Spelunky |OT| Hell or High Water

[janusff]

You may have seen Spelunky mentioned somewhere and asked yourself "What's Spelunky?"

Spelunky is a platformer with lots of monsters, items, traps, and secrets.

Dying in Spelunky can be quick and painful.

But each time you restart, you'll play a new, randomly-generated set of levels! It will feel fresh and exciting, and you'll have to think on your feet.

You can pick up and use or toss practically everything you come across (to your own detriment, if you're not careful!).

There's a lot of freedom to how you want to navigate the levels, which are fully-destructible.

And even though they're randomized, you will still get more skilled over time! If you play enough, not only will you get good enough to beat the game, but you may start to unravel some of its deepest secrets...

Eurogamer Review: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-08-08-spelunky-pc-review

I think I could play Spelunky forever, and now that it has come home to PC, assuring its permanence, I believe I will.

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PC Gamer Review: http://www.pcgamer.com/spelunky-review/

Spelunky represents half a dozen game design philosophies that I wish more games would copy. It isn't easy, but it is accessible. It's not scripted, but you tell stories through it. It's challenging, but those challenges are always fair. Its procedural generation makes it replayable. Its Daily Challenges and local co-op mode make it an experience you can share, and I've played the latter for dozens of hours all on its own.

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IGN Review: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/06/spelunky-review-pc

Spelunky is a game that takes experts 10 minutes to complete, but it will take you hours before you're remotely ready for that challenge. This is a superb 2D platformer that's as easy to hate as it is to love, and your patience for punishment will be the determining factor. Players who live to overcome abusive challenges and obsess over discovering new things will hunger for Spelunky's deeply rewarding exploration.

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Derek Yu wrote the book on Spelunky. Literally!

Check it out: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1940535115/?tag=era0f0-20

Link for No Clip Documentary on the making of Spelunky. Highly recommend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv434Xyybqc&t=1s

Mossmouth has confirmed to be working on a sequel to this masterful game. In preparation for the sequel, I made this OT. I also made it because I'm a huge fan of the game. As are many others. If you haven't played Spelunky before, you should give it a go! And don't give up! Cheers, and May the Ankh be with you.

 

[Deleted member 15737]

The design is immaculate, and is one of the best games ever made.

That clip of finally getting to the city of gold, just to have a piece of gold set off an arrow trap that shoots you onto a crush block that slams you into the ceiling for an instakill sums up spelunly perfectly. Nerves so high, and you can die so quickly as a result of not running through all possibilities, and you start laughing rather than raging. The simple systems working together consistently to create interesting events.

 

[Vashetti]

Why is the documentary not in the OP?

 

[MMaRsu]

I love this game but I've never made it past the second biome -_-

I suck at it lol

 

[janusff]

The design is immaculate, and is one of the best games ever made.

That clip of finally getting to the city of gold, just to have a piece of gold set off an arrow trap that shoots you onto a crush block that slams you into the ceiling for an instakill sums up spelunly perfectly. Nerves so high, and you can die so quickly as a result of not running through all possibilities, and you start laughing rather than raging. The simple systems working together consistently to create interesting events.

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Heh yeah that's why I added that video. It was such an inglorious death and sums up the game nicely. There's always a lesson to learn with your death however. That one was gold pieces set off traps above you if you set off a bomb. :p

Why is the documentary not in the OP?

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Good thought! I'll add it in. Cheers.

 

[The Cellar Letters]

The game is so good. I would play it a lot more if it had online coop.

 

[toythatkills]

This is the closest game to "perfect" that I've ever played, by which I mean there isn't a single element of the gameplay that doesn't add quality to the product, not a single element that doesn't work. There's absolutely no bloat at all, and everything that's there is there for a reason - to make the game better.

Five years after release, I'm still playing it almost every day.

 

[Deleted member 15737]

The game is so good. I would play it a lot more if it had online coop.

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Yeah, I'm very cautious on spelunly 2, but there's no way they don't include online this time, right?

I'd honestly be happy if they just sold an online expansion DLC for the original.

I would love to play the battle mode online too.

 

[Eden]

My favourite challenge run in any game:

 

[flowsnake]

This is the closest game to "perfect" that I've ever played, by which I mean there isn't a single element of the gameplay that doesn't add quality to the product, not a single element that doesn't work. There's absolutely no bloat at all, and everything that's there is there for a reason - to make the game better.

Five years after release, I'm still playing it almost every day.

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I would agree, except I don't ghosting. It's easy to ignore it, but it hurts the overall design slightly.

 

[ArmsofSleep]

Perfect fucking game. I spent dozens of hours on it, basically only stopped playing after I finally had a successful King Yama run.

If I didn't have such a backlog I'd probably pick it up again and try to finish getting all the achievements.

 

[Deleted member 15737]

I would agree, except I don't ghosting. It's easy to ignore it, but it hurts the overall design slightly.

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Yeah I'm torn on ghosting. I always thought maybe derek should have kept the mechanics mostly the same, but instead of having ghost turn gems to diamonds for score, maybe it could have been ghost turns gem into doodads, get and 10 doodads on a level get an item. That way you sacrifice points and time, but get stronger.

I think that would have been more intetesting.

 

[janusff]

The only achievement I didn't get was the Speedlunky one. It just went against my more methodical approach to playing the game. I think one time I got pretty close. I was like 30 seconds off or something. I noticed speed runners using the teleport tool a bunch but never understood how to use it properly. Heh.

 

[Vashetti]

My 100% Trophies for the game

https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/2092-spelunky/Vashetti

 

[ArmsofSleep]

The only achievement I didn't get was the Speedlunky one. It just went against my more methodical approach to playing the game. I think one time I got pretty close. I was like 30 seconds off or something. I noticed speed runners using the teleport tool a bunch but never understood how to use it properly. Heh.

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The teleport tool was a deathtrap. I only used it for Speedlunky and it was the reason I died 9/10 times. But yeah I also am a ridiculously methodical player usually.

 

[JPBrowncoat]

One of the greatest games of all time. Can't wait to see how the sequel builds on it.

 

[spineduke]

My favourite challenge run in any game:

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This is one for the ages. Incredible run.

 

[devenger]

Ok looking for some protips.

I can get past the jungle now every few tries, and actually made it to the temple once. But I've hit a wall, not really getting any farther and my eyes roll when I see there are levels I may never get to.

Get gud?

 

[Deleted member 15737]

Ok looking for some protips.

I can get past the jungle now every few tries, and actually made it to the temple once. But I've hit a wall, not really getting any farther and my eyes roll when I see there are levels I may never get to.

Get gud?

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Anything in particular you struggle with?

I think practicing killing shopkeepers is helpful....but its been a long time since i was a beginner.

All I can say is that you will get better if you keep playing. Use the shortcuts to practice but don't use them for real attempts.

 

[devenger]

I always start from the beginning, but I can't seem to hold onto health. If I get to the icecaves, I'm already beat up.

Usually buy as many bombs as I can and maybe the climb gloves or jump boots. I've started trying to bomb my way thru more of the jungle just to save health.

Still enjoying it, but I don't think I'll see Hell anytime soon.

 

[janusff]

Ok looking for some protips.

I can get past the jungle now every few tries, and actually made it to the temple once. But I've hit a wall, not really getting any farther and my eyes roll when I see there are levels I may never get to.

Get gud?

Click to shrink...

Always be carrying something, always look down. Spend your money on stuff, wait to kill the shopkeeper as last as possible. Try and get the ahnk and do that path in general every time. Save your bombs and ropes. Just some general stuff.

What also helped me a lot was watching other people play. I used to watch Conrad Zimmerman and Jordan D something from Destructoid play. Those dudes were good.

I always start from the beginning, but I can't seem to hold onto health. If I get to the icecaves, I'm already beat up.

Usually buy as many bombs as I can and maybe the climb gloves or jump boots. I've started trying to bomb my way thru more of the jungle just to save health.

Still enjoying it, but I don't think I'll see Hell anytime soon.

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When in ice caves, it's always best to be equipped with the green glove or the cape or jet pack. It's loads easier to navigate if you have those things.

 

[devenger]

See, I rarely watch play videos and I never buy the flying stuff. So, I'll try that!

 

[toythatkills]

Don't start from the beginning. Use the short cuts. You'll die real quick when you start from the jungle but you'll learn it so much better by playing it over and over again. It's about learning it at this point, you don't need to be trying to get to the temple, you need to be practicing the areas you won't see as much normally when you start from the beginning .

Unlocking short cuts is good practice in itself, the temple especially.

 

[devenger]

Don't start from the beginning. Use the short cuts.

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I think this may be the secret. I never use the shortcuts because I thought they were a crutch. But when I finally get to the ice caves, I flail because I'm rarely there. I know I'm getting better, but really needed a chg in strategy to advance. Thx everbody.

 

[janusff]

Its pretty cool playing the daily for this game and seeing that there's still hundreds that play them. Unlike say Tumbleseed (great game btw), I did the daily for that one the other day and I was the only person on the leaderboard. ;_;

 

[Edge]

How's the PS4 version in comparison to the PC version? Thinking about playing this before 2 but googling around shows me that the support for this game was around 2014 and it's not even on the Switch nor Xbox One.
So I have to decide between PS4 or PC.

 

[janusff]

How's the PS4 version in comparison to the PC version? Thinking about playing this before 2 but googling around shows me that the support for this game was around 2014 and it's not even on the Switch nor Xbox One.
So I have to decide between PS4 or PC.

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From the PS blog post when the title released:

We're once again teaming up with BlitWorks, who did a great job on bringing the game to PS3 and PS Vita. For PS4, we want to do even more — like bump up the graphics to 1080p, let players upload replays to the leaderboards, add more social features to the Daily Challenge, and otherwise take advantage of the PS4's unique hardware.

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I think it runs well too. Don't know about the PC version but I'm sure that's great too

 

[Edge]

Oh shit, turns out I somehow own it already on PS4 because I claimed it back in the day for Vita on PS Plus and since this is one of the free cross gen titles when you own it on one of them, I can download it on PS4. :D
Very nice.