![]() Whether a challenge is difficult or not, it’s impressive how organic the platforming can seem. Even if a fiendish early design wipes out your supplies, there’s always hope the algorithm gods will smile upon you and conjure up generous layouts so you can restock. Still, for every occasion there's a game, somehow, and for a very tumultuous period in my life, Spelunky was there.įor more on Spelunky, you can check out our original review here.Spelunky’s randomly (sorry, procedurally) generated worlds might not scale the difficulty upwards in the way we’re used to in conventional platformers, but within the game’s universe, it works. There's something missing in the experience because I'm just too far away from it, and the person I was, now. Not because it hurts to play it but because it doesn't hold the same meaning to me as it once did. Spelunky didn't prevent the inevitable (what can?) but it was there, like a friend on a porch ready to sip through several cans of cheap beer and listen to you whine, nodding their head as you go along. We had to learn the moment-by-moment intricacies and cruel whims of this adventure, encouraging the other as we both mastered it. Spelunky provided both of us an escape from our frustrations as well as a goal to work toward, allowing us to navigate an ever-changing labyrinth, one that we couldn't memorize or draw a map for. It was a whole year like this, like developing strategies on how to get past the deadly behemoths in the ice caves or seeing how much we could steal from the shopkeepers in the Black Market and get away with it (the answer: not much). We'd pass the controller and take turns to see how far the other could make it. That was our rule anyway: do it right or don't do it at all. Ok, I mean, technically there are checkpoints you can unlock but a true Spelunky run is from beginning to end, no checkpoints, earning as much treasure as you can and then taking out Olmec. Screw up once, especially in the later worlds, and it's likely your game is over and you have to go back all the way to the beginning. In spite of its cartoony visuals, Spelunky is a grueling game, one where death exists around every corner. If you manage to survive all of them, which is easier said than done, you come up against Olmec, a boss you have to trick into falling into a pit of lava. You play this Indiana Jones explorer (or a number of unlockable characters) as he makes his way through a series of 2D labyrinths in search of treasure, rescuing damsels along the way and fighting snakes, bats, and even the supernatural. If you've never played Spelunky, it's a rogue-like. ![]() We'd go get burritos and come home and we'd play Spelunky for maybe an hour every day. It let us have that semblance of peace when the world we both knew and had shared for some time was on the verge of changing. TV shows they watch together, exercise routines, video games-things they can do where they can be alone and together at the same time. All the couples I've known have this somehow. These sanctuaries usually center around escapism. But those times, when you think you've captured the old comfort and hope you found with this other person, are safe havens. That doesn't change the fact that the job offer you will take that will eventually end things permanently is on its way or that you basically can't stand each other most of the time and neither of you know why. When you're with that person, and the storm has briefly passed, and whatever crap you've got to deal with has been put on pause, and you're both just enjoying each other's company. Most of it's hell, a roaring, cataclysmic storm filled with hate and confusion, barbed words meant to pinpoint weaknesses in each other and skewer them. Things were falling apart, as they tend to do when you're young and you love someone but neither of you have figured your s#it out yet. We cared about each other but didn't get along well, exactly. There was this person I used to live with. Be sure to come back next week on Wednesday at noon CST for #4. Feel free to leave comments below and thanks for reading. This week we’re going to be talking about my #5 pick: Spelunky. You can read all about the origins, as well as the beginning of the series, here. I currently putting together a series of deep dives into my ten favorite games of all time. ![]() ![]() Hello, Javy Gwaltney here, Associate Editor for Game Informer.
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