This gorgeous Metroidvania has it all: Mexican folklore, tasty-looking food, and "combat-oriented" gameplay

gamesradar.com:

In another life, I'm a food critic. Tasting dishes from different cultures is undoubtedly my greatest passion next to video games, and so I ask that you forgive me before I go on way too long about the wonderfully rendered traditional Mexican cooking in the upcoming Metroidvania Mariachi Legends.

As a native Arizonan who's spent a lot of time in Mexico, I might be biased toward Southwestern landscapes and architecture, but the pixel art in Mariachi Legends is genuinely among the finest I've ever seen in a video game. I mean, holy hell:

Moving on to the food, this is probably my favorite component of Mariachi Legends and the thing that initially drew me to the indie Metroidvania, a genre I typically don't dabble in. Guadalajara-based developer Halberd Games says you'll be able to find traditional Mexican recipes throughout levels and cook them up to "enhance your powers." I can recognize some pollo asada, cebollas curtidas (pickled onions), and churros, but Halberd says we'll also get to "experience the spiciness of Pozole, the complexity of Mole, and the undeniable delight of Tacos al Pastor."

Mexican folklore in general is something I don't see explored enough in games, and it brings a much-needed burst of color and culture to the Metroidvania space, which to its credit, did produce Guacamelee and its sequel, but those were, uh, less authentic representations of the culture from a Canada-based studio.

In Mariachi Legends, you play as Detective Pablo Cruz, who was chosen by Death herself to descend into Santa Mascota for a powerful amulet that'll cement her rule over the Realm of the Dead and disrupt el Día de los Muertos. In return, she turns you into La Sombra, which gives you the supernatural powers you need to fight