Knowing that wombats' dump is little stackable cubes was one of the fun facts I learned at school (it was either a rhetorical proof for or against the existence of God; I forget which). This knowledge comes in handy for understanding the game Hardhat Wombat, coming from George Fan (of Plants Vs. Zombies fame), with Andy Hull (of programmer on Spelunky fame). Out later this year, it's a combination puzzle-platformer and conscruction game in which you play a wombat, wearing a hard hat, who constructs increasingly complex things out of his own feces. That is no way to make a skyscraper, wombat.
]]>Games are increasingly expensive, but there are still plenty of great experiences to be had without paying a single penny for them, just like the ones you'll find below in our list of the best free PC games you can play right now. From newer releases to old-timey classics, our unordered list is packed with the best free PC games available.
]]>In 2012, a player named BarryMode completed Spelunky Classic in two minutes and 30 seconds. Since then, this time has stood as the world record, and no other speedrunner has come close. Now, BarryMode's speedrun has been revealed as fraudulent.
]]>Phantom Abyss’ early access opened last night five minutes before my bedtime. Two hours later I was sleepily stumbling through the game’s procedurally generated temples, watching as the ghosts of those who played before me stumbled and fell. The ego-driven concept of only one player being able to complete a temple before it’s closed forever is surprisingly moreish, though I think they need to take another crack at the controls. I haven’t claimed a temple yet, but the temples have claimed me.
]]>After plumbing the depths of PlayStations for a fortnight, Spelunky 2 arrived on PC today. Grab your whip and hat, and hit the Moon to explore new dungeons full of monsters, treasures, and ways to die while doing something you initially thought was quite clever. Online multiplayer isn't in at launch, mind, so you'll have to before you can experience the comfort/mischief/catastrophe of playing with a pal not within punching distance.
]]>“Hell is other people,” wrote Jean-Paul Sartre. “But also my favourite level in Doom.” He was a smart man, and he probably lives in hell now, on account of all the atheism. But listen, hell doesn’t seem that bad. Bit hot. Bit demonic. You could do a lot worse than a trip to the underworld, is what I’m saying, and as luck would have it, we have the perfect means for you to go there without singeing your eyebrows or being dunked in a toxic lake for eternity. That’s right: videogames. It’s always videogames. Here are the 10 best hells you can visit on PC.
]]>It’s Friday the 13th, the day of Saint Badluck, patron saint of ladders and casinos. And it is a fabulous holiday. Out there, parades are getting ready to be rained on, and children are looking forward to tonight’s shenanigans, when they will dress up as mirrors and knock on doors, declaring: “sweets or I’ll smash myself”. I love Friday the 13th. So many cherished memories. So many splinters of reflective glass.
So, Happy Bad Luck Day. Here’s a list of the 9 unluckiest characters in videogames. Spoilers for pretty much every game mentioned. So, watch out.
]]>Playing games with other people is one of the beloved traditions of liking video games at all, and if you're the friendly type like us at RPS, then you'll enjoy games where you work with others, rather than against them. That's why we've put together our list of the best co-op games on PC for you to find common ground with your besties. Whether you want to shoot monsters together, shoot robots together, or get a divorcing couple to work together as they run around their own home as tiny doll versions of themselves, then you can find something to enjoy on this list of co-op games.
]]>It's been an eventful decade for PC games, and it would be hard for you to summarise everything that's happened in the medium across the past ten years. Hard for you, but a day's work for us. Below you'll find our picks for the 50 greatest games released on PC across the past decade.
]]>The biggest names in platforming used to live only on console, but it's on PC now that the genre is thriving. Indies have taken the simple ingredients and spun them off in umpteen directions (but still normally from left to right). Below you'll find a collection of the very best platform games on PC - including puzzle platformers, physics platformers, platformers with roguelike elements, and platformers about absolutely nothing but pixel-perfect jumping.
]]>The compilation UFO 50 is a gaming concept album from the makers of Spelunky, Downwell, and Catacomb Kids. It's a collection of 8-bit inspired games that were "created by a fictional 80s video game company that was obscure but ahead of its time." It was announced way back in 2017, and skipped its 2018 release window. Who knew 50 games would take a while to make? Good news, though! It's just popped up on Steam and is listed as "coming soon".
]]>I heard you don’t like our podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. But have you listened to 76 hours of it yet? Honestly, mate, it opens up after that. The 76-hour mark, that’s when it “clicks”. But I understand if you don’t have the time. Just skip ahead to this week’s episode, in which we’re talking about games about which we changed our minds. Listen in for the platformers we prematurely pooh-poohed and the Souls games that “sucked” before they were super.
]]>Life is hard and so are videogames. So when you do a tough thing, take pride. It doesn’t matter if it seems like a small step for other people, if it’s a big step for you, go ahead and puff your chest out. But do it quickly, for heaven’s sake. We’ve only got an hour. This is the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, and we are being especially boastful this week.
Warning: there is also talk of needles and eyeballs in this episode, but hey, at least that means it’s not all self-care mumbo-jumbo.
]]>It still amazes me how coherent roguelike platformer Spelunky was, despite its dozens of moving parts. Monsters, traps and players interact with each other in so many ways. Next year, Spelunky 2 is adding a bucketload of new elements and systems to its repertoire, as you can see in action in the new trailer below. There's physics-driven fluids, arrows you can use as footholds, mounts you can gracefully leap off Yoshi-style just above deadly pits and a gun that clones kitties. Oh, and online multiplayer - that seems important.
]]>I have a terrible memory, which is sometimes an asset. It means that every now and then I get to experience a jolt of joy when I remember that Spelunky 2 is a thing - a thing that I've little doubt will take over my life in the same way that both the original freeware and the remaster did. If you somehow haven't played Spelunky, you should know that it's a 2D platformer that sits atop the throne of systems-driven roguelikes, capable of spinning story after story from parts that click together in masterful ways. You should also know that I envy you deeply, because I'd give up a lot to play Spelunky for the first time again.
Except I just remembered, I sort of can! Spelunky 2 was announced at last year's Paris Games Week, with a trailer that gave away very little. So little, in fact, that any murmurings from lead developer Derek Yu on the subject count as news in my book. He recently murmured all over the Tone Control podcast with Fullbright's Steve Gaynor, and said a little about how becoming a father has shaped development.
]]>Progression is so often an illusion. Many games use the idea of permanent progression as a way of tickling our lizard brains with a growing pile of loot or numbers which constantly tick up, so that we feel like we’re achieving something while we sit in front of a computer and repeat the same set of tasks over and over again.
The beauty of permadeath is that it does away with all this. Characters grow and collect things, but then they become permadead, and it’s time for a new explorer to begin their adventure. The only thing that progresses is you, the player, slowly learning a set of systems with each failure. At least, that’s the theory. We spoke to the designers of Spelunky, Into the Breach, Dead Cells and Rogue Legacy to learn more about persistence within a permadeath mould.
]]>What Works And Why is a new monthly column where Gunpoint and Heat Signature designer Tom Francis digs into the design of a game and analyses what makes it good.
I love Deus Ex, System Shock 2, and Dishonored 2, and the name for these games is dumb: they're 'immersive sims'. If you asked me what I liked about them, my answer would be a phrase almost as dumb: 'emergent gameplay!'
I always used to think of these as virtually the same thing, but of course they're not. Immersive sims usually have a whole list of traits, things like:
]]>Keep an eye on the Sony announcements during Paris Games Week, I said. Maybe From Software would pull off a remarkable double-whammy by revealing Bloodborne 2 and saying it'd be coming to PC and that a special edition of the first would be arriving on Steam tomorrow. Maybe Naughty Dog would stroll onto a stage and declare that they'd accidentally made The Last Of Us 2 in such a way that it'd only work on Linux. Anything seemed possible.
Except for an outta nowhere announcement that Spelunky 2 is in development. This is the best possible news because Spelunky is one of the greatest games ever made.
]]>Some games can be finished, completed, defeated or beaten. They have an end-point, even though they might be replayable. Others have the potential to go on forever. Whatever the case, there always comes a point when you're done with a game, and it might be long before the credits roll, or it might be after that one update that breaks a habit that has lasted for years. Why do we stop playing?
Let’s get one potential answer out of the way: ‘when we stop having fun’. While there’s definitely something to that idea, it doesn’t take into account temporary frustration caused by difficulty spikes, or the satisfaction - a related cousin of ‘fun’ - from seeing a narrative through to its end. It’s a sentiment that might work for multiplayer games, but I’m not convinced it can be applied more broadly than that. With a look at Shadow of War, Spelunky and Caveblazers among others, here are some thoughts on the end of play.
]]>I keep playing Caveblazers [official site], stopping between lives only to message people to complain about Caveblazers. The roguelike-platformer has so many systems I find frustrating or unsatisfactory, but one big thing that keeps drawing me back.
]]>Sometimes, a developer's last game hints at their next one. Other times, the programmer of Spelunky HD announces a basketball beat 'em up. Say hallo to Dunk Lords [official site], jamming our way in 2018. This is a delightful surprise, and not just because of that name. The slam-jamming shakalaka 'em up boasts 2v2 b-balling action with fisticuffs, special moves, and environmental hazards, which sounds a lark.
]]>We’ve all been there. When a puzzle is so obtuse you can’t even begin to work out how to solve it. When you’ve been searching for the next bonfire in a Dark Souls game for hours on end. When you've committed to finding a game’s scattered collectibles and one proves a bit too well hidden. Wikis and guides can replace hours of frustration with a few seconds of Googling, making up for an oversight on the part of a game dev or the occasional brain fart on the part of the player.
They can also leach the fun out of games. Looking up solutions can quickly devolve into a paint-by-numbers experience, with almost as much time spent alt-tabbed as playing a game. The moment that door is opened, there’s a danger that any sense of challenge or discovery will be lost. So, how do you decide when turning to external sources such as guides, FAQs, Wikis and search engines is worth the risk?
]]>The latest Humble Bundle is a good'un, with games including Spelunky, Rocket League, Nidhogg, and Skullgirls going cheap. The first three of those are modern PC classics, I'd say, and Skullgirls isn't half-bad either. The Humble Revelmode Bundle has more games too, obvs.
]]>As much as PC gaming hardware has changed and improved over the years, there's always been one constant: the limitations of disk space. Granted, it's far cheaper and easier (no more absurdly tiny Master/Slave toggles) than it used to be to grab a new hard drive, but the rise of ever-faster but more expensive SSDs set things back a bit in that regard. With new mainstream games regularly asking for as much as 30 Gigabytes I remain, as I always have, in a battle for space. Which means I'm constantly uninstalling half-finished stuff in order to make space for the next big thing. Sometimes it's heartbreaking. But there's a line. There are a few games I can never uninstall, because it would hurt too much. Granted, they change a little over the years - new ones come in, old ones finally, finally lose their lustre (or I give up entirely on the belief that I will ever go back), but here's how that list of inviolable treasures looks right now.
]]>This is The Mechanic, where Alex Wiltshire invites a developer to help him put their game up on blocks and take a wrench to hack out its best feature, just to see how it works.
The arrow trap that shoots the croc man that causes him to telefrag you. Being caught mid-jump by a boomerang that juggles you towards a spike trap, leaving you stunned in front of it until it springs. Shopstorm.
These are not necessarily the noblest events in Spelunky, but they’re surprising, funny, fascinating, and entirely consistent and logical and correct. They might not be exactly your fault, but neither are they, really, the game’s fault. They’re the result of a big reason – the big reason? – why Spelunky is amazing:
THE MECHANIC: How every object in Spelunky has shared fundamental traits
]]>I'm used to Spelunky [official site] speedruns being filled with incredible feats, but the "No Gold True Pacifist Hell Run" below is a thing of wonder. To clarify: entering into the game's Hell world requires obtaining the Ankh from the Black Market, killing Anubis for his staff, killing Olmec, and completing the game requires killing Yama in hell. How do you kill things without violence? Well, you'll see.
]]>There are thousands and thousands and thousands and oh God help thousands of games discounted in the current Steam Winter sale. Honestly, it's ridiculous. Where do you start? Where do you end? How many will you ever really play? How many do you have to buy in order to discover the secret Half-Life 3 release date? Well, we can't help with the more existential aspects of that, but if you're entirely stuck on what to get, what we can do is tell you which single game each member of the RPS staff would pick from the vast and endless digital discount shelves.
These, as far as we're concerned, are the games you must must must pick up in the sale if you don't have 'em already.
]]>I inch my way through Spelunky [official site], trying to get a read on the layout of each randomised cavern. Caution doesn't always breed success and I rarely reach the ice levels, let alone the hellscape beneath. It's both chastening and invigorating to begin a weary Friday morning by watching a speedrun that sets a new world record - from start to finish in 3:44. The runner is D Tea and he shatters the previous 3:52 record for a true ending. As well as being an impressive feat, like most things Spelunky, it exposes the workings of the various systems - from the fury of shopkeepers to the arrangement of tiles - in fascinating new ways.
]]>Provided you're not hoofing around on a dancemat, wiggling your Wii-stick, or re-enacting all of your favourite John Woo films with a lightgun in hand, playing games shouldn't be particularly arduous. When I was a kid, a day off school with some vague illness was a perfect excuse to spend a couple of hours at the altar of Doom. Playing games while wrapped in a duvet was pretty much the entire point of being ill.
Now that I'm An Old Man, I find that I struggle to play games when I'm ill. Maybe that's because Old Man illnesses are actually real, unlike the sniffles and pangs of youth, or perhaps it's because even a sniffle can fell a fragile frame, laid low by booze and time. I've been trying to find games that can provide respite in times of sickness.
]]>Each week Marsh Davies shuffles apprehensively into the dank catacombs of Early Access and returns with any stories he can find and/or a faceful of cycloptic bat guano. This week he quaffs an unidentified cyan potion and throws himself onto a bed of spikes, repeatedly, in procedural permadeath platformer Vagante, a particularly Roguish Spelunkalike.
Did you play Spelunky and think, “What this really needs is to be a lot darker, with several additional layers of complication and a much less parseable tileset”? Somebody out there did, and judging by the wholly positive Steam reviews, at least 68 other folk did as well.
I can’t claim to be one of these strange, troglodytic creatures, but then I also must confess that it took me many concerted attempts before I finally fell beneath Spelunky’s subterranean charm. Maybe it’ll happen with Vagante. It hasn’t quite yet - although some several dozen misadventures later, I am warming to it. It manages that rare trick, as Spelunky did, of making failure the most entertaining part. It’s certainly the most plentiful. My sorties into the underworld have ended in the digestive cavities of man-eating plants, as demon-dog dinners, beneath boulders, in spike-pits and in pieces, thanks to the Bandit King’s axe. But throughout, my most dangerous enemy has been myself - my incaution, my stupidity, my insatiable desire to immediately glug every pungent, bubbling concoction I find in the bottom of a barrel. If I discover a helmet made out of jelly, I’m wearing it. And then, when I realise it’s cursed, I’m going to drink my unidentified inventory dry, set myself on fire, and teleport into a pool of piranhas.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
I know the cause of every single one of my thousands of deaths in Spelunky. I died down that snake pit because I frittered away my bombs and ropes, leaving me with no way to escape. I died to that inanimate rock because I drifted down towards it with the jetpack when it was being propelled into the air by a jump pad. I died to that blue frog because I overestimated the extent of its jump.
I died because I am not good enough at negotiating the roguelike platformer's strict rules. Not yet.
]]>I've had a copy of ZZT by Anna Anthropy - a book about the game of the same name - kicking around for six months, but I haven't yet had the time to read it. That prompted me to almost instantly scroll by news that the same publisher was Kickstarting a second series of books in the same vein: small, independently published, and each focused on a different game.
Then I saw that one of the books in the second series is about Spelunky. And it's written by Derek Yu, the creator of Spelunky. And the project is already funded anyway.
]]>Spelunky is, I think, better designed than any other roguelike, platformer, or roguelike platformer. It's not because it's a work of genre revivalism. It's not the procedural generation, which jumbles level geometry upon every funny, frequent, fist-shaking demise.
It's the bats. The bat, found in its opening world, is a dimly flapping lense through which the entire game can be better appreciated.
]]>The original Spelunky - the free, low resolution Game Maker-made Classic version - is open source. That means it can be broadly modified, which is what Ukrainian programmer Vadim has done in Spelunky SD. The project merges features from the polished remake Spelunky HD with the lo-fi original, most notably adding two-player, online cooperative multiplayer.
]]>Oh dear, I'm going to have to buy one of those Xbone pads now that they're PC-friendly, aren't I? Too often lately I've scowled at a game only to find that it improves immeasurably when played with a gamepad instead. Last week it was Watchunderscoredogs (still a bit dull though, innit?), this week it's indie Metroid/Spelunky mash-up Crystal Catacombs. All ready to dismiss it, I was, as its core wall-jumping mechanic was a miserable and oft-fatal chore when hung around the space bar, but now I'm rather taken with its odd creatures and caverns and its gently punishing aRPG qualities.
]]>If you'd rather not read spoilers on whether a cool mod exists, you'd better stop reading this sentence right now because - SPOILERS - it does. If you'd rather not be spoiled as to the name of that mod, you'd probably be better off not reading the rest of this post, really. Because - SPOILERS - it's called the Blue Frog mod. It's for Spelunky, and it turns every character sprite in that game - the player, plants, bats, exploding frogs, the ghost, everything - into the blue frog sprite. That sounds initially dumb, but actually it's clever and great. If you don't want spoilers as to why, you definitely shouldn't read on.
]]>Do you want to compete against your friends at Spelunky, the randomly generated platforming roguelike? That's what the Daily Challenge is for; each day, a single set of levels is generated which is the same for everyone and which can be played only once.
But if once isn't enough to satisfy your competitive urges, there's now Seedlunky HD. The user-created tool lets you set a custom seed from which to generate levels, which you can then share with your friends while you continue to compare your adventures.
]]>Some of you are going to think this isn't news, but I want to talk about it anyway. Caster Bananasaurus Rex has completed Spelunky in a Solo Eggplant Run. Don't know what that means? Come inside. Sit down. Let me explain.
]]>If you're anything like me, you've played so much Spelunky that you can close your eyes and generate new levels for Derek Yu's roguelike platformer inside your own head. Here, look, I'm doing it now - bet on what's going to kill me...
It was a frog. Sigh.
For a more technical understanding of Spelunky's procedural level generation, take a look at Darius Kazemi's browser-based Spelunky level generator and associated guide.
]]>First there was Salty Bet, the 24/7 Twitch stream where AI-controlled fighting game characters do battle with one another in front of an audience who can bet on the winner with fake money. Now there is Spelunky Death Roulette, a similar wrapper for a group of Twitch streams where viewers can use fake money to bet on how they think the player will die.
]]>Here's some splendid news. Earlier this week I had a little grumblefest about the state of Spelunky's PC port, with a lack of resolution options, and very poor windowed mode support. I also had a dig about the unskippable intro animations that were also a pain in the 360 version. Whether it was in response to my moaning, or something they were doing anyway, the really good news is that it's all fixed! And as a result, Spelunky feels splendidly at home on the PC.
]]>Update: Fantastic news! All the main issues below have now been resolved, so Spelunky is nicely at home on the PC.
First impressions are pretty important. Especially when you come sauntering over to the PC after a year of absence. Spelunky, beginning as a PC game, upped and left for the 360 as an advanced version last July. And it was brilliant. It's now back, promising an even more advanced version for PC. So how is the transition?
]]>Are you ready to be positively buried under amazing games? Well too bad. Games are largely distributed via non-physical means now, and that's a weird thing to do with them anyway. Take your sick, fetishistic disc orgies somewhere else. (Note: RPS does not actually discriminate against fetishes. Just physical media.) There are, however, a lot of brand new, positively excellent games suddenly populating our hobby's infinitely expanding sea, and you should really just probably play all of them. I quite liked what I played of Papers, Please, the consolefolk enjoyed Guacamelee, and everybody with air in their lungs and a beating heart in their chest loves Spelunky.
]]>Spelunky is very, very tough. Sometimes, it's downright mean. But it pushes you so hard because it cares. Because it wants to see you do better, maybe even excel. It can only teach you so much, though. Eventually - through perseverance, hard-earned wisdom, and spelunking deep into the hardiest reaches of your own heart - you'll master all it has to offer. Unless... no, that's crazy. It could never happen in a million years. But hypothetically, let's say Spelunky added a PC-exclusive daily challenge mode. One where a single death took you out of the race, but a new adventure appeared every day. Could we engage in scandalous acts of spelunkery forever?
]]>Thirty thirty thirty four days agoooooooo, I wanted Spelunky on PC to be dated. Nothing to do, nowhere to goOOoo, I wanted Spelunky on PC to be dated. Just get it on my level, put it on my plane. Hurry hurry hurry, before this song gets more inane. [Consoles] can't control my fingers, they can't control my brain. Oh no no no no no.
]]>So many times, my finger has hovered over the purchase button on the spit'n'polished XBLA version of amazeballs roguelike/platformer Spelunky. Every time, I've thought 'no, surely it'll be on PC any day now. PC was its original home - it would only be right', and my finger was withdrawn. Actually, that's a lie, most of the time it was 'Oh Christ, the Xbox Live interface is just horrendous and what are Microsoft Points in pounds and screw this, I'll just play the old version again', but the outcome was the same.
My impatient patience has paid off at last, however - the shiniest version of these random, lethal dungeon adventures really is coming to PC any day now.
]]>In the weather forecast that plays in my imagination every morning, a dignified dog wearing a monocle points at a map of Blighty with his left forepaw, sips a cup of tea and laughs as he tells me: "It's looking like a good day for Spelunky." He's never wrong, Bertie Stockings, because every day is a good day for a spot of Spelunky. A new warm front may have arrived in the form of 99 Levels To Hell, a roguelike platformer with "over 25 monsters to discover and battle, as well as over 50 power ups and weapons to get your grubby mitts on. More unusual findings include casinos, elevators and secret rooms." Purchasing now provides beta access and the full release is on Feb 26th. I've already got my grubby mitts on a copy so expect thoughts post-launch.
]]>All those Xbox fellows having been frothing uncontrollably about Spelunky XBLA for the last couple of weeks, so starved are they of games that aren't about manshooting or sports, but we smug gits have had it for years. Even if we don't get the fancy-pants new graphics because there isn't a Microsoft to wave mega-bucks at Derek Yu and chums. Well, there is of course a Microsoft on PC, but it's hard not feel they'd rather eat their own toenails than do anything with PC gaming these days. Anyway! The original (and, for my money, much better-looking) Spelunky has been given a second wind, courtesy of a browser-based HTML5 version created by Tinysubversions, aka Darius Kazemi.
]]>There's a great post over at Indiegames.com with a list of "games like Spelunky for people to play, in celebration of its XBLA release". Weirdly, the original version of Spelunky isn't on the list. Go play it though because it's brilliant and free. What jumped out at me was a link to a browser version of my most hated nemesis, Rick Dangerous. My parents bought me the original and its sci-fi sequel when I was but a boy, and because I couldn't afford any more games I had to watch Rick die over and over again, and pretend to enjoy it. Despicable. And yet I just spent twenty minutes playing. Some startling observations below.
]]>Cheerfully described as a "roguelike platformer", TowerClimb is like Spelunky in reverse, although that's not to imply it's a copycat. It's a compliment, and also the quickest way I can think of to describe TowerClimb's abundance of style and the smartness of its execution. Currently in beta, the game throws the amusingly named stalwarts (Walter is my greatest climber) at the bottom of a randomly generated tower, filled with dangers ranging from the disjointed architecture itself to giant rats and bats. Jumping, climbing, hanging, fleeing - all are integral but the main thing to be done is to die. Paying $5 now provides immediate beta access and a copy of the game once it's deemed ready for a full release. A trailer and more thoughts lie broken on the cold, hard floor below.
]]>They said it would never end. And then, on Saturday, it did. We've been posting our series of chats with the many splendid finalists in this year's Independent Games Festival over the last couple of months, and, with the exception of English Country Tune (dev was worried about sounding boring), Mirage (dev didn't reply) and Fez (dev wouldn't confirm the possibility of a PC version) we managed to get mini-interviews with all the PC/Mac indie developers in the running for a gong.
In case you missed a few, didn't understand what the hell it was all about or just like looking at neatly-ordered lists, here's the complete series for your relaxed perusal. It's a fascinating and diverse bunch of games in the finals this year, and if nothing else, it's a rare chance to see what 18 different developers would say to the monsters in Doom if only they could talk to them.
]]>Next in our never-ending series talking to (almost) all the finalists at this year's Independent Games Festival, it's Derek Yu of the splendid randomly-generated cave exploring game Spelunky, which is up for the Technical Excellence, Excellence in Design and Seamus McNally Grand Prize gongs. Here, Derek chats about his origins, TIGSource, Aquaria, how he abandoned and then rejoined game development, the odds on whether we'll see a PC version of the XBLA Spelunky remake, and his answer to the most important question of all.
]]>It’s been a fantastic year for Roguelikes, with continued development of the stalwarts and plenty of releases that have toyed with the formula, sometimes reshaping it until it’s almost unrecognisable. I’ve even managed to have great roiling arguments with people about whether certain games should be called Roguelikes or not. That led to Roguelikelikes, which I am simple enough of mind to be pleased about. I also love that people care so much about these permutations of a thirty one year old game that they are willing to bicker about them with strangers. The dungeons and wildernesses are more populated than ever. So, scrolls and potions at the ready? Down into the depths we go.
]]>Some computers are different from other computers. If you've got yourself one of those Apple-flavoured PCs, then here's some excellent news for you. Word reached us courtesy of indiegames.com that it's now possible to play Derek Yu's fabulous procedurally generated cave adventure Spelunky on a Mac.
]]>This is splendid news. Rogue-like-platformer Spelunky has inched out of Beta status and gained that shiny Gold. You can go get it here. If you need a reason to do so - well, I direct you at the long feature Quinns wrote on its joys, in which he took time to insult me in passing. You remember Quinns. Nice guy. Doesn't have much iron. Anyway, well done, Derek, maker of Spelunky. Also, the news that he's bringing another version to XBox Live means we can all look forward to when it's released in a year's time, and all the console journalists finally realise it's awesome, and it really gets on my fucking wick because I've been telling them to play the bastard thing for the last two years (Cross-ref: Trials HD).
And to give a taste of what you'll be doing a lot in Spelunky, here are some death montage vids.
]]>The sum of RPS coverage of Spelunky: a single news post mentioning that it existed and was pretty good, maybe. Secret fact: If you read that post very slowly and in a totally silent room you can actually hear the sound of Kieron phoning it in. The closest thing to hyperbole in the post is him calling Spelunky 'clever and neat', which is analogous to calling sliced bread, uh, sliced, or saying that war is bad. I mean, what I'm saying is that the man's an asshole. You dropped the ball, Kieron! The ball is currently rolling away from you! There it goes, rolling through the door to the old people's home! You'd better chase it!
]]>Relatively late to this, but picked it up from Qt3 over the weekend and do like it a lot. It's the new game by Derek Yu who you'll best know for his involvement in the IGF winning Zelda-but-a-fish (With lots of other stuff) Aquaria. It's called Spelunky. It's basically Rick Dangerous meets Nethack: An underground platformer where each level is randomly generated whenever you play. By widening the skill-set slightly and allowing a lot more expression than you'd expect in what looks like Rick Dangerous, it really minimises the horrific-death-happy repetition which blighted Rick. About the only cost is slightly akward controls. This is clever and neat. See it in action beneath the cut...
]]>.png?width=1200&height=630&fit=crop&enable=upscale&auto=webp "שחרורו של Assassin's Creed Shadows נדחה למרץ כאשר מועצת המנהלים של Ubisoft שוקל מכירת חברה")
