Chaos and comedy. Death and rebirth. Luck and, uh, running out of luck. A good roguelike doesn't treat the player like other games do. Roguelikes won't guide you helpfully along a path, or let you cinematically snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. They're more likely to dangle you deep between the jaws of defeat and fumble the rope until you go sliding down defeat's hungry gullet. This is their beauty, and it's a part of why we keep coming back for another go. Next time everything will go right. Next time you'll find the right pair of poison-proof loafers, the perfect co-pilot for your spaceship, a stash of stronger, better ropes. Next time.
Here's our list of the 19 best roguelikes on PC you can play in 2024.
]]>The 1.26 patch for Spelunky 2 has finally brought crossplay for all platforms to the randomised platforming sequel, along with online multiplayer for its Adventure and Arena modes. Creator Derek Yu said that more updates are planned for Spelunky 2, but the next step is to get feedback on multiplayer to improve the experience now its basic features are there. Don’t expect any more additions to single-player though, as the focus there is bug fixes.
]]>Roguelike platformer Spelunky 2 is out now on PC Game Pass. I'm less excited and more angry, actually. This is because it's my nemesis, a game I know is good but I'm absolutely shocking at. Alongside it, the new Left 4 Dead-like co-op shooter The Anacrusis enters early access later today and will be on Game Pass from the start. Can't wait to fall into a pit of spikes with one, then blub about my misfortunes in the other as I pew pew aliens.
]]>I've exhausted Spelunky 2 of everything it can give me (because I've no interest in pursuing its remaining secret endings). I've therefore turned to mods to help extend the experience. There's not much available so far, but there is Overlunky, a mod framework that lets you teleport to any level, spawn items including explosions, and zoom the camera out way far. It's cool to play around with, and hopefully a platform for more to come.
]]>What's up gamers? It's 2021 and that means it's time to round up the team's favourite games of 2020. You'll already know our selections if you read our annual Advent Calendar, but this post gathers all those words and games together in one convenient package.
]]>Pack your bags, wrap the presents, put your scarf around your neck. And then sit down because, I'm sorry, you're going nowhere. It's bad, yeah. Even yours truly, a respected list goblin of note, could not make it back to his family in time for the holidays due to the ongoing vengeance of mother nature. But listen. What if I told you: "video games"? They have always had something for us in the past. What wonderful surrogate families can we join in this time of loneliness and separation to ease our troubled minds? Here are the 10 most wholesome families in PC games you may look to in this hour of need.
]]>Grab your pals and prepare to blast off to the Moon, for Spelunky 2 added online multiplayer today. Four players can plunder the Moon's treasures in online co-op, though the murdersome Arena mode isn't activated yet. Technically online is in "public beta" right now, so don't expect perfection, but you can play it! Eventually, you'll be able to play with folks on PlayStation 4 too.
]]>If you need a change of pace in your procedurally generated death dungeons, look no further than this crafty Spelunky 2 Dare Challenge Bot. Spelunky 2 does have its own Daily Challenge mode that serves up all players with the same level seed each day, but perhaps you've gotten quite good at those. Or perhaps, like the creator of this fun little bot, want a new reason to play.
]]>DEF48750. A magical code which has completely changed the way I play Spelunky 2 after over a hundred hours.
]]>You’ll have to wait a little bit longer if you want to go cave diving with your online BFFs and/or frenemies. Blitworks had hoped to have Spelunky 2’s online multiplayer working by now, but the connection problems that caused the mode to be removed from the game before launch have proven to be a tricky fix. They’ve just announced that they’re on track for a December release.
]]>It's no secret that Spelunky 2 is pretty difficult - heck, just read one of Graham's many Daily Deaths to get an idea of why. It's good, then, that the roguelike platformer's latest patch has made it so players die a little less frequently, by making it harder for physics to crush you. Not everything in this update is designed to help you out, though, because the biggest tweaks might actually make the Olmec boss fight a bit harder.
]]>Hear ye hear ye, here's the top releases on Steam from the month of September. As ever, some big names like Marvel and Mafia are on the list, and so are some long-awaited favorites like Spelunky 2 and Serious Sam 4. More interesting though are the weird indie breakout games. Yup, Phasmophobia's on there and you can't stop me from talking about it.
]]>Do you feel Spelunky 2 seeds have been a bit more generous these past few days? A little less keen to murder you the second you cross the cave's welcome mat? That's not luck with the RNG, that's the blessing of designer Derek Yu. After talking last week about plans to tweak the first few levels, turns out he quietly released a patch doing just that the next day with less fanfare. Surprise!
]]>Today's Daily Death is a return to form, if that "form" is steady mediocrity. What I'm saying is, I reach beyond world one, but not much further. I'm much (but not that much) better than this.
]]>Though Spleunky 2 is not an easy game nor a kind game, it doesn't actually hate you - the roguelikelike platformer just wants you to improve and become all you can be. The developers aren't monsters. In fact, they're planning to make the first set of levels, in the Dwelling biome, a little friendlier by tweaking the numbers of traps and baddies. Perhaps soon you'll stop waking up from nightmares stricken with the fear that a mole has burrowed into your bed and is coming to boop you.
]]>I take back every good word I ever said about moles, but I'd also like to file a petition against horned lizards. Also altars. I hate so many things in this, my favourite game.
]]>I was worried about being overcautious after yesterday's terrible run, in which I died on the second level. Spoilers: I was not cautious.
]]>It's a law of the universe: any exceptionally good Spelunky daily run must be followed by an exceptionally poor run. Yesterday was execptionally good, and so...
]]>Today's episode of the Spelunky daily includes spoilers for the game's first four worlds. Yes, this is my humble brag way of saying I got to world four on the daily challenge.
]]>Welcome back to the Daily Death, in which I record my attempt at the Spelunky 2 daily challenge, and encourage you to do the same with your own runs. Today: the world's luckiest lava droplet.
]]>I return for another attempt at the Spelunky 2 daily challenge, in video form.
Oof, the ending of this one was frustrating.
]]>Now that Spelunky 2 is out on PC, its daily challenge mode is available to play. If you don't know: the daily challenge is a single chance to play a set of Spelunky levels that are the same for everyone playing that day. It was my favourite way to play Spelunky 1 and it's unchanged in Spelunky 2. Part of the fun of the daily challenge is playing it yourself, and then watching other people try the same levels to see how they fared in comparison.
And so, hop below and you'll find a video of me trying today's daily challenge, while muttering over the top of it.
]]>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.
]]>Spelunky 1 felt so precision engineered, so complete, so perfect, that the announcement of Spelunky 2 seemed like the reveal of a new wrist watch. If it had a fancier strap and more cogs, at best, I'd still just be hoping that it told me the correct time.
]]>Spelunky 2 launches on PC next week, but you'll be tackling its randomised platformer dungeons solo for a few weeks after that. "Our online multiplayer had a bit of a rocky start on PS4," Mossmouth say, and they've decided to hold that element out of the PC release temporarily instead of delaying the launch of the game entirely. Mossmouth and BlitWorks anticipate that online multiplayer will be ready for PC within a few weeks.
]]>Once you hit Spelunky 2’s second world, you’ll be able to take on the Moon Challenge in order to obtain the Excavator trophy. It’s not particularly self-explanatory though. Here’s how to complete the Moon Challenge in Spelunky 2.
]]>Spelunky 2 will test your skill and patience, equipping you with nothing more than a whip, a few ropes, and a couple bombs. You’ll have the opportunity to pick up much more though, and some items are more useful than others.
Here’s all the items in Spelunky 2 and where to find them.
]]>Spelunky 2’s run function is on by default, but this can make it a little tougher to make the intricate movements required of you in the game. Thankfully, this isn’t the only way to play.
Here’s how to turn off the ‘always run’ function in Spelunky 2.
]]>Turkeys are the most basic mount available in Spelunky 2. They'll be kicking about in the dungeons from world 1, and have a series of handy uses. From increasing your health and double jumping to taking a bullet secret-service style, these poultry pals will be extremely handy early on in the game.
You can also gift them to Yang, an NPC who exchanges fancy treasure for turkeys. No idea what he does with them but hey, loot is loot.
Here's what you need to know about turkeys in Spelunky 2, and how to tame and use them to your advantage.
]]>Spelunky 2’s shortcuts offer you the opportunity to skip through levels if you complete them enough. This is done by meeting Terra, who’ll be there and waiting for you once you’ve beaten a world.
You’ll need to fulfil certain requirements to unlock the shortcuts though - here’s what you need to hold onto.
]]>Spelunky 2 is as tricky to survive as the original game, and poses plenty of challenges for even seasoned players of the series. In this beginner's guide, we'll give you some tips for passing enemies old and new and getting to the end of world one.
]]>Hip hip hooray, Spelunky 2 is out today! On PlayStation 4. Not on PC. We won't get it on PC for another fortnight. But... this does mean you can now read reviews of the dungeon-diving platformer and watch other people play and all that, if you don't mind first seeing its surprises through someone else's eyes. Myself, I read the start of one review, enough to sustain my excitement, and will now avert my eyes until the 29th.
]]>There's good news in the world of cartoon-y death dungeons today. Spelunky 2 has a PC release date and it's actually just a bit earlier than I'd speculated. The sequel to the well-loved procedural-generated cave escape will launch for PC players before the end of this month.
]]>There was a bit of mumblin' and grumblin' when long-awaited Spelunky 2 got a PS4 release date announced without mention of a PC date. The bad news is there's still no date. The good news is that Mossmouth have given their goals for a timeframe and hey—it's soon! Spelunky 2 may be emerging on PC in October.
]]>The good news? Spelunky 2 comes out next month! Hooray! The bad news is that, in all likelihood, the spelunkin' sequel's release will be exclusive to Sony's PlayStation tellybox. Boo, hiss, and all that rubbish. But while a PC release date remains as elusive as an eggplant, we can still enjoy a deeper dive into Spelunky's caves with developer Derek Yu.
]]>We had expected Spelunky 2 to arrive in 2019 but, y'know, it didn't. Now creator Derek Yu has given a small update on progress, saying the plan is to launch it in 2020. Spelunky being one of the best PC games of all time, yeah, I'll happily wait for it for roguelikelike platformer's sequel to be properly finished. After Spelunky 2 is out, Yu says, UFO 50 will follow. That's the compilation of retro-styled games 'made by' a fictional 80s company, which are really being made by a handful of different indie devs.
]]>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.
]]>You better not shout, you better not cry, you better not expect the Elder Scrolls VI to be announced in front of an LA audience I’m tellin’ you why. E3 2018 is coming to town!
Yes, and with it, so come the takes. The RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, wants in on this. So here are some of our predictions, hopes and fears for this year’s dreaded multimedia assault on the nervous system.
]]>As we lay 2017 to rest, let us remember all of the wonderful games that flickered across our screens and occupied our hearts and minds. But now we must promise never to think of them again because times have changed. This is 2018 and if we've learned one thing from the few hours we've spent in it it's that there are games everywhere. Every firework that exploded in the many midnights of New Year's celebrations was stuffed with games and they were still raining down across the world this morning. We cannot stop them, we cannot contain them, but we can attempt to understand them.
Hundreds of them will be worth our time and attention, but we've selected a few of the ones that excite us most as we prepare for another year of splendid PC gaming. There's something for everyone, from Aunt Maude, the military genius, to merry Ian Rogue, the man who hates permadeath and procedural generation with a passion.
]]>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.
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