Game of the Month #103 (August 2023) - Guacamelee!

Guacamelee! is a Metroidvania-style action-platformer set in a magical Mexican-inspired world. The game draws its inspiration from traditional Mexican culture and folklore, and features many interesting and unique characters.
How long is Guacamelee!?
When focusing on the main objectives, Guacamelee! is about 6 Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 14 Hours to obtain 100% completion.

Looking forward to play this! I've heard some good things about the game. I very briefly tried it on PS4 when it was free on PS Plus years ago, but wasn't in the mood back then. Also love to see that it's only 6 hours long for main story, so I know it won't drag on for too long :D

Epic gave the game away on PC recently, so I'll play it on my Deck. Looks like the perfect game to play handheld.

I finished the SCTE edition years ago, was pretty funny and fun. Though at the time not compelling enough to do the extra content.

Wondering whether to go back and do the side content this month.. hmm..

Had my first session:

Reached the temple of rain and just received the goat jump

First impressions is good the controls are great and the combat is fluid. There seems to be alot of new moves handed quite liberally but we'll see. The game though does feel like a standard metroidvania although the little Easter eggs in the game are fun and it def ain't taking itself seriously. Have to see if it can stand out as metroidvania or ends just being a well built one

I'm a bit under 4 hours in... just defeated flame face dude, and got the blue bashy power up, and the yellow wall running power up, and have returned to the main town where I saved... and I'm about 50/50 on my enjoyment so far, which is actually pretty good IMO.

Considering I'm generally not a fan of platformers, this one hasn't annoyed me enough to get retired yet, so it must be doing a whole lot right. I think the responsive controls are a big part of that for me - I hate floaty platforming - at least in this game I feel like my mistakes are my own, and not because of some frustrating mechanic that doesn't make sense. However, I still hate all the dimension shifting stuff as it always comes across as a cheap way to add difficulty and just ends up being more annoying than anything else. Thankfully though, the checkpoints are well spaced, and I haven't had to redo large sections after stuffing up - it's pretty quick to get back on the path.

What I do enjoy about the game is the combo system for combat, even if it's a little bit easy (playing on normal). That and the art/animations are what's keeping me hooked for now, and I think I must be about half way through, or maybe even a bit over... so hopefully I'll manage to get to the end and see how the story plays out.

Super glad to find some tight controls and a great aesthetic - excelling in those areas makes even a platformer-hater like me have a good time =)

I'm at the same spot as abatage right now after having played a few more hours in bed last night.

It's more fun than I had expected, having a great time with the game overall. The pacing is on point and new abilities keep on coming. Upgrades for abilities are cheap enough as well to make you feel like you constantly grow in strength, and there's plenty of health and stamina upgrade pieces littered throughout the map.

The combat is pretty fun with its combos and throws, though I do end up defaulting back to the same one or two combos most frequently. The game is a little bit on the easy side of things for me, but considering there's no difficulty options, I'd rather have a chill experience than a frustrating game. People who need their combat challenge might be a bit bored here though. Though it is starting to ramp up a little bit. Intenso is however pretty broken, and fills up too quickly for how strong it is. There's even an upgrade to make it charge up faster, and to make it destroy shields with regular attacks. Gotta get that once I have the money saved up :D.

Platforming is a good bit harder than I had expected from this, some of the jumps and platforming sections you have to do require pretty precise platforming and I've needed multiple attempts on a number of them. Some of the dimension shifting while platforming is breaking my brain a bit, but it's not too bad. Reset points, as others have mentioned, are very fair, and you don't lose much time at all for failing a platforming section usually. Bit like Celeste with its quick resets after death. Also I love that your new abilities are in those 2d metroid chozo statues lol. I also found an Easter egg about goat simulator being advertised on a billboard, and I'm sure there's plenty more to be discovered.

The only thing pissing me off is that 1/10th of my screen or more is taken up by the everpresent prompt for 3 more players to join in. Do I look like I have three friends to play with? Lmao, get tf off my screen. Especially annoying on smaller devices like my deck. At least give me an option to turn it off in the settings. I want more game on my screen.

The story is actually not terrible either imho. It's not particularly in the foreground, but I am curious how it's gonna come to an end, though I feel like I already know how. Most likely very predictable. The characters are really charming though.

lol I was much closer to the end than I realised and just finished - 5h 39m on Steam / about 5h 5m in game - and I didn't walk away from it at all, so it made a bit of difference by not counting time looking at map/etc

overall I really fell in the middle with this game - there was as much to like about it as to not like for me - I really enjoyed the music/art/story/controls, but I really disliked the platforming, especially towards the end when there were some ridiculous sections... I stopped bothering with chests and anything other than the critical path

so I'm glad it was only short - any longer and I think I might have dropped it, but I have no desire to jump into the next game, or go back for missed side quests lol I think I'm done...

good game, but overall pretty "meh" for me

I started this game a few years back but never finished. Guess it's time to boot it up again. I quite liked what I played and I probably wasn't that far from the end.

Alright, finished the game.

My previous points still largely stand, apart from the combat. That got hard later on in the game because it floods you with attack rooms full of enemies, some of them extremely annoying, like those guys that float in the air and shoot a white plume of death below them, and flick loads of projectiles at you while they're at it *sigh*, and you have to fight other enemies at the same time. Every time a game has a lot of knockback it imho gets extremely frustrating to play. Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 were bad examples of that imo. This game turned into a bit of a knockback shitshow at the end there with all the projectiles being lobbed at you.

I agree with abatage about platforming, which was quite hard in the last hour. Some of those portal and dimension shifting puzzles broke my brain, and I would've preferred them to be delegated to optional rooms.

I also didn't like how the final stage was designed, with quickly alternating platforming and combat rooms one after the other, with comparatively little to explore. It also looked visually boring and samey. I'd say I had a good time with the first 2/3 of the game, didn't particularly like the last third though.

Very glad the game is as long as it is and not any longer, because I had my fill at the end. I would've probably retired it if it kept going the way the last third of the game played for another few hours or more. As it is, I finished the game in 05h 40m 46s.

— 08/02/2023 9:59 PM
Reached the desert. Yeah i'm seeing the messenger parrells as well with the switch worlds although this one introduces it alot earlier if my memory serves me

— 08/03/2023 10:01 PM
So received the ability to turn into a chicken and move between realms. I have faced X'tabay and now heading to the temple of war. Currently in the big tree on my way to the temple

— 08/04/2023 11:03 PM
So beat the flame dude and finished the temple of war. Off to the great temple now. Got too annoying things to deal with first they introduced instant death spikes which are infuriating especially on the elavator in the temple of war and finally the combo gym. The combos are getting annoying to do luck it's side stuff so I can skip it if ness

— 08/05/2023 11:11 PM
So reached the great temple looks like the last level went around looking at the other areas and basically found El inferno and treetops which acts as the super hard platform challenge of the game. Gave up on it after I reached the round blades I recommend the chicken suit for this challenge though. Still think the Hollow Knight might be harder I spent a good 3 hours attemtping that one and didn't complete it. I say I spent bout 1/2 hour on this one and I think I reached the last screen

— 08/06/2023 6:22 PM
Okay i've finished the game as well now. I'm not sure really what to think as overall this is a well made game with some great level design and the abilities are easy to use in both the platforming and combat and theirs enough variety in the enemies but the game really lacks anything which makes it stand out. There nothing I haven't seen before and it just makes the game feel generic.

There is a secret ending but i'm not going to bother as it involves alot of tedious challenges to get. I'll write a full review at some point but for now I'm going back to TotK

Guacamelee!: Super Turbo Championship Edition
Completion August 06, 2023
Main+Extras 9h 49m 36s
Notes 70%
Review
+Excellent and well made combat system
+Vibrant and variant world
+Great set of powerups which have there uses both inside and outside combat
-Nothing which has not been seen before
-End game levels can be a series of frustration from too many enemies to instant death traps
Overview:
Guacamelee is a vibrant and well made metroidvania game with some excellent power ups and level design in bright colourful world. Unfortunately it does little to make it stand from any other metroidvania game and at times can feel rather generic.
7/10

My updates from Discord:

02/08:
I'm 1.5 hours in. I'm happy I'm joing the GotM for this one because it wasn't on my radar at all. It's really fun so far though (platforming is hard but still doable). I finished the first dungeon. I like the references to other games. Really enjoying myself so far.
I like to switch between characters. When it's combat heavy I'm playing with Juan when I'm jumping around I play as Tostada. I know it doesn't make a difference but I like the design of both so why not use them 😁

03/08:
When I reached a certain point all my trauma from The Messenger came flooding in, but then.. When I passed it I remembered why I absolutely adored the Messenger as well. I hope it will be the same for this game 🙂 I'm going to try to put a few more hours into it now.

My update for today is that I have a bunch of new abilities and I can transform into a chicken which I think is hilarious and I can change time which could result in frustrating platforming but this game does a few things wel imo that keep my frustration at bay at least. The platforming sections are short. There's always a save point right after one small bit of difficulty. There's no falling into the abyss damage (which is fantastic!). You can also stick to the wall longer if your fingers can't keep up with your brain.
Now combat is a different story. I feel a bit awkward dodging out of the way when I'm hounded by many enemies at once and the coloured shields are sometimes a bit tricky. That having been said. Boss fights seem to have save point in the middle which recovers all your health, so it's still not super hard. I'm having fun. I'm now in the Temple of War hunting down the flame guy.

04/08:
I have to say there are sections now where I die... A lot. I liked the fact that the abyss doesn't kill. Lava does. Immediately 😩 I beat the final boss. It took a while to figure out the mechanics but it was an enjoyable fight. I played 6:40 minutes and uncover 46 percent of the map. I'm always so slow 😅

My review:

Notes: Normal Difficulty; 46% Map; 50% Steam Achievements; 6:02 IGT
Rating: 7/10
Time: 6h 40m

I wasn't planning on playing this until it was chosen as the Game of the Month for August 2023. I like metroidvanias and I figured why not give it a try.

What I liked:
* The colours and the music. It's surprisingly beautiful.
* The platforming sections get more frustrating towards the end but the game is short enough to suffer through some moments. I liked that falling off the stage wasn't instant death.
* Fighting with the different coloured shields takes some getting used to, but it's a fun mechanic.
* Some other mechanics are introduced that make battles interesting to say the least.
* One of your forms is hilarious to me.
* There are some easter eggs of different games (especially the song in the final dungeon ha!) that makes progressing fun to find the next thing.
* Boss fights are fun enough and easy to figure out.

What I didn't like:
* The story was not too interesting and the ending was abrupt to say the least.
* Falling off the stage is fine, when you fall into lava your transported back to the save point...
* Combat gets messy when there are a lot of enemies in the area. Your fall animation is painful because it takes a long time. There's one particular punchy enemy that drove me crazy because of the loop of falling and him beating me I would get stuck in.

It was a fun experience and I can recommend this game for people who liked the mechanics in the Messenger but who would like a little bit less challenge.

I played the sequel awhile back when it was on Game Pass and remember having a lot of fun but got utterly lost. I wasn't planning on playing this, but with it being GotM I thought I could benefit from the community. I played the Super Turbo Championship Edition, which was given away on Epic Games not long ago.

This is only my 2nd completed Metroidvania, the first being a much shorter one played during itchmas last year, Satan Loves Cake. I completed this one it at just under 9 hours, using my stopwatch, with the in game timer being at least an hour less.

The map was some help, and I only got lost twice. The community on Discord was a great help in getting me back on track. So, thanks!

I enjoyed both the platforming and the fighting. The final level felt like it went on forever, though, and I never really got into the story. Overall, I had a blast. Now I need a break from action games for a bit.

I beat it 2 months ago. Final Boss fight was really cool.

I just beat it for the first time throughout the week and I thought it was pretty good. My only real complaints were that the platforming was frustrating sometimes and several enemies were just not very fun to fight, mainly those skeletons that throw the bones. They're fine by themselves but when you combine them with other enemies it just gets kind of annoying. It's mainly just because you need to wait a bit before dodging after an attack (or I'm just bad that's possible too). But I really liked the art-style and the combat it was a fun time.

A pleasant replay for me, worth the time.

The melee combat with all the juggling has a beat 'em up feel to it and matches the 'luchador' protagonist. The combat becomes way more fun with the stamina upgrades, I can't recommend it enough (in favor of the health upgrades).

I like the sense of humor despite how dated it is. The dialogues usually don't overstay its welcome so that's a plus. The game not taking itself too seriously kinda makes us not taking its storytelling flaws too seriously too, so, kudos on that front.

I have mixed feelings about the artstyle. In one hand, it does well the job of being unique, on the other, some enemies are a bit on the ugly side and some backgrounds are incredibly dull. I also find the music repetitive.

Pacing is good, game is short (in a good way), movement feels fluid and snappy.

I'll probably play Guacamelee 2 next (which I own but never played it).

Finished it, and enjoyed it! The only time I felt that a section kept going was when I was wondering how tall that last temple area was. It was colorful, comical, and a fair enough difficulty that I (with little metroidvania experience) was able to get through it without too much trouble but with still some challenge. The only thing I'm feeling salty about is getting the bad ending. Now that I know there are other pieces of the mask to collect I can go back to it but for now I'm moving on to the second one.