It is surprising how few games uses the Mexican culture as a major inspiration. WHich is a shame because if taken by professional hands, it can create a really amazing setting that will make your title stand out in the industry. Leave it to DrinkBox Studios to make a difference here!

I never played the first title, but I heard good things about Guacamelee, so I decided to try the sequel which I heard was a overall better experience.
And yeah it's a good title: it takes the concept and progression of a Metroidvania and mixes it with an amazing artstyle and a humurous writing (sometimes extremely based on outdated memes, as a certain room in the game will demostrate...)

Compared to other metroidvanias it's much more linear, but makes up for it with the implementation of tight platforming sections, that combines the surprisingly varied aerial movements to create tense but thrilling platforming sections. Sometimes these sections can require a bit too precision, but they still are able to make you crack up a smile.

The game also features a cool multiplayer option, full of various colorful caracters that are even abke to change the way you play the game.... the game can be easily enjoyed in both ways.

Gotta be honest this one didn't do anything to absolutely impress me compared to other indie games, but it is a really solid title that gives justice to a great culture by making a colorful world full of entising levels, nice boss fights, memorable characters and cool set pieces. I hope the devs will keep up their great work in the future.

Continuing my spree of playing through recent indie Metroidvanias via Game Pass, I played through Guacamelee 2. I quite enjoyed the first game, but never got around to playing the 2nd one until now. It took me a while to click with it, but I enjoyed my time with this game. It took me roughly 9 hours to beat on the normal difficulty with the best ending and full completion.

Guacamelee 2 is very much more of the first game. I'd heard that before I started playing it, and that's pretty true to what it is. There are a couuuple new things. The number of character in co-op has been increased from 2 to 4 (although I've heard that the game is utterly unplayable with 2, let alone 4 people trying to do the same platforming puzzles), and the chicken form has been given some new moves. I wanna say there also are a few new enemy types, but I don't' remember the first game well enough to say just how many of these are new. Other than that, this game will be mechanically and stylistically very familiar to anyone who has played the first game. Sequences of platforming intermixed with brawling arenas in the "Metroidvania but a beat 'em up" style that Guacamelee 1 did so well with a heavy aesthetic of Mexican Luchador wrestling. It wasn't broke, so they didn't fix it. However I would say that this game is a bit easier than the first, from the platforming to the combat encounters, it never feels like I'm really struggling like a good few areas in 1 felt.

The writing is a very irreverent and meme-filled style that the first game also had, but this feels cranked up a notch. The villains aren't as memorable as the first game (although the best characters from the first game do make reappearances, especially Flame Face), and at least as far as I remember, there are a LOT more outright meme references in this one than the 1st one. Some of them land, a fair few of them don't, and I'd be lying if I said it never got grating. To be totally fair to the game, a lot of the meme stuff and homages to old games/other indie games (of which there are quite a few and are often boring/bad/weird) is all optional content, but if you want the best ending to the game, you'll come across them if not finish them in your hunt for the 5 special things you need. There are also a lot more new versions of the Luchador-ification of pop culture characters in the form of wrestling promotional posteres in the background (one of my favorites being a He-Man & Skeletor one), and they do not disappoint.

The game definitely looks a lot prettier than the first. Guacamelee 1 looks like a game that was made to be able to run on a Wii U, while 2 really cranks up the art style. The angular, not-quite-hand-drawn style is really boosted by a lot of flourishes that bring enemies and environments to life in beautiful color, and the game never suffers any performance drops for it (as I'd damn well hope it wouldn't). The music is nice, but never super stand-out memorable. I mostly had podcasts on while I played it, but I did still have the sound on enough to hear the largely atmospheric music.

Verdict: Recommended. Certainly not a bad game, but nothing super duper special. Especially if you've already played the first one, this game isn't a must-play if you have very limited time. But if you're like me and love any Metroidvania you can get your hands on, you'll enjoy your time with Guacamelee 2. If you wanted more Guacamelee, this delivers it in a way just as good as it was the last time (for better or worse).

Da mesma forma que o primeiro, é um jogo que eu gostei, mas não adorei. Por mais que o sistema de combate seja baseado em combos e tenha uma grande quantidade de golpes, não é muito divertido.

É fácil de levar golpes no meio da bagunça, mas o jogo em si é bem fácil. Jogos com combates mais simples, como Hollow Knight, são bem melhores, focando em fluidez e dificuldade de inimigos mais que quantidade.

Os puzzles de plataforma consegue juntar todas as habilidades, o que é interessante, mas não achei divertido também, não acho os botões de algumas habilidades muito intuitívos (como a esquiva) e sempre me confundia, e para um jogo de plataforma, acho a movimentação muito dura, o que também afeta o combate. O fato de você não conseguir controlar o personagem depois de levar um golpe (como em jogos do NES) era bem chato no fim do jogo quando você tem vários obstáculos que matam imediatamente. Esse jogo usa muito pouco o sistema de mudar de mundos, acho que deveria ter sido retirado completamente pra evitar confusões. Eu gostei bastante de algumas piadas no entanto.

Uma coisa que percebi é que os cenários são sempre muito simples, feitos de formas geométricas toscas, apesar de inicialmente ser interessante, percebi que perdi o interesse rapidamente. Imagino que seja um dos motivos pelo qual não gostei tanto do primeiro também.

Kto grał w pierwszą część dokładnie wie czego się spodziewać, bo nikt tu nie próbował wynaleźć koła na nowo. Widziałem opinie, że to jest bardziej pakiet z nowymi poziomami niż coś co wymaga osobnej gry, ale z tym się nie zgadzam, nową zawartością jestem jak najbardziej ustaysfakcjonowany, a DLC bym raczej nie kupił. Podstawy są oczywiście te same, ale podoba mi się większy wachlarz ruchów w formie kurczaka (ogólnie też w fabule kurczaki są ważniejsze), humor i nawiązania do innych gier czy filmów tym razem bardziej do mnie trafiały, podobało mi się kilka walk z bossami i momentami nieco większa trudność platformowania też mi pasuje. Muzyka wciąż jest bardzo dobra, a graficznie nic się nie zmieniło więc dalej przyjemnie dla oka. Czyli generalnie "jest git". Z minusów to tak jak w jedynce walka ze zwykłymi przeciwnikami to był dla mnie raczej przykry obowiązek i nadal czasami w kupie wrogów gubiłem mojego bohatera, bo za mało się od nich odróżnia. I z fabuły nie lubię tego całego aspektu multiversum, a na tym się tutaj wszystko opiera, ale to ostatnio jest tego wszędzie pełno, może gdybym zagrał na premierę to lepiej bym to odbierał, bo jeszcze wtedy nie zdążyło się to tak przejeść? 7/10

Guac 2 is a stylish and tight platformer, but the uninspired levels grow repetitive long before its over.

As a Metroidvania, the game is weak as the world map is boring and mostly consists of linear platforming segments that have been arbitrarily thrown together as an open world. There is a huge gap between the excellent cutscenes and character art and the dull, boxy level design that makes up most of the screen.

On the other hand, the game often has funny dialogue that works far better than Nobody Saves the World, the last Drinkbox game I played. Voice acting would really help in the future, though, as delivery is half of any comedic line. The combat is satisfying and there's plenty of platforming mechanics, although all of them grow thin and rarely feel like things I haven't seen before.

Luckily, the game knows the combat is the strong suit and plays into it hard; but while the platformer bits legitimately have some tough parts, the enemy battles are often one step above mindless with the relentless colored shields that prevent button mashing.

If the game was any longer than 6 hours to finish, I'd be a bit more annoyed, but the basic fundamentals are strong enough for this to be worth a play if you like the art style and are interested in a game that doesn't take itself seriously.

Such a disappointment. Idk if I went in with too high expectations or what but I really didn't vibe with this one. I thought the whole skill tree thing was a dumb idea which I never really used much. I know the game was from 2018 which is like a whole different era humor wise but every single time they would make a meme reference I'd just sit there with a dead look in my eyes. AND FUCK THOSE SPIKES. Unironically should have just made you get stuck as a chicken the whole game those were the only actually joyful parts

I was hoping this would be somewhat better than the first, but its basically the same, and arguably worse.

No super meter, less enemy types, same very blocky level design, the writing is surprisingly worse than the first which was rammed full of 2012 memes, and a boring multiverse plot.

It just feels very stagnant next to the first, but is still a fairly fun few hours, and the visuals are a bit of an upgrade. Maybe I should try playing with friends.

Guacamelee! 2 is one of the best action-platformers out there, with some of the most creative encounter design & platforming in the genre. I was lukewarm on the first Guacamelee!, but Drinkbox Studios really dialled up the variety, pacing and combat.

The movement feels very smooth, and they do a great job with the control mapping, though sometimes it can feel like you're doing finger gymnastics with how much of the controller is being used at once. Every combat encounter had a unique concept to it, rather than combat for combat's sake. I love how they can layer in dimension swapping, form swapping and move-specific shields, but the game does such a good job of teaching you mechanics, that you never feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff to manage. Every enemy is smartly designed and synergizes well with the other enemies to create unique situations that force players out of their comfort zone, rather than combat for combat's sake. The difficulty is well-tuned on either Normal or Hard and has a very smooth difficulty curve throughout, though a small handful of combat rooms went too far with the enemy spam on Hard. The abundant meta-humour has definitely gotten old at this point, but it's not enough to kill the experience overall. What really elevates Guacamelee! 2 among its contemporaries is its electric pacing. The rate at which it introduces new abilities, new moves and new enemies creates an addicting "one more room" mentality that permeates the entire experience. The game takes roughly 8 hours to beat, and that time absolutely evaporates.

Overall, the Guacamelee! 2 reminds me more of Celeste more than Metroid.

yea it's kind of just the same as the first one but a little bit better in most ways. again, nothing super wowing or genre defining but it looks great, has some fun combat, and some solid platforming. i do think all of the upgrades just being the same ones for your human form is a bummer (they even took away the intenso meter from the first!) but as the chicken they massively improved it. some fun new upgrades, more capable combat, and more puzzles/platforming as the chicken and it was all good! i preferred the skill tree progression system over the weird shop system the first game had, not that they're that different but it felt more important than a weird hidden away side menu at checkpoints so i liked it more. the world felt a bit more linear but i appreciated how much it'd naturally bring you back to areas where you can use your new abilities compared to the first. the game looks great, better than the first but not by a ton, mostly just the lighting is nicer. they also flipped how skipping cutscenes worked in this one, in the first you could skip all but the last few and in this one you couldn't skip any til the last few which sucked cause similar to the first i did not really care about the story.

another solid time, i don't think i'd be jumping at the idea of playing a third one of these but i had a pretty good time with the first 2.