Spelunky 2

Rage - The Videogame
Spelunky 2 is a roguelike platformer that builds upon the basis of it's predecessor Spelunky HD, while improving and expanding the already proven formula in almost every way.
You start the run with 4 health, 4 ropes and 4 bombs and try to make it out alive somehow. Throughout the run you will collect lots of treasure, fight many different enemies and (hopefully) avoid all kinds of traps. The levels get more dangerous and devious the further you proceed, but you will also be able to upgrade your gear, buy new items, tame various animals and increase your health through many ways.
Throughout the run you will find shops where you can buy - or steal - various items and consumables that can increase your chances of survival. There are also many NPCs that can be encountered along the way. Some of those offer quests, others give you challenges to fulfill, some of them need to be rescued or offer to trade things with the player.
Everything you encounter is recorded in the Journal, where details about the game can be conveniently looked up at any time. Fully completing the Journal is a challenge on its own, and while it will take a very long time to fully complete, it also feels very rewarding to look into the Journal and see the 100% complete mark.
While the first game already had it's fair share of hidden levels and easter eggs, Spelunky 2 expands upon that aspect even more and often offers the player the choice between two completely different paths - each with their own dangers and their own rewards.
And just like it's predecessor, Spelunky 2 also has multiple different "endings", all of them increasingly difficult to achieve.
As you proceed through the levels you free more Spelunkers, unlocking them as playable characters in the process. You are also able to build shortcuts to deeper levels by beating previous levels multiple times and helping Mama Tunnel by bringing her the tools she needs to expand said shortcuts.
Ironically, using these shortcuts usually ends up making the game even more difficult, since you are tossed into deeper levels without the chance to upgrade your gear and health first. However, the shortcuts still are a neat tool for getting used to the later levels and learning how to avoid their dangers.
Spelunky 2 can definitely get pretty frustrating at times, since almost everything you encounter is designed to hinder, damage or even kill you in various ways. The game is know for it's creative ways of killing players, often in very unexpected or even hilarious ways. Enemies can trigger traps and explosions, some traps create chain reactions with other traps, certain enemy types will fight each other and explosive traps often end up setting off even more explosions.
However, all of these factors can also be used to the players advantage once they get familiar with them, allowing for quite some creative strategies and plays. Making progress in Spelunky 2 feels very satisfying and in my opinion easily manages to counterbalance the frustrating aspects of the game - Although you will still end up cursing the game quite so often even after hundreds of hours.
Overall, I highly recommend Spelunky 2 to any roguelike or platformer enjoyers due to the variety and depth of the game, as well as it's perfect blend between temporary frustration and long-term satisfaction.

really good until a lizard rolls into you while you have 5 health then you lose the run then you snap your controller in half and divorce your wife, over all play if you dont have anger issues or a fat ass skill issue

This is not a game you'll swiftly master in a few hours. It's die to learn, quite literally. Dying is THE main way of learning Spelunky, and you'll very much accept that. If not, you'll just simply quit in shambles, a walk of shame back to your ordinary tycoon simulator. But if you do stick around and you will push through, you'll find one of the most constantly rewarding yet masterfully crafted pieces of curated art in the form of a game. Playing Spelunky 2 for my first 10 hours is the same magic as playing it for the 400th hour, finding out new cool ass shit is just as rewarding as mastering this game to perfection. It contains some of the most fun mechanics I've ever seen in a motherfucking video game, to a point where I can cum while still playing with both hands, it's unreal. I couldn't recommend this game enough, thank you Derek Wii Yu for creating my digital heroin needle.

If you manage to bring a draconic mount to the Queen's Throne, and ascend above her lair, you'll come face to face with one of the most iconic sites in the history of video games. Something only dreamed of in legends, now residing above you as the droning sounds of fire orbs and lasers go by relentlessly.
There you will find:
The hardest 15 seconds in Gaming.

At first, I disliked Spelunky 2. Spelunky 1 was my first steam game. I have been playing since 2015(9 years!) and have well over 200 hours. Managed to complete a no gold hell run and every achievement in the game.
And still, spelunky 2 started off extremely difficult. The caves were just way harder than every other level, and hearing about the cosmic ocean ending didn't inspire me. The idea of having to play through 7-99 . to achieve a true victory was odd. And I was right, for me, it wasn't enjoyable.
It took me 4 years post launch, and reaching 300 hours on spelunky to make the move.
Granted, this is a difficult game. But as a veteran spelunky player I didn't mind the challenge.
The game is awesome. It's quite incredible how different it seems from spelunky 1, everything feels smoother, the colors are more vibrant, Derek really made sure this is an amazing experience.
Despite being a veteran, it took about 60 hours for me to complete the game for the first time. I insisted on doing the medium difficulty ending(hundun), and I enjoyed learning about the different ways and methods to achieve this victory.
Few key things I would like to mention:
-This is definitely one of those games where you'll spend a majority of your time reading and learning about different things in the wiki. I don't know how people actually figured things out on their own before all the videos and wiki entries existed, and I applaud them for that.
-Multiplayer didn't work for me at all. I live 10 minutes away from a friend, we both have good connection and we couldn't play the game. Kept desyncing and lagging. I was really looking forward for multiplayer, disappointed it wasn't working well.
-CO is not enjoyable in my opinion. I love spleunky, but I would much rather start a new run than try to finish an hour long, repeating cycle. You have to be extremely careful there, which is interesting, but some levels are just softlocked/random ice cave explosions/any other random event that causes you to lose despite doing everything right.
I highly recommend spelunky 2. But I don't think everyone would enjoy it. If spelunky 1 could run at a higher frame rate, I would probably stick to it. Unfortunately nowadays it feels very bad and I can't go back, while spelunky 2 doesn't serve as an alternative for me.
Almost a decade after first purchasing the game, I can finally say I am done with spelunky., the journey is over.
Thank you for everything, looking forward to see your next work!

You forget how long you have been playing in a single sitting until you die in a very stupid way 10/10

Possibly my favourite game of all time, so good that I've bought it on 3 different platforms now.
Gameplay is as tight as it gets, hard as hell but death is almost always your fault/ a learning opportunity.
You can tell it's been created with such love and respects your time as a player and rewards exploration of ideas.
A true modern masterpiece.
10/10