Finally coming back to 100% this game after playing it years ago. It's shorter, but somehow HARDER than Spelunky 2! However I unfortunately have to say that Spelunky HD is one of those games that are hard to go back to after playing the sequels. After dumping 100+ hours in, and 100%ing both games, it's become clear that Spelunky 2 improves on almost every single aspect of HD. There are subtle but VERY important mechanical differences between the two, not to mention the improved mechanical fluidity the movement of 2 has (also ledge whipping is SUCH a cool movement tech, I wish HD had it).

As far as I can tell, the terrain generation of HD and 2 are the same: randomly connecting pre-built "rooms" on a 4x4 grid. The actual rooms themselves are very distinct however. HD's levels (especially the jungle levels) feel way more open than 2's. And oftentimes there is more than one path to the exit. What 2 improved upon is the "questlines" you can complete. There are various items and NPCs to interact with that result in obtaining or accessing unique items/areas. HD pretty much has the Hell questline and that's it. What it lacks in variety however it makes up for in sheer difficulty.

There are a couple changes 2 makes that can make runs easier. In HD for example, bomb explosions are slightly smaller, shopkeepers don't have a forgiveness mechanic and are STUPIDLY fast, there are rarely any consistent cheese strats (robbing the black market, obtaining the ankh, etc.) and certain items like the plasma cannon and shield cannot be obtained through shops. HD truly is a hardcore test of knowledge, reflexes, and skill.

Now the one thing that both games have that are the absolute most ANNOYING thing are dark levels. Literally no one likes them and their sole purpose is to make levels unfun to navigate. Also did you know you can guarantee to never get a dark level if you finish levels in 20 seconds or less? That's great for speedrunners, but also that just means you are directly punished for being thorough in collecting items and treasure. NOTHING is more annoying then finishing a level after finding a good weapon or throwable and then immediately being punished with a dark level that you have to carry a torch through. Thankfully 2 makes dark levels slightly less annoying by extending the completion time to 30 seconds and buffing illumination items, but the core concept of dark levels are still just not fun.

Achievements in this game can be slotted into two distinct categories: Low Scorer, and then everything else. Low scorer is absolutely one of the most stupidly brutal and time wasting achievements I've ever seen. It will make you hate everything about the game and relies 100% on spawn RNG. it turns every piece of treasure into another obstacle to avoid. Every explosion starts with "oh boy I wonder if this will launch a random tiny piece of gold directly into my face, thereby making me do all this ♥♥♥♥ again". Each failed run only adds to your impatience, which just makes you play worse and worse. The only reason I stuck with throwing myself at a brick wall of RNG for nearly 60 hours is because I had nothing else to do during my overnight shifts at work. it's just not worth the suffering unless you enjoy totally unforgiving randomness or have way too much time on your hands.

Other than that though? If you finish low scorer early on like I did, the rest of the achievements are a complete cakewalk. Literally I was stuck on low scorer for a solid few months, and then after beating it I steamrolled the remaining 9 achievements within two weeks. I even got the speedrun achievement on the same run as I finished low scorer. Nothing comes close to it in terms of difficulty.

To be completely honest, the only things that Spelunky HD has going for it in current year, is the extra difficulty over 2 and different level generation. Nearly every other aspect of the game has been improved or expanded in mechanical depth. If you've never played any spelunky game, then I would recommend starting with HD (or even classic if you like 8 bit!) because once you come around to 2, you'll be able to appreciate the improvements. 9/10

I know this game is old idc I'll get around to spelunky 2 eventually I swear.

To be honest, I'm not sure how to feel about this game. Spelunky 1 is one of the best feeling, challenging and stress inducing roguelikes I've ever played, the game keeps you constantly on your toes and forces you to constantly get better and better at the game to progress, after a good few hours of this game you really play this game in an entirely new way constantly learning new tricks, tips and interactions in this game. it has an insanely high skill ceiling which makes it feel constantly fresh as you're learning new stuff.

Despite these praises though I really can't say that I actually enjoy my experience with this game 90% of the time, for every insane clutch, great use of my skills or fun section of a run I'll run into 3 different times where I die in the most ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, not at all my fault way possible, either because the game just decided that the second you spawn into the level some random enemy will aggro the shopkeeper for the rest of your game or the game decided that because you made the tiniest mistake you will suffer the wrath of a thousand suns for your insolence and die in one of the many, many, MANY instakill deaths in the game, whether it's a lava pool, stuck in infinite stuns or those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mummies. This game is unapologetically hard, it's a large part of the game's appeal, but it often feels as if somebody forgot to tell the dev you can make a game feel difficult without just throwing random unfair rng ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ at them.

Its games like spelunky 1 that make me wish steam had a mixed or in the middle review option because this game is great and for the most part lives up to its hype better than a lot of games like it but at the same time theres so many just straight up unfun enemies, level layouts and poor design decisions that ruin so much of the enjoyment that I have that its extremely difficult to recommend the game to anybody. If you’re willing to bash your head against the wall, scream in agony and annoyance this game is more than worth a shot but if you want a game that's going to better respect your time I'd avoid this game like the plague lmao.

I love getting spelunked