Guacamelee is a very stylish 2D metroidvania. Juan the (very muscly) agave farmer has his girlfriend kidnapped by Calaca, a skeleton from the world of the dead. After being summarily dispatched by the sombrero-wearing skeleton, Juan finds himself in the world of the dead. There he gets a mask that allows him to return to the world of the living as a luchador (Mexican wrestler) and fight back against Calaca and his henchmen.
This game is steeped in Mexican tropes and terrible food-based puns. Almost everything in the game is a pun, and the whole thing is wrapped in a very irreverent air. There are silly little screens that pop up before boss fights to announce who is fighting who, the character(s) make silly poses when they get new powers, your helpful wise old man guide is a goat, and one of your important upgrade powers is the ability to turn into a chicken.
Yes, it is a rather silly game.
Overall, the core gameplay is pretty straightforward for a Metroidvania – you have your basic set of attacks, a little trio of punches and kicks, and over the course of the game you gain six additional combat maneuvers, the ability to wall jump, double jump, the ability to turn into a chicken, and the ability to swap between the world of the living and the world of the dead. (And, if you complete an optional sidequest, the ability to fly in chicken form at the very end of the game)
Sometimes enemies are surrounded by a colored aura which protects them from harm, and if you want to hurt them, you have to use the proper move on them. You have to use your abilities to break some colored stones to access new areas, as well as some secrets. And of course, you use your new movement powers (including a couple of combat maneuvers) to access new areas over the course of the game.
It’s all pretty standard fare, and honestly, the game isn’t particularly innovative in any way mechanically. Honestly, the enemies aren’t particularly remarkable either; there’s not a huge number of them, and not a great variety in them, either.
Fortunately, the game is pretty short, so before it would become tedious, it’s all over, and you’ve beaten it. Just going through the game would take you five or six hours, and 100%ing it takes about nine – and the game would outstay its welcome if it was any longer than that, so that’s a good thing.
The whole game is just… done competently. It’s nothing particularly remarkable, but the style of the game works quite well, the game is silly enough without trying too hard to be lulzy, the game looks good visually, the overall core gameplay is solid enough, and it avoids the trap of being overly long.
If there is a flaw to this game, it is that it doesn’t really wow the audience in any way – if you’ve played Metroidvanias, you’ve basically played this game, and there are certainly better ones than this. But on the other hand, this is well-paced and a nicely sized experience, and it is probably above average overall within the genre – it doesn’t do anything remarkable, but what is there is done well.
In the end, I give it a thumbs up. It’s worth playing if you like Metroidvanias, and it’s small enough that it ends before you’re tired of it.
3.0