Spelunky 2 Review

Nov 04, 2020

Spelunky is, by many accounts, a nearly perfect game. When it was released on Xbox 360 in 2012, it was the ideal combination of finely tuned game mechanics, precise controls, an extensive amount of things to discover (in more ways than one), and essentially infinite replayability and appeal. It was the epitome of the “just one more run” game, and it captured the hearts and minds of players across every platform it came to over the years (which is basically everything), developing a rich competitive scene and a wide audience on streaming sites like Twitch. The true beauty of Spelunky may be that despite its relatively steep difficulty and learning curves, it has broad appeal and is extremely approachable, for both players and viewers alike. Spelunky captured some of the best aspects of watching talented speedrunners play through older Mario games from the NES and the SNES, with the sense that some new and amazing previously unknown aspect of the game might always be just a few moments away. And so it persisted for many years, well past the lifespan of most game releases.