Feature: Going Platinum: I Replayed This PS4 Metroidvania on Hard Mode and Loved Every Second

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Platinum Trophy #24: Guacamelee! 2

Date Earned: 18th November 2020

Dopamine Index:

Guacamelee doesn’t get mentioned as much when people talk about the greatest Metroidvania games, but I believe it should be considered among the best.

I really enjoy both of these fun wrestling games! They’re well-made, easy to control, and offer a satisfying level of difficulty.

The main criticism you could level at this game is that some of the jokes feel a bit dated. However, because so few games capture this classic cartoon vibe, I think it still works really well.

I just finished playing the sequel, and honestly, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel. But what it does add is really well thought out. It builds on the original without making things overly complicated, and it just makes the whole experience better. Seriously, it’s a fantastic game.

Guacamelee 2 came out in August 2018, and after finishing my review, I didn’t think about it much—that’s just how it goes when you’re constantly reviewing new games.

I earned most of the game’s trophies while playing it for work. I likely could have unlocked the platinum trophy earlier, but I simply moved on to other things.

It wasn’t until over two years later that I returned to the game to polish off the Trophy list.

If you follow my progress on Going Platinum, you know I rarely replay games. One of the last achievements I needed was to finish the game on Hard mode – basically, starting over but with a much greater challenge.

Just so you know, I generally stick to Normal difficulty in games. I don’t really enjoy playing on harder settings. I almost always choose the standard experience, and honestly, there’s only one exception I can think of, but I’ll save that story for another time.

Anyway, the reason I went back to Guacamelee 2 was partly for science, and partly for Trophies.

Sony recently launched a new Trophy level system, and I was curious to see how earning a Platinum Trophy would affect my overall level. I wanted to get a better sense of how much value it added.

To be honest, it was just an excuse to buy another game. I told myself it was for an ‘experiment,’ and I went through my library looking for something I’d almost finished collecting all the trophies for. Guacamelee 2 was the closest I could find.

That’s right, it would involve replaying the whole game on Hard mode, and maybe completing a couple of extra tasks as well.

I hoped getting this done would also help me understand how Trophies work with the new leveling system.

I didn’t actually learn much about that topic, but I rediscovered my love for the game itself.

I’m really impressed with this game! The art is bright and colorful, the characters are delightfully strange, and the fighting is fast-paced and fun. Plus, unlocking new abilities keeps things interesting – it’s easily one of the best Metroidvania games I’ve experienced.

You know, it’s weird, but I don’t really remember Hard mode being that much tougher, even though it had been years since I last played. I’m sure there were some tricky parts, but honestly, nothing really stands out in my memory as being super difficult!

It’s great, isn’t it? I thought the Hard difficulty would be really challenging, but I actually finished Guacamelee 2 feeling really happy and positive about it.

Cheers, Guacamelee 2.

Do you have the platinum Trophy for Guacamelee 2? Tell us in the comments section below.

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2026-05-02 22:07