Guacamelee! 2 Reviews

my playtime is low because I play on a modified exe that enables ultrawide support. my true gametime is closer to 2-3 hours. kind of dumb that the game doesnt allow this in its settings because it only takes changing 4 bytes in a hex editor and works basically flawlessly... anyways... I just dont find this game particularly fun. the visual design is incredible, and the combat is pretty decent, but there is so much *annoying* design here that it kind of just drags the experience down. the sound design is ROUGH. so many annoying repetitive sounds, particularly in pollo mode (there is maybe one or two very similar sounds PERIOD for when you attack, and you spend lots of time in pollo mode as the ability to fight in it like normal is one of the new features of the game). thats a huge issue but I will just list the rest out to not spend too much of my time complaining: - traversal abilities and combat abilities are one in the same, this isnt an issue on its own but these abilities are on a cooldown which can severely slow things down. - the humor is very hit or miss, mostly miss for me. its very 'meme centric', and rife with lolfunnyrandom. its got a bit of the borderlands problem. - on my screen the black bar at the top of the screen is literally an inch and a half tall. an inch and a half of nothingness constantly covering up the games beautiful art that only serves to flash 'p2/3/4 press start to join' text while you play the game. its a petty nitpick maybe, but its so big and only serves the multiplayer which I have no intention to engage with so its kind of annoying. im like 99% sure they make it smaller in the store screenshots which is weird... - this game feels more platforming/traversal heavy and less combat heavy than the first game which is not to the experience's strength imo. just a ton of running around all the time and the platforming isnt all that great to begin with. - there is an in-game area you can get to but cant do anything in unless you buy the dlc, which a character in-game tells you to go buy. for some reason this is just weird and kind of annoying in a metroidvania game. I would have preferred it just not be on the map if I dont own said dlc.

Guacamelee 2 is an amazing sequel to the first game. However, it does do some serious stumbling in other areas that keep it from reaching the true heights the series can achieve. The Good: The writing, art direction and moment-to-moment gameplay are still brilliant. They even beefed up the chicken form to be more than a reason to squeeze through small pathways. It was also awesome to see how they worked in the previous characters and fan reaction to the first game. Then there are all the awesome easter eggs they've scattered in the game! It's really a love letter to video games. Runs like a dream on the Steam Deck. The Bad: The controls can still be finicky, especially when you add the chicken form into the mix and now you've gotta hit your controller like a stenographer playing the game as it progresses. I honestly don't know why it didn't get more forgiving than the first one. There are also weird difficulty spikes. The devs will absolutely rake you over the coals for $400 then you'll fight a boss who dies to a kitten sneezing in their direction. The Ugly: This game *fetishizes* one-hit deaths. It's criminal. By about the halfway mark of the game, the environment can kill you in one hit, enemies can kill you in one hit and enemies that explode anywhere on the screen can kill you in one hit. Then you get to the challenge levels and you just want to rip your face off as you're trying to pull off twitch platforming with Juan and literally a fraction of a second will cause you to lose. On *numerous* occasions Juan has refused to jump, attack, react, etc. despite clearly hitting the button. I've never felt so gaslit by a video game before. The challenge levels themselves aren't really fun - they're frustrating. I'm assuming that's a chicken/egg thing given the controls. But for all the criticisms I have, I couldn't put the game down. If you're not a crazy completionist, this game is an easy recommend at any price. If you are a crazy completionist, just be aware that it can be a little bit frustrating when deaths aren't in your control - literally.