Spelunky 2 review full#

Spelunky 2 has you taking control of the daughter of the nameless spelunker (he has a last name now at least…it?s Spelunky) and Yellow (now named Tina). However in a year like 2020 which seems to have browbeaten everyone equally, it felt appropriate to have my gaming ego taken down a notch, so that?s why I willingly played the sequel to Spelunky (even though I never played the first one). I can safely say I?ve never reached the Nuclear Throne, I?ve never beaten the King?s Hand in Dead Cells, I?ve never gotten the good ending for the Binding of Issac. I wouldn’t change a thing – though some of my former turkey friends may have different feedback.I?m usually not one to subject myself to extremely difficult titles, mainly because I prefer gaming to be a power fantasy, however there are titles which I?m willing to die over and over and over and over again. With its dastardly remixes of existing themes and a bunch of brilliant new additions, this will certainly replace Spelunky HD as the definitive cave-diving Derek Yu roguelike. But that spell hasn’t worn off after 10 years. Perhaps it’s a little safe in the way it goes about things, anxious not to lose that Spelunky magic by disrupting the familiar flow. It’s already replaced the original Spelunky in my mind’s eye. It’s also beautiful, so much more rich and vibrant than before. The bits that didn’t need fixing are left untouched. Exploring these possibilities is the new game.

Spelunky 2 review full#

New gadgets! Sub-levels full of treasure and shortcuts! Liquids that flow properly if you create a hole in the ground beneath them! Every new thing is useful, perilous, versatile. Spelunky 2 has lots in common with its predecessor, but it’s elevated by loads of new stuff. Volcana introduces fiery friends to meet. It’s a harder game overall than Spelunky was, I’d say, perhaps to push players towards the new online co-op multiplayer, which is delightful and entropic. The older stuff is harder, densely packed with challenging arrangements of traps and enemies, while the new settings are gentler, albeit still thumpingly difficult. The choice is usually between remixed versions of old environments, and new locations.

Spelunky 2 also lets you choose your path after a few levels. That trick helps me navigate Volcana, which in turn helps me reach later levels with more health, bombs and climbing ropes to spare. What was once a hazardous pitfall is now a solved problem. But I realised that if I cling to the edge of one platform, I can jump straight to the edge of the next one in an easily repeatable leap. They are tricky to jump between, especially when there are enemies nearby. Stand on them and they drop into the fire. In the fire-and-brimstone Volcana levels, you often encounter two stone platforms, hovering above a pool of lava. Sometimes the most precious discoveries are useful things you can fold into your runs.

Judging by the empty pages left in my in-game journal, Spelunky 2 has plenty of these as well.

Its best secrets are fortuitous or surprising interactions between enemies, traps, items and players: for instance, if you can ride the turkey, then why shouldn’t your enemies? The first Spelunky had oodles of secrets, such as entire sets of hidden levels that many players never saw. That’s not all you can do with the turkey, though, and the fowl’s versatility is a clue to Spelunky 2’s brilliance.