Guacamelee 2 is very much more of Guacamelee 1 with some improvements and additions, and that’s OK!

Guacamelee was a stylish brawler mixed with an engaging Metroid-esque platform-exploration type of game. Heavily influenced by Mexican culture, it was a great success, particularly in co-op. The sequel retains this solid core, polishing a few bells and adding some whistles.

The plot this time around delves into alternate timelines; most of the game is spent in “the darkest timeline”, where the first game’s hero Juan has died. Disaster was averted by another luchador, Salvador, who has become corrupted by darkness and now seeks a mystical MacGuffin. Juan must now save this (and every other) timeline in the “Mexiverse” from Salvador and his squad of boss goons.

The parallel worlds concept lets the game reinterpret some characters from the first game but also allows for some comedy multiverse shenanigans, as well as setting up some very unsubtle jabs at other games and genres. For example, one dimensional door takes you to an RPG dimension, where you fight a short series of turn-based battles and staples of the genre are lampooned. These side dimensions are usually optional, which is good because most outstay their welcome. Oh well!

My other minor criticism would be that the final boss is too simple, and anticlimactic. Otherwise the game is raucous fun, with an excellent combat engine, and platforming challenges and traversal that are really quite good as well. The super-difficult side stuff (both end-game secrets and DLC) is also a thrill to conquer.

I particularly liked the revamped upgrade system, which groups different kinds of enhancements under teacher characters you find in the game world. As with the previous game there’s also a ton of alternate character skins, some of which are just cosmetic (mainly returning characters from last game, whose animations have been revamped… I favoured playing as X’Tabay, or Tostada’s Alebrije outfit) while others have their own benefits and drawbacks.

All in all it’s much like Guacamelee 1: humour, authentic Mexican trappings, and really solid gameplay. Also it looks and sounds lovely. I liked it! A lot!