Being an indie developer, DrinkBox Studios has the freedom to make unusual choices. After finishing Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, the team got together and tossed out ideas. This horizontal leadership structure brought out some interesting concepts and the most compelling one came from an animator. The theme he put forward was a game based on Mexican folklore and luchadores.
?Homesickness was the genesis of the game,? said developer Chris McQuinn. His studio is based in Toronto.
The result is Guacamelee!, a 2D Metroidvania style adventure, starring Juan Aguacate (That?s John Avocado in Spanish.). He?s an agave farmer who is murdered after trying to save his town and El Presidente?s daughter from Calaca, the king of the underworld. Juan is shot dead and his spirit descends to the World of the Dead. It?s there that his spirit sees a magical mask, and once he dons it, he becomes a powerful luchador.
The differences between the living world and the dead world.
Juan now has the ability to fight the monsters from the underworld and that?s a useful power to have when the king of the underworld is trying to start the apocalypse by merging the Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead together. Furthermore, that duality of the worlds plays a central role in the gameplay.
The luchador can jump between both lands and he?ll need to do that to get through obstacles. The constant flipping is a mechanic that?s reminiscent of Ikagura. Juan will leap through portals taking him to the Land of the Dead where things are slightly different and he can do a wall jump and exit through a second portal and to another platform. From a casual perspective, it looks complicated, and DrinkBox admits that it will take time for players to adjust.
Some enemies will have shields and Juan will have to execute a super move that?s the same color as the barrier.
Like other Metroidvania games, Juan will gain abilities and that will open up new parts of the world. The aforementioned wall jump is taught to him by Huay Chivo, a goat man who is the closest thing our hero has to a mentor. The luchador will eventually be able to switch between the two worlds at will. When it comes to combat, Juan does have several super moves, but he can?t spam them out. It takes up stamina and players will have to use his special attacks judiciously to either give them a boost to another platform or fighting certain enemies who are weak to certain moves.
What separates Guacamelee! from other adventures though is its unique take and visual style. There aren?t many games based on Mexican folklore, and playing it, you learn to appreciate DrinkBox?s colorful art. The huge Alebrije is delightful eye candy while villains like Xtabay are unlike anything players have seen in the past. In a fun twist, the developer?s do give a nod to classic games. There are statues that look like Chozo?s from Metroid and a boss battle that resembles a the fight between Mario and Bowser in Super Mario Bros. Old-school gamers will get a kick out of that.
The Alebrije is one of the more gorgeous creatures that players will run into in the world.
Lastly, there are some advances in the genre. A second local player will be able to join the fun. Tostada appears near the beginning of the game, and she?ll be a huge help to Juan when he gets trapped in arenas where they must defeat several waves of enemies. The drawback is that having a second person makes the platforming more difficult. The other interesting feature is the PlayStation Vita support that puts the world map on the touchscreen. Instead of pausing the game to look at where to go, players can just glance down and see their destination.
From what I saw at GDC 2013, Guacamelee! is one of the more promising games from an indie developer. It?s scheduled for release this spring on the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.
Images courtesy of Sony
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