Guayota

One of the criticisms that Spain will always carry with it for eternity (whether other Europeans committed greater atrocities in the same place or not) is its Black Legend in the conquest of America. Entire tribes were wiped out, either in the pursuit of gold, or to reclaim their land with steel and blood, or because of diseases that the New World had never faced before. However, we always tend to look beyond the Atlantic when we talk (or keep quiet) about these matters, but the truth is that a few years earlier something similar also happened in the "pacification" of the Canary Islands. Fortunately, oral tradition managed to save some of these stories, and now we have a ray of light to approach them slightly with {Guayota}, by {Team Delusion}.

Guayota is a puzzle adventure in which we play an archivist in the late 15th century on a mission for the {House of Trade} in Seville (the body that organised Columbus' expeditions and the Crown's resource management for new lands) in search of the legendary San Borondón Island, an unknown land said to be Paradise on Earth, and impossible to reach by conventional means, although the aborigines of the islands (the Guanches) claimed that it would appear from time to time on the horizon, shrouded in an impenetrable fog. Following the clues of local legend, we reach the coast and the mysteries begin.

Here we are not heroes or brave warriors. We are a scholar who seeks to investigate the complete truth about the island and the legend. To do this, we are accompanied by a trusty notebook in which to take note of the murals we find, and a trusty torch that will become our trump card against darkness and death. As we enter the ruins, we will have to dodge the dangerous traps set by their builders and make combinations with luminous stones to open the way, in action-packed sections. If the torch goes out, it's all over...

Over? Not quite. The first time our torch goes out we fall into a kind of trance in which we discover a maxio (a benign spirit also from the Canarian tradition) who will accompany us on the adventure and with whom we can cross the veil to explore the spirit world. These puzzle sections in the Spirit Realm share the same layout as those in the real world, but their resolution is different: There are no enemies, and the puzzles change completely, although the element of light is always present. Yet Guayota has a dual design of each level that progresses in parallel, each 'realm' offering a piece of the story.

And the variety and ingenuity will delight fans of the genre. Guayota is a challenge that is simple in its presentation but twisted in its resolution. There will be sections where you'll have to wander around the cramped stage, looking for that overlooked detail, and others where you'll lose your patience with the exhausting traps and the mobility of our protagonist.

Perhaps this is my biggest gripe with the game, that the levels where movement and precision to dodge trap attacks are 'pixel perfect' and also force you to pass through these deadly areas at least a couple of times. If the torch goes out you will have to replay the level, and I assure you that in the more advanced stages repeating the path and remembering the steps of the big puzzle can be torture.

Fortunately, the puzzles are sheer genius and a riot of good design, which is just about all you can ask for here. Furthermore, the difficulty progression is also smooth, and you feel that with each completed level your skill increases, as well as your knowledge of the story. In fact, if one section gets too difficult, you can skip it and move on to the next, though everything comes at a price: there are several endings to Guayota's story, and I have a feeling that to get the best of them we'll have to find out the whole truth about what really happened here. In any case, replayability will be subject to knowing the different outcomes.

I'm not the most skilled platformer, nor the fastest puzzle solver, so my perception of what Guayota has to offer in terms of play time (around 15 hours) may be very, very long compared to others. However, it did give me enough satisfaction and just enough of a challenge (at times, borderline too) to keep me from giving up.

Even without being the prettiest or most technically polished game, Guayota has that halo of pride and ambition to carve a niche for itself in this summer's crowded calendar. The dubbing and localisation of the game is outstanding, and the sound and soundtrack create the atmosphere to immerse you in the adventure, which already has an enormous value in recovering and spreading the Canarian tradition and its legends. If you were looking for a challenge to sharpen your mind, the legend of Guayota awaits you.