-on with Cuelebre Cult’s City of Dolorosa, one of the most visually striking walking sims we’ve come across recently.
Some of my favourite stories are all about regular people walking into something too big to comprehend at first. The mysteries are gradually revealed, but they’re the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. City of Dolorosa uses the tried-and-tested hook during its early sections. The fun twist is you’re quite literally walking into Hell. Before you’ve even figured out why and how you died, you’re quickly thrown into a plot that might have been in motion for a long time…
City of Dolorosa puts its best foot forward thanks to a striking, hand-drawn India ink visual style that defines unique-looking demons of all sorts and otherworldly (yet human… in a strange way) locales housing distorted citizens and shady characters I’d not trust. Who am I? Where am I? Why are we doing all this?
At least during its early beats, one of City of Dolorosa’s biggest strengths is that it moves at a rapid pace. You mostly will be reading, walking around Dolorosa’s streets, and finding the Great Five Powers as you try to figure out “a plot of demonic power succession”. Producer Ariadna Vilasó confirmed to me the game isn’t a long one (its Steam description says it’s around four hours) and the core gameplay loop lands close to visual novels and walking sims. There’s a bit of open-ended exploration involved though. In fact, I almost managed to get lost during my brief trip to Hell.
Needless to say, games like City of Dolorosa are all about the writing. If it’s under or overbaked, it’s all over. When there are no enemies to fight or items to relentlessly collect, the writing has to land. Thankfully, at least during the opening chunk, it all comes together rather beautifully. Moreover, players can make a few choices along the way, starting with three main characters to choose from.
The interactions with the demonic denizens feel snappy but classy, witty but restrained, descriptive but well-calculated. As someone who often has to endure scripts trying to be way too smart for their own good (or downright anaesthetic), there’s a spark to City of Dolorosa that’s frustratingly rare. The sassy words match the art style, but there’s elegance and polish to the effort as a whole.
It’s probably a good sign I was slightly mad when the credits rolled just as things were getting really interesting. In just over 15 minutes, I was truly enchanted by what this small Asturias-based studio had cooked. After failing to play an earlier build in 2025, I was happy to confirm one of the best-looking games at Guadalindie actually had the juice.
At the time of writing, City of Dolorosa hasn’t locked a date, but it’s currently set to release in 2027 on PC via Steam. Console versions haven’t been confirmed yet, but I was told there’s potential interest in bringing it to Switch. It will be available in Spanish, Catalan, Galician, and English (text) at launch. A new demo will arrive later this year, and you can wishlist the game now.
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