![]() Spelunker HD simply asks you to complete way too many stages in a row before marking your progress, and replaying earlier stages quickly becomes tiresome, especially as they ramp up in complexity of layouts. The only thing that keeps it from feeling wholly modern is the structure. It’s got that same rapid fire pace of punishment and iteration, and remains compelling in the same way. And as you continually get to grips with its expectations, it gradually gets easier to complete a stage and you find yourself running through earlier stages with ease, the controls becoming surprisingly fluid when you have the confidence.įor anyone familiar with the rapid fire deaths of modern indie platformers, Spelunker HD will feel immediately familiar. What follows is a loop of shock, frustration and anger, where you curse the bullshit limitations the game has put on you, scream at their unfairness, then swear you’re gonna finish this stage despite this. Your character might have all the equipment he needs to explore a cave, but that doesn’t mean he’s equipped for it. Move too far to the side of a rope you’re climbing–dead. Walk off a lift instead of jumping and you’ll die before you even have time to hit the floor. The titular Spelunker will meet instant death if he so much as sprains his ankle, and that’s not an exaggeration. What makes Spelunker stand out is that you’re playing as the most fragile protagonist of game history. Each stage has you heading to different parts of the stage to collect keys, then doubling back to open up the doors to the next area, dealing with a set of hazards along the way. You play as an explorer, diving into ancient cave systems, navigating puzzles and picking up gold and raiding ancient treasures. Spelunker appears to be a regular platformer of the PC era at first. No, Spelunker is remembered for being the ultimate kusoge, and with the release of Spelunker HD Deluxe, it’s finally wrapped around to drawing influence from its imitators. Unlike Wizardry or Lode Runner, Spelunker isn’t held up in popular memory for its compelling gameplay or endlessly replayable structure. A game like Lode Runner, or Wizardry, that had reasonable success in the West, but became the basis of plenty of imitators in Japan. Spelunker’s one of those titles that forms a missing link in the chain of history. Spelunker’s harsh, unexpected deaths can be seen as the predecessor to modern roguelike platformers, and plenty of the elements that made it into a cult hit continue to influence modern titles. Spelunker HD Deluxe brings a legendary kusoge wrapped up in a modern packageĭespite preceding it by decades, Spelunker is more likely to draw comparisons to games like Spelunky, which draws direct influence from Spelunker, than the other way around.
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