Guacamelee! 2

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.

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.

So far so good! A direct improvement on the previous entries in the series. They also fixed the problems with the "Assign Controllers" system, which I appreciate.

I prefer the first game but this is alright

mas pollo, muy bueno

The game, is good. it's very good. I love it. the artstyle is beautiful, the combat feels great, the platforming FELT great- yes, FELT. even if I liked it, i cannot in good will recommend this to any sane man. You will rage at this game to many times, so SO very many times, same thing for the first game both editions, you will like it, and then you will hate it's playstyle with a passion. if you took out all the needlessly complicated platforming, the the combinations of button combination and all the frustrating encounters away, this game would last 2 hours without all of it.

Good game but be warned that it's much harder than the first.

moreover, the camera with the platforming makes it very difficult to do with 2 players. considering that was half the selling point, I would consider that a letdown. The platforming is also very difficult. That aside, still a good game.

Gorgeous art and great progression system.

This is a very fun sequel to a great platformer. I prefer this to the first game without a doubt. It still has the issue where exploration feels absent despite it being a metroidvania.

Nice game thought it was too easy at the beginning but it actually was quite hard later on. But too similar to the first game

Great game with consistent theme. It's very entertaining.

Fun mix of Spanish dialogue and puns

I can't say enough how enjoyable this game is.
There are many memes and references. Fighting is fun, and platforming is challenging, but not so hard that it makes you stop.
The story is simple yet solid.

This is the second time I play through the game, had to buy it again just because the game is that good. As a metroidvania, as a beat 'em up, and as a platformer this game does everything right,
Also as a mexican myself, I can pretty much say that everything about this game, despite being overly stereotypical, does a lot of mexican references right, to the point that makes me proud being a mexican and enjoying through the many references and jokes this game constantly pulls.

My only gripe is just how short it takes to beat, and the fact that Hard mode is not available at the start (at least not unless you are aware of the cheat code, which I didn't until I was midway through the game).

W game but lowkey short, like 9 hours or so. For sure worth tho

VERY TRASH GAME ITS SO FUCKING TRASH

sometimes i want to break the steam deck in half, but its a good game.

Significantly better than the first game in every single way. Platforming sections are probs the most improved overall with new moves and better design. Feels a lot less clunky than the first game (although still a tad bit), and the chicken mode is an actual thing unlike the first where it honestly felt like an afterthought.

A disappointing, unbalanced mess of a sequel with serious control problems and poor level design.

PROS:
-Art style
-Underlying combat and movement system is fundamentally good but expect to be frustrated because moves simply won't register correctly.

NEUTRALS:

CONS:
-Poor level design. Although on the surface it looks like a typical metroidvania map, in reality every single area has the exact same linear design with branching bonus rooms and a shortcut path.
-Awful knockback when hit mechanic. By itself its not terrible, but many of the enemies (particularly the ones with purple attacks that you cannot sidestep) have their attack animation timing coincide with your knockdown timing, which means.....
-Chain hit/stun. Some instances one enemy will hit you and the invul timer is shorter/same as the time it takes you to get back up....meaning the second you get up, you just get hit again.....which means you get knocked down again.......you're familiar with this type of garbage chain stun hits. This is particularly prevalent on Hard mode (I never played normal).
-Clunky Controls. I can't count how many times I jumped towards an enemy and did a neutral special only for the game to register side special. Single hop down+special is practically impossible (it simply won't register). Doing a wall run immediately after hitting the wall has a strange timing - if you get it right you can do it really fast, but if you miss it, the game simply ignores the inputs for ~1 second before he starts running. There are no audio or visual cues to tell you that.
-Terrible balance. Final boss is the easiest boss of the game. The "true ending" challenge rooms are disproportionately harder than the rest of the game and one of them has no checkpoints.
-Hard Mode was a complete afterthought.
-There are several combat rooms that are so small / overcrowded that there is almost no room to move. As a result, you have to memorize the enemy spawn patterns and kill them as they spawn or else it is literally impossible to win because there is nowhere to move.
-Several of the upgrades are literally just "+damage" to a move. These types of upgrades add nothing and are extremely lazy.
-UNSKIPPABLE cutscenes/dialog.

Plays just as great as the last game, maybe a bit too much like it but it's still a worth while piece of your Adventurous Platforming Beat-em-up collection.

(doesn't look as nice with the ''lighting'' setting turned on IMO)

awesome game.

Um dos melhores metroidvanias que já joguei na minha vida! Já adorava o primeiro e o segundo só pegou tudo e melhorou 10x. Jogue isso AGORA

very fun and charismatic game, with some beautiful world building and colorful characters

Possibly the best Metroidvania game I've ever played, definitely one of my favourite games of all time, such a satisfying and unique experience.

A thoroughly enjoyable game. Far more difficult platforming from the first one, but same level/style of fighting.

Good fun - adequate length & content, good level of difficulty. Doesn't feel like it's souls-like but it's also not overly easy. You can choose how extreme you go on the trick-jumping based on your desired challenge level. And it has a funny plot with some interesting characters. A worthy sequel and a good game overall.

10/10 combat 😍

Chicken combat

The game offers a lot in both its combat (lots of attacks to use, with enemy weaknesses tied to specific abilities) and its platforming (multiple mechanics all offering a combination of different challenges).

I completed the game solo, so there were some moments in the combat encounters where I was challenged to think about my approach as opposed to button mashing. What was unexpectedly challenging for me were the platforming puzzles - given the vast amount of abilities offered to the player, the game provides a lot of ways to push those abilities to the limit.

This game is mostly linear in the sense that backtracking and revisiting of previous areas doesn't happen as aggressively as other Metroidvania titles. The game's premise is fun and quirky, but personally I wasn't expecting much depth in terms of storytelling as the dialogue and cutscenes lean a lot on video game references and light humour. Basically, the game isn't taking itself too seriously on that front.

Overall - a solid game. It scratched the itch I had to play a 2D beat-em-up with 'Smash Bros.'-like mechanics, but offered a lot more in the form of its platforming puzzles.

It's not just fun, it's also huge upgrade over the previous installment. An excellent sequel!

Great art and humor, but platformers are so boring and yesterday.

I've played Guacamelee! 1 before, and the 2 is as good as the first one. I reallt enjoy this game

nice movement
and great combat syistem

10/10, should have a colorblind mode though

Best chicken simulator so far.

Also, this game is so Mexican that after an hour of playing you start speaking Spanish and your cat suddenly becomes El Tigre. The colors are so vivid that you feel as if you've eaten one too many chili peppers, and the mariachi music plays so nicely that you start humming it despite repeated failures in platforming elements.

Guacamelee 2: Multiverse of Madness

:)

It's been a couple years since I played the first one, and this one really did a great job of reminding me why I enjoyed the first one so much. I'm a big fan of the combat, but what really impresses me is the thought and ingenuity that went into making some of those platforming sections. All around great experience, would recommend.