Despite the fact that we mentioned it in a podcast a while back, I still don’t think enough people have been introduced to the wonderful world of Spelunky. I have become completely addicted to the game as of late, and I think more of you out there in internetland should do the same.
Spelunky is a fantastic little indie game developed by Derek Yu, a fairly well known independent developer who’s other titles include Eternal Daughter and Aquaria. Obviously heavily influenced by classic games like Spelunker, the game revolves around exploring an expansive underground cave complex whilst collecting mass quantities of buries treasure, fighting snakes and giant spiders, and rescuing Hysterical Dames. The main selling point of Spelunky for me however, is the completely random nature of the game. Every time you start, the entire game is randomly generated so no two playthroughs will ever be the same. There are some small factors that remain constant, such as the amount of starting items you have and the ‘theme’ of the current level you are on (1-4 are simple brown caves, 5-9 are an underground jungle, etc). You also only have a single life in the game which can make the game a little difficult, although a large amount of the fun in the experience is seeing just how the game will play out the next time.
The game is completely free to download, although Derek does have an Xbox Live Arcade version planned for release in the near future. So what are you waiting for, head over to Spelunky World and download it now!
