Spelunky
Platform: Download (Windows)
You may have already heard of Spelunky, by suspected secret superhero and game designer extraordinaire Derek Yu, either because it was briefly featured in a Weekend Download, or because you're one of the many, many (many!) people who have suggested it to us recently. If you've never heard of it, you should know Spelunky is a roguelike game of cave exploration. Except, hey! You got your platformer in my roguelike! Rather than taking the traditional route of turn-based combat, Spelunky is a game where you'll have to run, jump, whip, and bomb your way out of sticky situations. Oh, and did we mention it's completely free? Mmmm.
You play an unnamed little spelunker, descending into the depths of the Colossal Cave alone. Are you searching for treasure? Adventure? Or are you just trying to stay alive? Each adventure is different since Spelunky's random level generator means the cave never presents the same layout twice.
Spelunky's keyboard controls are completely customizable to your preferences by running the Config file included in the download. Or, you can play my favourite way, and use a controller. Spelunky lends itself extremely well to it, and the running and jumping feels much more smooth and natural. Although you start off with only a whip as your primary weapon, collecting all the treasure lying around will enable you to buy anything from guns to machetes from the randomly discovered stores. Or if the whip is working out for you, pick up a pair of climbing gloves, or a pitcher's mitt, or any of the other special items with unique abilities designed to make life a little easier for the intrepid explorer.
The bad news is that if you die, you have to start all over. No, not from the beginning of the level, but from the beginning of the game. While you do get several opportunities to fund shortcuts to certain levels, it does put that much more pressure on you to go slowly and watch your step. The only way to replenish your limited health, which is damaged by enemies or falling long distances, is to rescue a maiden and cart her to the exit of the level safely, or buy a kiss from one at a shop if you should be so lucky as to stumble across one. Who said you can't buy love? Or at least a heart or two. Of course, all the hearts in the world don't matter if you fall onto a bed of spikes. Or get impaled. Or... uh, well, let's just say there's a lot of fatalities waiting out there for you.
The thing to understand about Spelunky is you're going to die. Like, a lot. And in the beginning, it can be hard not to let that frustrate you. The sheer amount of tricks, traps, beasties, and pitfalls means you'll probably spend quite a bit of time watching your death count raise in the score menu. And yet despite this, Spelunky never stops being fun. The level generator is surprisingly intelligent about creating areas that have little-to-no pitfalls that would prevent you from conquering a level. Stuck in a hole? Bomb yourself out, or climb a rope to victory!... or to a speedy death at a trap you neglected to notice. But the more you play, the more you'll learn, and soon the ultimate treasure of the Colossal Cave will be in your grasp.
While Spelunky is currently Windows only, many people report success running it on Parallels.
Analysis: Spelunky winds up being one of those games where it either is your thing or it isn't. If it isn't, then all the tales in the world about robbing shopkeeps by bombing into their inventory from below or chasing down thieving monkeys in the dark won't convince you. The thing is, however, even fans of roguelikes may be taken aback by the platforming skills required to make it through the game. There's no real story to discover, and your reflexes will be put through the wringer.
But one of the things Spelunky does best is foster a sense of discovery. The tutorial will only teach you the basics of the game; how to run, jump, attack, and throw things. You'll have to find out the rest for yourself, including how to recognise traps and trigger them safely, the many uses of maidens, how to find buried treasure, and much more. While some people may seek out guides to find out all the game's tricks, dirty or otherwise, I found discovering them myself by trial-and-usually-fatal error to be incredibly fun and satisfying.
But to whet your appetite, you should know that once you finally make your way through the first few levels, whole new areas await you. Battle vampires in a subterranean jungle, or yetis in a slippery, bottomless icy cavern. Encounter giant piranha, or dig for hidden entrances to secret areas. Still not enough? How about grabbing priceless golden idols and narrowly escaping the trap, or defiling a sacrificial altar? Just don't spend too much time rooting out every last bit of treasure on a level, or you may find that the cave has even more unpleasant surprises in store for adventurers who drag their feet.
Despite being out for less than a year, Spelunky is rapidly becoming the little-game-that-could, with a new incarnation making its way to the X-Box Live Arcade in 2010, and a substantial fan base hungry for every bit of treasure and painful demise the game dishes out. While the somewhat steep difficulty may be discouraging to newcomers, those that stick with it will be rewarded with what I consider to be the most fun you'll have as a spelunker in a game, ever. Since Spelunky is free, you have nothing to lose except possibly hours of your time. Just remember, never leave your hat behind.
Thanks to Kyzak, Kasper, Nic, Kegluneq, Chris, Vanguard, John, Ed, Sockhands, Cory, Temposaur, PlasmaMan, and Purequestion for demanding, uh, suggesting this one.
Windows:
Download the free full version
Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.
Wow, never thought I'd see the day this was reviewed in full!
It's wonderful just in how there's always something new in this game, that I'd never find until I thought I had seen it all!
I gave the game up for a while, but I went back to this little addictive gem, JUST to see the ending, not even knowing if there was one!
Time to download again to see the secret rooms!
SPELUNKY! YAY!
But seriously, I was wondering when this was going to get a review. This game has sucked so much of my time... 618 deaths of my time to be exact ._.
You misspelled (or miscapitalized) my name, I demand retribution.
I can't recommend this game enough. I've played 1,200 times and the only thing I have left to do is work on my speed run.
I can't phrase it better than to say Spelunky is a little gem of a game. If you're on the fence, give it a shot. I don't mean load it up and play for 45 seconds - I mean give it a genuine shot. Freeware game of the year, IMHO.
I think there's something wrong with my game. The signs in the tutorial don't display anything. Is there some special way to get them to work?
20 plays; 0 wins.
Wow this game's a pain...
But, it so fun! Thanks!
Also, I can't get through the first level type. I can get through 3 or 4 maps, but I'm always killed by something stupid. One time, I ran out of bombs and rope at the bottom of a "well" stuck with the damsel in distress. I laughed my head off! This is a first: An insanely difficult game that doesn't make me want to throw my laptop at a wall. Again, thanks.
...
Really, though, does anyone have any tips?
1146 plays, 11 wins and counting!
Sorry, PlasmaMan, your capitalization didn't make it through the suggestion box, it seems! Now you have a new nemesis! Mea culpa!
JIGuest, I'm not sure what could be causing that problem. If you're playing it in full screen, try windowed, or vice-versa.
Some very general Spelunky tips:
Traps
Most traps are triggered by movement. Any movement. Toss a pot or anything else in front of an arrow trap to trigger it so you can move safely onward. Likewise, if you can lure enemies in front of them, they'll take the hit. Not only can you throw rocks, but also stunned enemies, maidens, chests, pots, skulls, and more. Experiment, but be careful.
Why Buying From Shopkeepers Is Optional
An alternate title could have been "what is this payment you speak of?" Why would you want to pay exorbitant prices when you can steal the items and save your treasure for buying shortcuts? You CAN run off with an item after you pick it up in the store, but doing so is tricky since it immediately turns the shopkeeper hostile, and he's armed with a one-hit-kill shotgun.
One solution? Throw a bomb into the shop and RUN. Or get below the shop (if you can) and bomb your way in, letting the items fall down to you. Just be warned that the shopkeeper is very fast, and can be difficult to kill. Also, once you steal from a shop, thereafter ALL shopkeepers on that particular playthrough will be hostile to you. (Look for big "Wanted" posters with your face on them!) Proceed with caution.
Note: This also applies to kiss shops. If you manage to run off with the girl working there, she will still grant you a kiss after carrying her to the exit like any regular maiden. They aren't picky.
Maidens
The blondes you can rescue for hearts can be surprisingly useful as you cart them through the levels. Since they can take a lot of damage, toss them in front of traps to trigger them, or at enemies if you're in a sticky situation. Just be warned that once she recovers from being stunned, she'll panic and start running in random directions, and if she falls off a ledge onto some spikes, she'll be quite dead. You can still grab her while she's running.
Sound cruel? Then you REALLY don't want to find out what those blood-stained altars are for.
Enemies
Fighting is almost always optional. What the tutorial doesn't tell you is that you can actually kill (or at least stun) MOST enemies by jumping on them. Note that I said MOST. Some enemies you definitely don't want to land on, and the man-eating plants are just one of them.
But falling on an enemy can save you from taking damage if you've fallen a long distance, so occasionally it's worth the gamble.
Chests
Unlocked chests can contain anything from gems to bombs to ropes to ARMED explosives, so make sure you have room to maneuver when you open them. Crates also have a possibility of being trapped, but it's worth it, since the number of bombs or ropes you can find in them can be as low as 3, or as high as 13.
The locked chests you stumble across require a key to open, always found somewhere else on the same level. Whether or not it's worth it to track the key down and carry it back (or carry the chest with you while you look for it) depends on how much you value treasure. Opening it frequently yields a magical item that makes digging (or bombing) for treasure much easier and less blind.
Also, I did mention, you're going to die a lot. You shouldn't let this discourage you. When I look at my Spelunky scores I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Trust me when I say being terrible at Spelunky is something we all go through. It's a badge of honor or something.
I wasted my last weekend on Spelunky, and I don't regret a single minute. It's truly a brilliant game.
Once I evaded a robbed shopkeeper, but I found him waiting for me with a loaded shotgun at next level's exit! I accepted my demise with hearty laughs...
Theres another way to rob shops,
Go in sling a rope to the top get out a bomb and toss it at shopkeep and if you bring a bomb in he will yell "TERRORIST!" And start shootin' at you,
Aw! Mac version please!!
It could happen right? It's only been out less than a year?
Great. after reading about how awesome it is, it won't work... every time I try to open it some error message comes up.
It's a bit embarrassing that JIG took so long to feature this, it's the biggest freeware hit in years.
What stands out to me about Spelunky is that by combining Rogue with platformers he's shown how simple it is to create something seemingly new by combining established gaming genres.
I wonder if just as we've seen new Rogue-likes over the years there will be others creating Spelunky-likes in the years to come.
We are not embarrassed at all. As the review states, we featured this game shortly after it was released.
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2009/01/weekend_download_70.php
Elemeno, if you can, please try running it on Parallels or something similar, you may get lucky. I know Derek is planning to release the source material by the end of the year, so someone could theoretically make a Mac port.
As Jay points out, Spelunky was featured briefly in a Weekend Download. However, the game has had a recent surge in popularity and it began to be suggested to us very, very frequently within the last few weeks. With the recent update to version 1.0, we thought it time that Spelunky got the feature it deserved, especially with so many new people discovering it all the time.
I'm sure we'll see clones in the future, but Spelunky really grabbed an unlikely formula and ran with it. Any clones would have to work hard to get out from under its shadow.
In my opinion Spelunky is one of the finest freeware games ever written, it's the first game ever to successfully combine roguelike and platformer. Spelunky is also stylish, quirky, addictive, extremely playable and very well written.
Congrats to Derek Yu on reaching v1.0, really interested to see what he does next. This and Aquaria is a fair old CV.
I've been on another board where people have been playing this for a while now (there's guys there making sub 10-minute speedruns.) 575 deaths here, and I have yet to make it past level 9. A couple of things I've gotten from those:
-If you happen to find a shopkeeper with a net gun, it makes them easy to rob. They can't move if they're trapped in the web, and you can just jump on them until they're dead, at which point you can grab the stuff.
The really quick speedruns seem to depend primarily on finding the jetpack somewhere.
This game is really bringing out my compulsive tendencies. 102 deaths and I haven't even made it past the first level of the second section... :(.
I feel dumb... I finished a level, but how do I make it move on to the next level? It just shows my level stats and I can't do anything.
It says right away that there is a problem with oMusic. Help
Isi, try pressing the action button (default x)
Mac Users:
Just to point out I just tried this in VMWare Fusion and it runs well.
Cheers
Luke
Good grief, those shopkeepers are a pain to avoid. I killed one shopkeeper with a well-timed bomb blast. On the next level, I put down the shotgun because I was carting a key around. On that level, I saw a shop with a wanted poster of me in it, so I didn't go in. Then I discovered a shopkeeper waiting at the level exit with a shotgun! They're everywhere!
If you get your hands on the shotgun, though, it's really nice. Shoots a spray of 1-hit kill pellets at enemies.
So far I've explored the top 3 levels and died to:
Angry shopkeepers
Boulders traps that guard those huge golden idols
My own bombs
Hitting myself with thrown weapons
This weird giant spider thing which ran right through a bomb blast to kill me
You're welcome, guys.
Wow... after almost 1000 deaths, I finally beat it. Of course, I still have all those secrets to get.
This game is ridiculously difficult/addictive. Two most frustrating ways to die, are accidentally picking up the wrong dice while gambling and being accused of steeling, and accidentally teleporting myself, to my death, off the edge of the map.
it wont load! Yahoo simply says it cant find the weppage. and the webpage in question is the DownLoad
finally had to go to the forums to obtain. it isnt my duty to go tell them, though...
The proper way to kill any shopkeeper is to get directly next to them, jump up, then throw a bomb. This immediately turns them hostile but you also immediately hit them which forces them to drop their shotgun which you can grab and proceed to shoot them with. This works 95%% of the time, except in pimp shops, then the girl is almost always shot dead.
Update