[PAX East] Things get clucked up in Guacamelee! 2

Guacamelee! 2 might be exactly what I want out of a sequel to a goofy game. It maintains the formula of the original, fixes the minor technical issues that bugged me, and adds a few new elements to spice things up. It’s prettier, it sounds better, and it plays better, but it’s still Guacamelee!.

Our demo at PAX East confirmed all of the above, and also gave us chickens.

Guac!2 doesn’t need much to make me smile, and it builds off of a great foundation to maintain that. That hasn’t stopped the developers from making improvements, though. It’s still a combo-based Metroidvania with a giant world and tons of wrestling moves. Now, at certain thresholds of fighting, we’ll start getting bonuses as we attack, like money, infinite stamina, etc. These are unlocked through a new enhanced skill tree, align to trainers we meet along the way. These enhancements work for both characters and players, so that no one gets too far behind in capability. The demo has a bunch of these moves already available, even though most will be locked behind progression. One in particular is a sort of grapple that lets us rappel across gaps and ravines.

This is helpful as we chase El Muñeco, one of the zany new characters, who’s sort of like a bad birthday magician. Muñeco wants to win the friendship of Salvador, the game’s main boss, and so he bumbles his way towards striving for that affection. He’s pathetic but likable, especially since he travels with an entourage of performing chickens.

Oh, those chickens.

One of the plot elements of the game is to unearth the chicken illuminati that are secretly controlling the world — there’s even a chicken pope who talks in riddles. Chickens were a fun novelty in the first game, but they’ve been ramped up to the nth degree here without becoming a gimmick. In fact, the chicken ability now has new powers (which are unlocked over time) including a 4-hit combo, floating, fighting and even a giant mode. There’s something special about seeing a massive fowl run through an illuminati temple.

The temple itself carries over the feel of some of the areas of the first game but introduces new environmental mechanics specific to each area. In one section, dimensional rifts appear and pulsate in waves, changing whether there is a platform full of spikes below us or a grapple-accessible hook available to make it to another side. The multiplayer co-op in these areas is important, as death caused by a miss or fall requires a short respawn time. If both players are wiped out at once, things get dicey, but as long as one is alive then there isn’t any setback.

It’s easy to die, though, when we get wrapped up staring at the greatly improved visuals. Drinkbox’s Graham Smith explains that the team rewrote the rendering engine, improving colors and using normal mapping for lighting. It’s visible everywhere, but more so in the darker rooms. As we jump around levels and past torches, the light from the fires becomes directional, shining on he totems and statues in the background based on where we are in relation to the flame. Details like edge lighting on our characters, shininess on the glass of the Jade Temple, and reflections in the water add 3D depth to a 2D layered world.

Another thing that the devs learned to improve upon from the first game were the boss fights. They could get near impossible in Guac!, so in Guac!2 they replaced difficulty in enemy strength with innovation in how the enemies use their surroundings. As we faced off against El Muñeco in a pivotal fight, I don’t find him hard as much as I do challenging. Throughout the fight he sends chickens at me. As they home in, giant spiked pillars will pop up to both harm and protect me. Eventually, the spikes retract and the pillars can be climbed before they drop. The idea creates a sort of confined mini arena. With a clear pillar I can climb up the side and land a few punches and uppercuts on the dude before finishing him off for good.

 

Guacamelee! 2 looks like it may not just be more of the same, but A LOT MORE. With new gameplay mechanics and ideas, it could take a good thing and make it a lot better. And also chickens.