Guayota

If the game were a bit shorter, and more focused on what it really wanted to be, I feel it would have been a lot more enjoyable. As such, I can only truly suggest picking it up if you want to enjoy a gauntlet of puzzles, without ever wanting to care about why you’re doing that, and what are these puzzles leading you towards.

An elevated, and generally attractive, take on puzzle-oriented play

Guayota is a good example of a game that tries to do way too much. It has ideas, but it doesn’t know how to moderate them or reign them in, and the end result is a lot messier than it needs to or should be.

If the game’s graphics were a bit sharper and the story more fleshed out—closer to the cinematic quality of the trailer—Guayota might feel like a better value for its price at roughly $20 on Steam and $15 on Switch (this is without current sales pricing for launch). The gap between its marketing and the actual gameplay results in an experience that falls short of the hype.

With Guayota, Team Delusion invites us on a journey through the Canary Islands, with an adventure that revolves around puzzle solving and the myths and legends of the Guanche Indians. A title with an irregular difficulty curve that manages to hold its own thanks to the fact that it offers a solid experience that can be enjoyed at our pace, without haste or stress.

While there were moments I genuinely enjoyed solving Guayota’s puzzles, these are often overshadowed by design choices that end up hindering fun instead of fostering it.

Guayota is a nice and colorful puzzle game with extremely well constructed gameplay sessions. Too bad about the too much repetitiveness of some puzzles.

Overall, I like Guayota. The game takes a different approach by drawing on lesser-known mythology and offering an experimental style of puzzle-solving that is incredibly rewarding, especially when you have the space to take in the level and figure things out on your own. What didn’t click for me was the aggressive use of traps and hazards, which detracted from the overall experience. Additionally, while the dark cave settings contribute to the game’s atmosphere, they can sometimes make it difficult to see what you’re doing. Despite these issues, Guayota is well worth trying if you’re open to something new and different and enjoy puzzle games. It may not be perfect, but its unique approach and rewarding gameplay make it a standout in the puzzle genre. A free demo is available on the Nintendo eShop if you want to try it out.

Guayota contains a great deal of difficulty and tested my patience quite well. I loved how it implemented puzzles in a way that isolated puzzles on a per-dungeon basis. However, I wanted a bigger payoff from completing its more difficult-levels, and I wanted the light version of the levels to have something to ease the difficulty. That said, Guayota was a great test of my logic and reasoning skills in the few hours I spent in-game. I loved the aesthetic, design, and general level construction, so it's worth playing if you're interested in an indie gem with unique puzzles for an afternoon playthrough.