Guayota [Review]
Guayota promises mythic adventure but stumbles with frustrating puzzles and dull writing.
Guayota. Credit: Dear Villagers / Team Delusion
Guayota is an adventure puzzle game from Spanish developer Team Delusion and publisher Dear Villagers. It is inspired by mythology from the Canary Islands and the Guanche people and the search for the legendary St. Brendan’s Island, paradise on earth. Unfortunately, the gameplay is more frustrating than fun, and the writing is dull.
You’re an explorer sent by Spain to search for St. Brendan’s Island. You and your crew become stranded on the mysterious island, and it’s up to you to discover the history and lore of the island by solving puzzles in a series of three temples.
Guayota. Credit: Dear Villagers / Team Delusion
The game’s puzzles are light-related, and each temple has slightly different mechanics. For example, puzzles in one temple require you to place light crystals near statues, while the second involves lighting torches that go out quickly, making timing more critical.
My frustration with the puzzles comes from the two puzzle modes. Each puzzle has a “Real World” and a “Plane of Madness” version. You always start in the Real World, where traps threaten to put out your torch; if you take enough hits, your torch goes out, and you’re sent to the Plane of Madness version of the puzzle. There are no traps in the Plane of Madness, but the puzzles are a little more cerebral. All of this is fine—having two distinct puzzles in each room is interesting. The problem is that you only have a single chance to solve the Real World version of the puzzle. When I play a puzzle game, I expect to be able to retry the puzzle until I complete it. I don’t see why I couldn’t simply have a choice of which version I’d like to do, even if you only need to solve the puzzle one way to progress.
Guayota. Credit: Dear Villagers / Team Delusion
Puzzles are illuminated solely by your torch, particularly in the darker Real World. I disliked not being able to see my entire surroundings, which felt incredibly unfair considering I only had one chance in the Real World before being thrust into the Plane of Madness. Puzzle design is good in the Plane of Madness; I didn’t have enough time with the Real World puzzles to judge those because death would mean I was locked out of the puzzle after a single attempt. I lost my patience quickly.
My other issue with the game was the writing. Long-winded, one-sided dialogue from the game’s characters drained my interest in the story and its inspiration. The developers couldn’t resist the impulse to overwrite where shorter, richer dialogue would have been better. The result is a story that’s boring rather than compelling.
Guayota is a puzzle game that would be strong if not for some poor design decisions and writing. It’s hard to recommend as it is.
Guayota is available now on PC (Steam / Humble) and Nintendo Switch.
Overall Score: 5/10
Played on: Steam Deck
