Spelunky

I came to the Spelunky party later than most, somewhere in the 2016-2017 era. It was initially launched in its HD form in 2012 to Xbox Live arcade, and I had already played games like Limbo and Braid through the Arcade feature and didn’t want another sidescroller. Man, was that ever a miscalculation. Even though Limbo and Braid are fantastic in their own right, they are limited, 2-5 hour experiences. I must have over 150+ hours in Spelunky alone, not including its sequel (which improves on this game in every way and is 10/10 in its own right). This isn’t to say that playtime is equal to quality or value, but only to illustrate that even with 150 hours, I would still go back and play this with enthusiasm and most likely continue to find new and interesting niches of this incredible game.

This game was apparently the turning point for many developers; it gave rise to incorporating more “Rouge” like elements into their design. Once they saw Mossmouth’s application of the procedurally generated levels, random events, the 1-1 restart instead of the traditional checkpointing in the action-platformer genre, the niche gameplay of ‘Rouge-likes’ exploded. It spawned an entire sub-genre that then also changed and grew, things we now commonly see as rouge-lites. (This was something that at the time was seen as heretical to OG Rouge fans, but the genre moved forward regardless.)

But don’t mistake the forerunner as something to only acknowledge, play this game. It is difficult, chaotic, and downright cruel sometimes, but even despite the challenge, its gameplay and controls carrying you forward as you learn everything about it. Eventually learning the secrets of the world to delve even deeper. The reward is a game that is tuned to always respond in a predictable way, even if it may predictably lead to your demise. (Those stupid bats!)