Guacamelee!

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition is a fun game with a lot of personality and interesting mechanics.

Puzzles

There is a strong puzzle platforming element to this game, centered usually around one of the game mechanics that allows switching between the living and dead worlds with a button-press.

Two map layouts overlay in the same space, with some shared platforms and different obstacles. To be able to progress in this game player often has to jump between targets and trigger a switch mid-flight. This makes some of the levels difficult to progress as it isn't always obvious what is on the other side, and so a lot of trial and error is involved. However, death usually doesn't reset progress much and that feeling you get once you make it to the destination is supremely gratifying.

As more moves are unlocked, more puzzle areas are available. Many of these are optional and can be ignored. They seem to exist for those that really want to earn extra tokens for costumes and ability points.

Fighting

Fighting also takes place across the two dimensions and is often challenging. Some enemies are protected by a colored aura which can only be broken with specific kind of attack.

In additional to the typical combo attacks, the hold/throw moves allows aiming the enemies as if they are projectiles and is one of my favorite activities in the game.

True to its name that clearly pays homage to Capcom's fighting game, there are INTENSO moves and changes how one decides to execute combos. I think this is also a rather insidious move because it seems to prod players to take on more risks when fighting enemies, simultaneously make it easy to dispatch enemies and sustain damage.

Humor

This is a really funny game! From the dialogs between NPCs, to the goat mentor that gets annoyed with player smashing his statues, or the chickens. Whether the character speaks or not there is usually something funny when they interact with player character.

It is a little odd that you can player as a female character, but the game still treats you like a dude. But it's something I got over quickly.

Some of the humor builds up over multiple levels and encounters. For example, the mistress who is pet-sitting and desperately wants more time with her love and the final boss of the game. These boss fights are tough, but always end up providing a glimpse of the human-side of these bosses you must defeat.

Theme

The Mexican (?) and living/dead dimension-switching themes are strong part of the game visuals and interactions. The game maps and characters all share a clean, uniform design language that makes it simple to identify objectives without making objects looking out-of-place. Menu items and dialogs all have a charming foreign accent to them.

Festival of the dead is a great source of costume, character, and story ideas. This theme is introduced slowly in the beginning and sets up the why and how clearly by end of first level, while teaching player the movement and attack mechanics. Nicely done.