Guacamelee! 2

Featuring some of the most engaging platforming, combat, and exploration this generation, Guacamelee! 2 excels as a videogame, full stop. Its visuals are at times mesmerising, rooting its aesthetic in traditional Mexican art; the core gameplay loop has a low skill floor and a high skill ceiling, encouraging mastery of the mechanics; and the script irons out the kinks of the first game's story in order to offer a more compelling narrative with a stronger comedic identity. Guacamelee! 2 is without a doubt one of the strongest Metroidvanias in recent memory.

Thanks to the way in which the history of video games developed, Metroidvania as a genre continues to nourish the romanticism that surrounds the titles that gives it a name. In that sense, Guacamelee!2 is a worthy representative of the genre since it complies with the elements required to be approved by enthusiasts, old and new school players. As promised, DrinkBox Studios has taken the series to the next level and everything has been greatly improved. The merit of the Canadian studio is that the game is capable of expressing itself through its mechanics.

Though it sticks rigidly close to the template that made the original such a success it ultimately matters little - Guacamelee 2 is one of the finest platformers of the year.

Guacamelee 2 is a beautiful and delightful game that can proudly wear a Metroidvania medal. With its fantastic humour it will be a delight for multiple people, but the game can feel a little bit too long when you are near the end.

Guacamelee 2 recaptures everything that made the original great and adds a few new tricks for good measure. It’s a joy to look at and it feels great to play, especially when it focuses on challenging platforming. The game feels a little padded out with lots of backtracking and locked-room combat sequences, but it’s still an absolute blast to play.

The fact is that the final impression is still pleasant, but absolutely not up to the bombastic 2013 debut.

Guacamelee! 2’s penchant for self-deprecating humor often functions as an acknowledgement and dismissal of its own issues. Why yes, it is awfully convenient that I’ve suddenly been pulled into an alternate timeline in which I must save the world in roughly the same manner as my last go, but no, Guacamelee! 2 doesn’t stop being an uncharacteristically halfhearted rehash just because the writers scored a few easy laughs from it.

Great game! (I played the switch version) great music multiplayer works perfectly and a great game overall

About the same as the first. Some new twists, and going with the running joke of riffing off of Metroid features, you start with no abilities again and have to get them back. Levels felt fresh enough, and some of the puzzle aspects were new and interesting. Other parts brought back the tedious and finicky sections that can really test my patience. That aside, the game has the same comedic touch as the first, so if you wanted more of the same, this is for you.

Non un gioco essenziale, ma quanto è divertente e quanto è bello esteticamente, bossfight facili ma col giusto livello di sfida, soprattutto in modalità esperto, npc divertentissimi e ben nascosti: un gioco che semplicemente offre una decina di ore di trip messicani e combo intercambiali

Very funny game, with some excellent platforming. The difficulty just got to be too much for me. It was the same impossible jumps made more and more impossible, and just when I nail it, the controls fail and I fall to my instant death. With a total lack of checkpoints, and no way to save the game, I had to perform the same incredibly difficult jumps or fight scenes that I had just barely gotten through. I don't have the time to sit there and pump in a dozen hours into the game to make three jumps, and then have to restart and do it again because I didn't go through the right corridor to save. I ended up dreading my time in the game and just had to stop. Maybe I'll get back to it someday, but I doubt it.

Some parts seem unnecessarily tedious. "Hard for the sake of being hard" without it being fun. To the point where it sapped my will to play. Stopped being fun and became a chore. It gets even to the point where I'm shocked that the developers thought anyone would enjoy these certain parts. The level of precision and amount of obstacles you have to account for at the same time, and in a row, and in a limited amount of time, can get ridiculous. This game would be playable if there were trainers to bypass/modify certain parts but I couldn't even find a working one. A game should never leave you with a feeling of "oh my god that was awful" after successfully completing something. If you're not left with a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment then the game has failed. If you're left angry at the devs then they've really failed. There are way too many parts in the game that make me feel like "That's fking stupid. I can't believe you're making me do this". They totally sap my will to play. It got to the point on the last map where they wanted me to do a long sequence of events perfectly, and I just quit. You can skip the ridiculous sections to get extra keys, but this was part of the main game. It's not a good use of my time to do these things over and over to learn the sequence and perform it perfectly. This is supposed to be a game, not a chore. I wish there were more medium & hard periods instead of mostly trivial then a sudden jump to ridiculous. I wish there was more of the fighting parts, especially with lots of enemies or non-trivial enemies. Sometimes it seems like my inputs get ignored. Only the keyboard keys are rebindable. You often have to hold one button while pressing another, except by default, with the controller, they're both bound to the same area where I only have one thumb to press both. You can't bind the mouse side buttons or the ALT key. And the menus are not fully usable with a mouse and keyboard. This is ridiculous for a game released in 2018. When sparring with the dummy it doesn't always bounce/land in the correct spot for you to be able to continue/finish the sequence, so you have to do it over and over till it randomly lands/bounces in the perfect way. If you dislike doing things over and over and over this isn't the game for you. There is no fast travel to the Proving Grounds, which means I have to run through blank map for 20 minutes each time to get there?!?!