Anthony Burch wrote an article for this week’s The Escapist articulating why Spelunky is so great:
By mixing the randomly generated levels native to roguelikes with a familiar 2-D perspective and intuitive, decidedly un-roguelike game mechanics, Spelunky becomes something completely new: a perpetually fresh, challenging experience that is as accessible as it is complex. Since you navigate the environment via platforming, Spelunky’s procedurally generated maps actually impact your overall strategy more than almost any other game to use similar randomization. While you can easily conquer every randomized dungeon in a game like Diablo II through brute force and determination, Spelunky forces you to constantly make meaningful decisions in order to progress. Do you risk making a blind leap down a chasm, hoping that water rather than spikes await you at the bottom? Do you save your bombs for bosses, or do you use them to blow holes in the level topography and create a more direct route to the level exit? These are not binary, one-off decisions that exist independently from the gameplay – the entire process of playing Spelunky requires you to make new and interesting choices like these, over and over again.
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