Guacamelee! STCE 'Frenemies' Character Pack (DLC)

My first thought when I heard DrinkBox was dropping a character pack for Guacamelee STCE was simple: who are these four, and do they actually change how the game plays, or are they just re-skins with different hats? The answer lands somewhere satisfying in the middle. The Frenemies pack adds Javier Jaguar, FlameFace, X'Tabay, and Uay Chivo as playable characters, each carrying their own animations and distinct attributes. These are boss-tier enemies from the main campaign, and flipping the script so you can run them through the same luchador brawling and dimension-swapping platforming is a genuine novelty. For context on why that matters: STCE is a Metroidvania brawler built around Juan, a luchador who punches skeletons across two parallel dimensions - the World of the Living and the World of the Dead - and unlocks combat moves that double as platforming tools. It is an exceptionally well-constructed game where every new ability opens both new fight options and new areas on the map. Combat skills like the grapple, wall run, and Intenso rage mode (a timed super that builds from combo chains) are baked deeply into how you move and fight simultaneously. Playing that whole system through four characters with their own stat profiles is not a cosmetic change - it is a replay hook with mechanical teeth. That said, the honesty check: this DLC adds no new levels, no new story, and no new areas. You are replaying the existing campaign and challenge arenas with different character feel. The five achievements on offer (worth 200 Gamerscore) include arena challenges in the Great Temple on Hard difficulty, which will sting if you are rusty. The most demanding of the lot - clearing two lightning skeleton arenas back to back on Hard - is the real time investment. The rest are relatively straightforward for anyone who finished the base game. The total DLC footprint is a tiny 9.5 MB, which tells you everything about scope: this is a character switcher, not a content expansion. Who actually needs this? If you burned through STCE, chased every secret, and still want an excuse to run the drop-in co-op with friends using a broader character roster, Frenemies delivers that. The four-player local co-op that STCE supports becomes notably more interesting when the party is running mismatched characters with different strengths. If you never finished the base game, or if a costume-plus-attributes swap does not sound worth the price of a separate purchase to you, skip it entirely and spend more time in the main game first. Alex, Scout Team