Guacamelee! 2
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''Guacamelee! 2'' is a
Metroidvania Metroidvania is a sub-genre of action-adventure games and/or platformers focused on Nonlinear gameplay, nonlinear exploration and guided progression with a need to acquire key items to enter certain areas. The term is a blend word, partial blend ...
platform Platform may refer to: Arts * Platform, an arts centre at The Bridge, Easterhouse, Glasgow * ''Platform'' (1993 film), a 1993 Bollywood action film * ''Platform'' (2000 film), a 2000 film by Jia Zhangke * '' The Platform'' (2019 film) * Pla ...
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed and published by DrinkBox Studios. A sequel to ''
Guacamelee! ''Guacamelee!'' is a Metroidvania action platforming video game developed and published by DrinkBox Studios, initially launched in April 2013 for platforms PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita and was later ported to Windows in August and to OS ...
'', the game was released for
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
and
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
in August 2018 while the
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
version was released on December 10. The
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
version was released on January 18, 2019. The game received generally positive reviews upon release.


Gameplay

''Guacamelee! 2'' is a
Metroidvania Metroidvania is a sub-genre of action-adventure games and/or platformers focused on Nonlinear gameplay, nonlinear exploration and guided progression with a need to acquire key items to enter certain areas. The term is a blend word, partial blend ...
platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...
. The player controls Juan Aguacate, a
luchador ''Lucha libre'' (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has develope ...
who fights with punches, kicks, and wrestling grapples. Over the course of the game, Juan re-acquires many of his powers from the previous game, many of which have both combat and movement applications - for example the Rooster Uppercut, which grants vertical mobility while also attacking enemies overhead and breaking like-coloured obstacles. Each special move is associated with a color, which surrounds Juan whenever he uses them. For example, the Rooster Uppercut is associated with red. Whenever Juan uses it, his outline turns red. He also learns new tricks from completing challenges set by trainers found throughout the world, such as more damaging attacks or additional health. The most drastic change is the chicken transformation - while in the previous game it was only for traversing small corridors, it now has an entire fighting moveset of its own with unique special moves. There are also challenge rooms for players to explore. The game can be played solo or
cooperatively Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English and, with a varied usage along time, coöperation) takes place when a group of organisms works or acts together for a collective benefit to the group as opposed to working in competition ...
with three other players. The game features more enemy types, abilities and larger maps when compared with its predecessor.


Story

The game begins with a simplified version of the first game's final confrontation with the world-rending Calaca, leading into the true ending where the luchador Juan successfully saves the life of El Presidente's Daughter, Lupita. Seven years later, the two are married and live with two children, with Juan having grown out of shape. Black clouds begin to appear in the village, followed by Juan's mentor Uay Chivo appearing to tell him the entire "Mexiverse" is in danger. He brings Juan through a portal to "The Darkest Timeline", where the source of the trouble is. In this timeline, Juan and Lupita were killed by Calaca, who was defeated by another luchador called Salvador. In the seven years since, Salvador has become corrupted by the power of his mask, and now wishes to collect three relics alongside Salvador’s assistants: sociopathic musician and playwright El Muneco, the murderous, cruel anthropomorphic and sentient dog-skeleton Uay Pek, and a hyper intelligent vulture and cactus named Zope and Cactuardo. Salvador plots to access the Sacred Guacamole in the realm of El Otromundo and become all-powerful. However, by beginning to collect the relics, he has caused the timelines to destabilize, which will mean the end of all timelines if he is not stopped. Juan is led to reunite with Tostada, the Guardian of the Mask, so he can be restored to fighting form. They begin to travel the world to stop Salvador and his underlings from collecting the relics, but ultimately fail, and Salvador successfully gets to the Sacred Guacamole. However, Juan eventually defeats him, which destroys Salvador's mask and results in his death. The timelines are restored and the Mexiverse is saved, but this prevents Juan from returning to his own timeline. Recalling an earlier conversation, where it's said that El Otromundo connects all the timelines together, he leaps back into El Otromundo before the way closes and looks out across the great many indistinguishable portals. In the normal ending, Juan's family awaits his return for many years, before he eventually appears. In the true ending, attained if the player clears the Chicken Illuminati's crucible and meets the Holy Hen, Juan recalls her advice and removes his mask, immediately identifying the correct portal and returning to his family without delay.


Downloadable Content

The first
downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...
called ''Three Enemigos Pack'', was released on November 27, 2018 and includes three new character costumes: El Muñeco, Uay Pek and Jaguar Javier who also appear as bosses in the main game. Each costume provides new abilities while also having disadvantages to balance gameplay. El Muñeco can heal faster while in chicken form, but heals more slowly in human form. Uay Pek can steal health from enemies in the spirit world after each enemy hit, but in the living world takes significantly more damage. Jaguar Javier builds a damage multiplier with each dodge of an enemy attack but after failing a dodge damage is decreased dramatically. The DLC also includes new trophies/achievements. The second DLC called ''The Proving Grounds'' was released on December 7, 2018 and contains 15 challenge levels. Players can earn bronze, silver and gold medals for completing different requirements, such as completing the level in a certain amount of time, lasting a number of rounds or maintaining a combo. The levels are broken down into five groups of three, with each group having a trainer who is also a boss in the main game. After obtaining a gold medal for all challenges in the group the player is rewarded with a costume of the trainer; if the player obtains gold medals for all 15 challenges, they are granted access to the Salvador costume and can play as the main antagonist of the game. Eliot Osage of ''Bonus Stage'' commented on the difficulty of the challenges calling them "punishing" and also stating "The Proving Grounds will ask you to use every bit of skill, cunning and patience that you’ve developed throughout your play of in order to complete them" and ultimately said that it is "a truly challenging bonus world with tantalizing rewards". As with ''Three Enemigos Pack'' the DLC includes new trophies/achievements. All previously released DLC was later included in ''Guacamelee 2! Complete Edition''.


Development

The game was developed by DrinkBox Studios. Unlike its predecessor, the game was not released for the
PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...
as DrinkBox opted to use the PlayStation 4 as the base platform to utilize its new rendering engine. The team prototyped different moves for Juan. However, they decided to retain all the moves from the original as they felt that they were more intuitive than the new ones created. With ''Guacamelee! 2'', the studio was able to revisit ideas that were scrapped during the development of the first game, and expand on the existing mechanics and systems. The game was announced at
Paris Games Week Paris Games Week, or simply PGW, is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France. It is organised by SELL (''Syndicat des éditeurs de logiciels de loisirs''), a French organisation that prom ...
by
Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...
in October 2017. It was released for
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
and
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
on August 21, 2018. DrinkBox released the
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
version on December 10, 2018.


Reception

The game received generally favourable reviews according to
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. It was nominated for "Control Design, 2D or Limited 3D" and "Game, Franchise Action" at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards.


References


External links

* {{Authority control 2018 video games Action games Cooperative video games DrinkBox Studios games Indie games Metroidvania games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Switch games Platformers PlayStation 4 games Side-scrolling video games Video game sequels Video games developed in Canada Video games scored by Rom Di Prisco Video games set in Mexico Windows games Xbox Cloud Gaming games Xbox One games