The Reaper Says: This is a 5 star game, no doubt about it. I got this a while ago while it was on for a whopping $3. That's right. $3. It's been worth so much more than $3. Now it's prolific, and has spawned the "Survivors" genre of games (e.g. Halls of Torment). I'll try to make this as short as I can. WARNING: This game is addictive! Prepare to spend lots of time playing!! Gameplay: The basics of this game are simple enough: Don't get hit, and let your projectiles do the damage. This is an inverted bullet hell game, after all. The options for play are practically limitless, from your choice of character to the choice of weapon, stage, and music. Should you be overwhelmed and die, you are given a sum of coins based on how well you did in the stage to purchase permanent boosts to your characters to make future runs more successful (Did I mention that this is a rogue-like in addition? No? Well it is...). Super Weapons are also available to characters who find the right combinations of weapons and passives, ranging from and infinite hail of knives to a screen-shattering shower of gems. There's a lot more to be said, but this should be enticing enough. Also: Secret characters. Visuals: This has the look and feel of an 8-bit game, but with the polish of a more recent title. Okay, maybe not 8-bit, but 16 at the very most. But don't let that fool you. The only reason why I'm tempted to knock half a point off is the repetitiveness of most the stages in their layout. I understand that they're generally vast, open expanses, but this is redeemed in later stages of the game, most notably the "end boss". The game does provide a seizure warning upon boot-up, so those who might be photosensitive are warned well in advance. Overall, the game does a good job at what it's meant to do: Fill the screen with projectiles and enemies for those projectiles to hit without straining your CPU. Story: For a game like this, less is more. This game is *very* heavily inspired by the Castlevania series, and the premise of this game is no different. Your goal is to find the vampire hiding in his coffin and drive a stake through his heart, for the good of humanity. Downside is that you have no idea where said vampire is; the blackguard has taken your friends and family and shoved them into coffins too! As I said earlier, there are LOTS of characters so the blighter has many places to hide. Have fun. :) Soundtrack: OMG, music to my earholes. Once you play a stage, you unlock its music to use in future stages. Get far enough, and you unlock both sped up and slowed down versions of that music for even more combinations! I don't remember what my favorite track is off the top of my head, but it slaps and slaps HARD. (It's mighty good) Reaper's Rating: 5/5 Scythes Final Words: Just one more go... WHAT!? How is it 3 AM!?

The Reaper Says: Okay folks. I got a good one for you today. Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition (STCE) is a Metroidvania-style game starring a dimension-hopping luchador on a mission to rescue El Presidenté's daughter from the clutches of one Carlos Calaca, "the greatest Charro who ever lived... then died... the lived again." His words, not mine. No idea what a charro is, but that's beside the point. Let's get right into it. THE GOOD: I'm not going to lie to you: I outright love this game, from the soundtrack to the goofy characters, to the wrestling moves and all the Spanish words they use. For me, clocking in at 13 hours is a little short for a Metroidvania, doubly so for 100%-ing the game (with a little help), but I kid you not the music in this game completely slaps. Hard, but with an open hand. The side villains used in this game are quite frankly hilarious, right down to the double entendres. For what they are, the graphics on this game are nothing to sneeze at: A Metroidvania game need not crazy levels of graphics, enough to get the point across is enough. I won't be talking about the story here (You should play the game for yourself), but I will say that it's fairly cookie-cutter for a story of its type. THE BAD: Alright, I bet you're thinking, "But Mr. Reaper, you say this game is awesome, what could possibly be bad about it?" Unfortunately, there are a few parts that really ground my gears (and my adventure) to a grinding halt. A particular location in the game has a series of challenges to test your skills. Some of these challenges involve attaining a level of combo that essentially requires you to deal with a number of annoying enemies perfectly, otherwise your combo cannot reach the required level (in this case 200). The game, with challenges like these, can be frustrating at times (I did at one point want to throw my controller at my monitor.) The only thing I'll spoil is that there is a challenge location with *shudder* Yoku Blocks. For those that don't know, Yoku Blocks are platforms that will appear for an interval of time, then completely disappear, causing a different set of platforms to appear setting up a pattern of jumps to get from place to place (Heat Man, Mega Man 2 is a great example). These frustrations, combined with floaty jumps, is why I knocked 1/2 a star off. Also of note is that if you can play Celeste, you should have no problem. I should also mention that I almost never played the game at all: I have this on Epic Games and I put it on Steam. Trying to run the game in full screen was *IMPOSSIBLE*; everything was too fast (Turbo living up to its name). Playing it in WINDOWED mode was the only possible way to play, and I'm glad I did. THE AWESOME: If there's anything I have to gush about regarding this game, it's the number of other video game references (and it's A LOT!) These references include, but are not limited to: Mario Bros., Castlevania, Mega Man, Minecraft, Legend of Zelda, LoZ: Majora's Mask, Metroid and many more! Play it and find out for yourself! I found that the music never got stale, and the game was the right level of challenge, and has replayability in the form of a Hard Mode, unlocked after finishing the main game. I've been up till the wee hours of the morning playing this game, so if you ever find it, give it a play. You'll be glad and amused that you did. FINAL SCORES: Date Started: 08/17/2023 Date Finished: 08/24/2023 #100% Reaper's Rating: 4.5/5 Scythes. Last Words: Yoku Blocks = no bueno.