This review may be a little biased, as Spelunky is one of my favorite games of all time.

With a great premise, amazingly randomized level designs courtesy of creator David Yu, an exceptional soundtrack, proper controls, and a reasonably hard difficulty, I can safely say that Spelunky is one of, if not the best platformers to ever exist.

The game essentially revolves around a risk and reward system. You are simply an adventurer trying to make it to the treasure at the end of your journey. It is the choices you make on this journey that determine how it plays out. You can choose to maximize your score at the cost of resources (bombs and ropes), or save them for Olmec. You can rescue damsels for an additional 1 health at the end of a level, or you can sacrifice two of them at a Kali altar to get the Kapala, which will increase your health by 1 after you collect enough blood from attacking/killing enemies. You can buy items at the shop with the gold you collect, or you can attack the shopkeeper to get the items for free at the cost of every shopkeeper becoming hostile and spawning at the end of each level. You can complete a level in under 2:30, or you can wait until 2:30 to trigger the ghost, which can turn all gems into diamonds, increasing your score but putting yourself at the risk of being instakilled by the ghost if it touches you. With so many options, there are legitimately an infinite number of ways to play Spelunky.

Spelunky is comprised of 4 primary areas, the Mines, the Jungle, the Ice Caverns, and the Temple. Each area is comprised of 4 levels. Each level is a randomized 4x4 grid with a direct path from entrance to exit, so they are all completable. Because of this, the levels never feel unfair. If I die, it is almost always my fault, and not the game's. Maybe I missed a jump and landed on some spikes. Maybe I walked too close to a tiki trap and was impaled. Maybe I didn't see that spider on the ceiling and was knocked into lava. In almost every scenario, your death is your fault. That is good game design. Going back to the levels, assuming it isn't a dark level, by holding up or down, you can see the next room above or below you in it's entirety. This means that the entire level is generally completely visible for the player to explore, only requiring the use of items such as bombs, ropes, a mattock, a teleporter, etc. to reach these areas. Speaking of dark levels, despite common belief of the subject, the dark levels are actually enjoyable in Spelunky. To make up for your lack of vision, you are provided a torch at the start of the level. Traps are illuminated with torches of their own, and there are unlit torches throughout the level that you can light for a reward of a few hundred gold. In addition to the unlit torches, there are flying golden scarabs, exclusive to dark levels and the City of Gold , that can be collected for 5000 gold in the Mines, 6250 gold in the Jungle, and 8750 in the Temple each. In addition to dark levels, each area has it's own set of special level events to help add some diversity to the gameplay. The Mines get dark levels, snake pits, and spider dens. The Jungle gets dark levels, the restless undead, a giant beehive (home to killer bees and the bee queen), and a variation where the bottom 4 tiles of the map are completely flooded and are home to a giant pranha named Old Bitey. The Ice Caverns get the Yeti Kingdom, a crashed UFO, and the Alien Mothership Entrance (which is guaranteed on 3-4). Lastly, the Temple gets dark levels and a sacrificial pit level. In addition to these event levels, there are 5 hidden levels and an entire hidden area, Hell . The hidden levels are as follows: The Haunted Castle, which can be found only in the restless dead level of the Jungle by blowing up the skeleton in the grave marked with a crown, The Worm, which can be accessed in the Jungle and the Ice Caverns by throwing a living damsel onto a sticky, pulsing red circle that is actually the Worm's tonge and sitting on it until the Worm eventually eats you, and the Mothership can be accessed by climbing up the corridor in 3-4.

The last 2 secret levels and the secret area will be discussed now. If you do not want to get spoiled, avoid this section.

The last 2 secret levels, The Black Market and The City of Gold, are linked to entering Hell. The Black Market is found in 2-1 to 2-3 of the Jungle. It is hidden in the walls of 2-1 to 2-3 and you will need the Udjat Eye from the Mines to find it (sometimes you can see the leaves that border the entrance to the Black Market in the background, so you may not need the Udjat Eye). In the Black Market, you can steal or purchase the Ankh for $50000 (The Ankh serves as a free revive should you die. You will need the Ankh to get to the City of Gold and Hell). After collecting the Ankh, you must travel into the Ice Caverns. In the Ice Caverns in 3-1, 3-2, or 3-3, there will be a Moai head marked with an Ankh on it. If you still have the Ankh, you have to kill yourself now to respawn inside the Moai head and pick up an item called the Hedjet, which allows you to enter the City of Gold. Speaking of the City of Gold, you can access it in a locked golden door in 4-2 if you have the Hedjet and the Scepter, which is obtained by killing Anubis in 4-1. Within the City of Gold, you will find the Book of the Dead, which gives you access to Hell. But be careful, Anubis II will now be following you from the City of Gold to Olmec's Lair in 4-4, even if you have killed him in the City of Gold. Now in Olmec's Lair, you will have to walk around the room, making sure not to get crushed by Olmec, until you find the proper X (horizontal) value where the entrance to Hell is. The X value for the Hell entrance is determined by how quickly the Book of the Dead is twitching in Olmec's Lair. Now you proceed to defeat Olmec as usual, but jump on his head when he's sinking into the lava to use it as a platform for the Hell entrance. Hell is the most difficult area in the game, which makes sense as it generally requires an Iron Man run to reach it. on 5-4, the last level of the game, you will face King Yama, the true final boss of Spelunky. Defeating him with either your skill (or the eggplant if you want to beat him in one hit), you have successfully beaten Spelunky and will be rewarded with Yang, the owner of the Adventurer's Journal and the character you play in the tutorial.

Each area also receives a checkpoint courtesy of the Tunnel Man, whom you meat at the end of 1-4, 2-4, and 3-4. Every time you meet him, he needs an item or items to help complete his tunnel. You need to give him the item he needs 3 times in order for him to proceed to the next area (Example: give him 2 bombs, 2 rope, and $10000 gold on 3 separate runs after reaching the end of 1-4 for him to show up at 2-4). This allows the player to start in any area they want, though it does prevent them from getting a few achievements.

In addition to checkpoints, which mark the player's progression in the game, there is a Journal they are given after completing the tutorial that has 114 entries, one for every area, item, enemy, and trap you encounter. This gives the player a secondary goal to achieve besides reaching the end of the game, and was one of the things that kept my interest in the game for the 200+ hours I have logged into it.

The controls are the best controls of any platformer I have played because of their simplicity. You have a button for moving left/right/up/down, for sprinting (which can be set to tap to enable sprint or hold to enable sprint in the control settings), for jumping, for bombs, for ropes, for your whip/weapon/item, and to interact with doors, menus, and objects. The layout is so simple, adjustable, and easy to use that Spelunky is the only platformer that I am comfortable playing on both controller and keyboard.

Overall, I would give Spelunky a 10/10.

This review may be a little biased, as Spelunky is one of my favorite games of all time. With a great premise, amazingly randomized level designs courtesy of creator David Yu, an exceptional soundtrack, proper controls, and a reasonably hard difficulty, I can safely say that Spelunky is one of, if not the best platformers to ever exist. The game essentially revolves around a risk and reward system. You are simply an adventurer trying to make it to the treasure at the end of your journey. It is the choices you make on this journey that determine how it plays out. You can choose to maximize your score at the cost of resources (bombs and ropes), or save them for Olmec. You can rescue damsels for an additional 1 health at the end of a level, or you can sacrifice two of them at a Kali altar to get the Kapala, which will increase your health by 1 after you collect enough blood from attacking/killing enemies. You can buy items at the shop with the gold you collect, or you can attack the shopkeeper to get the items for free at the cost of every shopkeeper becoming hostile and spawning at the end of each level. You can complete a level in under 2:30, or you can wait until 2:30 to trigger the ghost, which can turn all gems into diamonds, increasing your score but putting yourself at the risk of being instakilled by the ghost if it touches you. With so many options, there are legitimately an infinite number of ways to play Spelunky. Spelunky is comprised of 4 primary areas, the Mines, the Jungle, the Ice Caverns, and the Temple. Each area is comprised of 4 levels. Each level is a randomized 4x4 grid with a direct path from entrance to exit, so they are all completable. Because of this, the levels never feel unfair. If I die, it is almost always my fault, and not the game's. Maybe I missed a jump and landed on some spikes. Maybe I walked too close to a tiki trap and was impaled. Maybe I didn't see that spider on the ceiling and was knocked into lava. In almost every scenario, your death is your fault. That is good game design. Going back to the levels, assuming it isn't a dark level, by holding up or down, you can see the next room above or below you in it's entirety. This means that the entire level is generally completely visible for the player to explore, only requiring the use of items such as bombs, ropes, a mattock, a teleporter, etc. to reach these areas. Speaking of dark levels, despite common belief of the subject, the dark levels are actually enjoyable in Spelunky. To make up for your lack of vision, you are provided a torch at the start of the level. Traps are illuminated with torches of their own, and there are unlit torches throughout the level that you can light for a reward of a few hundred gold. In addition to the unlit torches, there are flying golden scarabs, exclusive to dark levels and the [spoiler] City of Gold [/spoiler], that can be collected for 5000 gold in the Mines, 6250 gold in the Jungle, and 8750 in the Temple each. In addition to dark levels, each area has it's own set of special level events to help add some diversity to the gameplay. The Mines get dark levels, snake pits, and spider dens. The Jungle gets dark levels, the restless undead, a giant beehive (home to killer bees and the bee queen), and a variation where the bottom 4 tiles of the map are completely flooded and are home to a giant pranha named Old Bitey. The Ice Caverns get the Yeti Kingdom, a crashed UFO, and the Alien Mothership Entrance (which is guaranteed on 3-4). Lastly, the Temple gets dark levels and a sacrificial pit level. In addition to these event levels, there are 5 hidden levels and an entire hidden area, [spoiler] Hell [/spoiler]. The hidden levels are as follows: The Haunted Castle, which can be found only in the restless dead level of the Jungle by blowing up the skeleton in the grave marked with a crown, The Worm, which can be accessed in the Jungle and the Ice Caverns by throwing a living damsel onto a sticky, pulsing red circle that is actually the Worm's tonge and sitting on it until the Worm eventually eats you, and the Mothership can be accessed by climbing up the corridor in 3-4. The last 2 secret levels and the secret area will be discussed now. If you do not want to get spoiled, avoid this section. [spoiler] The last 2 secret levels, The Black Market and The City of Gold, are linked to entering Hell. The Black Market is found in 2-1 to 2-3 of the Jungle. It is hidden in the walls of 2-1 to 2-3 and you will need the Udjat Eye from the Mines to find it (sometimes you can see the leaves that border the entrance to the Black Market in the background, so you may not need the Udjat Eye). In the Black Market, you can steal or purchase the Ankh for $50000 (The Ankh serves as a free revive should you die. You will need the Ankh to get to the City of Gold and Hell). After collecting the Ankh, you must travel into the Ice Caverns. In the Ice Caverns in 3-1, 3-2, or 3-3, there will be a Moai head marked with an Ankh on it. If you still have the Ankh, you have to kill yourself now to respawn inside the Moai head and pick up an item called the Hedjet, which allows you to enter the City of Gold. Speaking of the City of Gold, you can access it in a locked golden door in 4-2 if you have the Hedjet and the Scepter, which is obtained by killing Anubis in 4-1. Within the City of Gold, you will find the Book of the Dead, which gives you access to Hell. But be careful, Anubis II will now be following you from the City of Gold to Olmec's Lair in 4-4, even if you have killed him in the City of Gold. Now in Olmec's Lair, you will have to walk around the room, making sure not to get crushed by Olmec, until you find the proper X (horizontal) value where the entrance to Hell is. The X value for the Hell entrance is determined by how quickly the Book of the Dead is twitching in Olmec's Lair. Now you proceed to defeat Olmec as usual, but jump on his head when he's sinking into the lava to use it as a platform for the Hell entrance. Hell is the most difficult area in the game, which makes sense as it generally requires an Iron Man run to reach it. on 5-4, the last level of the game, you will face King Yama, the true final boss of Spelunky. Defeating him with either your skill (or the eggplant if you want to beat him in one hit), you have successfully beaten Spelunky and will be rewarded with Yang, the owner of the Adventurer's Journal and the character you play in the tutorial. [/spoiler] Each area also receives a checkpoint courtesy of the Tunnel Man, whom you meat at the end of 1-4, 2-4, and 3-4. Every time you meet him, he needs an item or items to help complete his tunnel. You need to give him the item he needs 3 times in order for him to proceed to the next area (Example: give him 2 bombs, 2 rope, and $10000 gold on 3 separate runs after reaching the end of 1-4 for him to show up at 2-4). This allows the player to start in any area they want, though it does prevent them from getting a few achievements. In addition to checkpoints, which mark the player's progression in the game, there is a Journal they are given after completing the tutorial that has 114 entries, one for every area, item, enemy, and trap you encounter. This gives the player a secondary goal to achieve besides reaching the end of the game, and was one of the things that kept my interest in the game for the 200+ hours I have logged into it. The controls are the best controls of any platformer I have played because of their simplicity. You have a button for moving left/right/up/down, for sprinting (which can be set to tap to enable sprint or hold to enable sprint in the control settings), for jumping, for bombs, for ropes, for your whip/weapon/item, and to interact with doors, menus, and objects. The layout is so simple, adjustable, and easy to use that Spelunky is the only platformer that I am comfortable playing on both controller and keyboard. Overall, I would give Spelunky a 10/10.