As a cross of platformer and beat ‘em up, Guacamelee doesn’t quite shine in either front: in the platforming side it’s floaty and sticky–more so when lucha moves are mandatory for traversing a level section or solving an environment puzzle; on the brawler hand it’s a bit too stiff and convoluted (crowd control can get very annoying as colored barriers and shifting dimensions pile up against the player) for its own good.

Good thing then it’s a delicious game to inhabit. The “día de muertos” setting is exquisitely realized through some top notch presentation (both in sound and visual arts, even if some vfx don’t connect properly in fights), interesting characters (side quest NPCs included) and terrific dialogue, while also lending the metroidvania aspect of the game a crucial hand–shifting between “alive” and “dead” worlds makes wonders for keeping the backtracking fatigue present in so many titles in the genre away for the most part of it.

The addition of “Intenso” (a temporary superpower) in the updated iteration of the game, brings in a welcome extra layer of balance to its flow besides expanding the player’s agency on how to tackle the game’s challenges (specially when coupled with the not-only-cosmetic skins already there from the start).

Imperfect as it is, Guacamelee conjures a too-good-to-pass-up world dead/alive for a metroidvania buff who’s in for something beyond pure mechanics shenanigans.

Very good

8/10