Guacamelee! Super Tuber Championship Edition (2014) Review

Developer: Drinkbox Studios

Platform: PS4

Length: 10-20+ hours

I'd heard a lot of good things about Guacamelee! over the years, but for whatever reason it has taken me until 2025 to finally check it out. It still holds up really well today and remains one of the best in the Metroidvania genre.

Juan before he becomes a luchador badass.

Right away the game's personality shines through with vibrant colours, an upbeat soundtrack, a humorous story that regularly pokes fun at itself and the player, and a setting that covers many facets of Mexican culture and folklore.

As the luchador Juan you must traverse the land of the living and the dead to save your childhood friend/love Lupita from the grasp of the main villain, Calaca. The journey starts off fairly easy with a limited moveset and generous respawns, but if you are planning on going for 100% completion and/or the Platinum trophy, expect some of the most difficult platforming in gaming. The Tree Tops section almost broke me!

This looks perfectly safe

Dotted all over the map are various upgrades to find that improve Juan's health, stamina and special meter and all currency earned from certain chests and enemies can be spent at the various save/checkpoints. There's even a costume system that can be fun to experiment with offering trade offs like being able to regenerate health at the expense of slower stamina.

Not as bad as he looks.

Another thing I appreciated was the ability to play local co-op with up to four players! I was not able to test this, but there weren't many games offering this in 2014, let alone 2025, so it's neat to see it included.

Back in June the developer Drinkbox Studios announced their next game, Blighted, which is looking amazing! Can't wait to dive into this and Guacamelee! 2 in the future.