The first Guacamelee! (2013) was a game that I loved. I like wrestling, I like platforming and I like games that have a weird sense of humor. Guacamelee ticked all of those boxes and the sequel Guacamelee! 2 (2018) does everything that the first game did, but it does it much better.
How to Download Guacamelee! 2
You can download Guacamelee! from Steam or GOG.com and if you’re a fan of Metroidvania games, you should also download and check out Dead Cells, Touhou Luna Nights or The Messenger.
The Game Review
The most surprising thing for me about Guacamelee! 2 was just how much I cared about the story. It is set many years after the events of the first game and our hero, Juan is just trying to live a normal life. This comes crashing down when the games new villain, Salvador screws things up and Juan has to go to multiple timelines to fix things.
That is right, Guacamelee! 2 features different timelines! The humor is absolutely amazing and one of my favorite things about the game. While so much of it is done for laughs you do still care about the characters and want Juan to get back to his right timeline. I even had a little bit of sympathy for Salvador as well.
It should go without saying that if you played and enjoyed the first Guacamelee! game that you will enjoy this. Juan does get many of his old abilities, but these do take a little longer to get than I would like. This is actually my main criticism of the game, but to be fair it is a very minor one.
Juan though does get some really cool new abilities. The one that you will be using the most is his ability to hook onto the circles that are around the levels. This brings a whole new dimension to the platforming and while it can take a little while to get used to. Once you get this mechanic down it truly is a blast to use.
There is a skill tree that you can make use of, but most of the attention I feel went to Juan in his chicken form. Playing as the chicken version of Juan is awesome and the game actually dives into this more in its plot and I found it hilarious. So, I would certainly recommend that you do not miss out on that as it is by far the best subplot in the game.
While Guacamelee! 2 is a very challenging game it is also one that is very fair. The platforming and combat will no doubt see you die many times. However, you always learn something and I would say 99/100 when you die is because of something you did. Yes, it can get frustrating, but the game is so much fun and you know that it was your fault so you always say just one more try!
If you want to take things to the next level the road to 100 percent offers you even more challenge. These are super, super tough and will certainly have you cursing at the TV on occasion. While tough they are not impossible so if you like some really challenging platforming then this is something that is well worth trying.
The presentation is amazing! The game has a very similar art style to the first game, but I feel that there are far more little details this time around. The different timelines that you traverse through also help keep things interesting and fun in terms of the visuals.
There is also a multiplayer component to Guacamelee! 2 and I like the idea of it. For me though the multiplayer is a million times harder than the single-player experience. While some jumps and dimension shifting may be tough in single player. When playing with a friend there is no room for error whatsoever. You guys 100 percent have to be on the same page for everything that you do.
I really do think that Guacamelee! 2 is a tremendous sequel. The first game was already great, but this one improves on every aspect of it. You can get it for pretty much anything that can play a video game (I played it on the Switch) and it is my understanding it is pretty much the same across the board. If fun, funny and challenging platform games are your thing, you do not get much better than Guacamelee! 2.
