Spelunky 2

 PC
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 156 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 90 out of 156
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 156
  3. Negative: 40 out of 156

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  1. Ganerumo
    Oct 11, 2020
    4
    Inferior to the first game in every way. Unless you've played a thousand hours of the first title and have seen all that it has to offer and somehow don't want to delve into modding, Spelunky 2 has nothing to offer that will please a new or old player. Its design overall is less fine-tuned, feels more amateurish and far less coherent. The game is much harder than the first yet forces youInferior to the first game in every way. Unless you've played a thousand hours of the first title and have seen all that it has to offer and somehow don't want to delve into modding, Spelunky 2 has nothing to offer that will please a new or old player. Its design overall is less fine-tuned, feels more amateurish and far less coherent. The game is much harder than the first yet forces you to retread areas of the first game, which combined with the difficulty means that 90% of your Spelunky 2 runs will feel like Spelunky 1, with very little else that's changed besides worse level generation.… Expand
  2. DudeLove
    Oct 21, 2020
    2
    I have to start off by saying that I loved the first Spelunky; it's probably in my list of top 5 favorite games. I've put in a couple hours at this point and I've gotten to 2-1, and it's just so very "meh" when you compare it to the first game.

    Pros: Quality of life improvements, as the game supports much higher resolution and frames per second than the first, graphics are detailed    I have to start off by saying that I loved the first Spelunky; it's probably in my list of top 5 favorite games. I've put in a couple hours at this point and I've gotten to 2-1, and it's just so very "meh" when you compare it to the first game.

    Pros:

    Quality of life improvements, as the game supports much higher resolution and frames per second than the first, graphics are detailed and interesting. You can also grab onto ledges.

    Cons:

    The ghost now moves MUCH faster and can split into multiple ghosts. In the first game, the ghost felt like a super-powerful but super-stupid force of nature. You had to be careful, but you could control it for vast profit once you got good enough. The areas I've been in feel more cramped than the first, so unless you have a jetpack I really don't see how you can kite the ghost around.

    More items are now flammable, including bomb packs, which makes fighting the merchants much harder (though it does make sense)

    Feels like there are more enemies and traps, and another layer to get down in each level, but the same amount of time as the first game.

    I know a lot of people are really enjoying this game, but it feels like a real let down. I'm still trying to like it because of how much I liked the first game, but it's an effort when it really shouldn't be.    … Expand
  3. badreview7854
    Oct 21, 2020
    0
    Worse than Spelunky HD in every way. More of a slog and more frustrating. Avoid at all costs.
  4. Beardyweirdy
    Nov 19, 2020
    4
    Progress in Spelunky 2 is tedious. I keep getting to the yellow head, beating the first portion of the fight (which is monotonous) and then getting killed by a bomb in the second section. It forces me to do the jungle room over and over and over again. And there's no sense of progress, unlike in the first game where you can contribute money to the next shortcut with each run. Getting boredProgress in Spelunky 2 is tedious. I keep getting to the yellow head, beating the first portion of the fight (which is monotonous) and then getting killed by a bomb in the second section. It forces me to do the jungle room over and over and over again. And there's no sense of progress, unlike in the first game where you can contribute money to the next shortcut with each run. Getting bored fast. Doesn't help that the games are so similar. Reused areas and assets. Seems lazy.… Expand
  5. DeadYavuzRS
    Dec 11, 2020
    0
    Inferior to the first game in every way. Unless you've played a thousand hours of the first title and have seen all that it has to offer and somehow don't want to delve into modding, Spelunky 2 has nothing to offer that will please a new or old player. Its design overall is less fine-tuned, feels more amateurish and far less coherent. The game is much harder than the first yet forces youInferior to the first game in every way. Unless you've played a thousand hours of the first title and have seen all that it has to offer and somehow don't want to delve into modding, Spelunky 2 has nothing to offer that will please a new or old player. Its design overall is less fine-tuned, feels more amateurish and far less coherent. The game is much harder than the first yet forces you to retread areas of the first game, which combined with the difficulty means that 90% of your Spelunky 2 runs will feel like Spelunky 1, with very little else that's changed besides worse level generation. Collapse… Expand
  6. RocketRon
    Oct 2, 2020
    0
    Heading into Spelunky 2 off the back of hundreds of hours of HD has been great fun and I love a lot of the new mechanics and features, the new shops, optional quests, the back layer, fluid physics etc but I feel like your average person won't find enjoyment from Spelunky 2 for reasons I will detail below.
    Dwelling, the first stage. I'll split these issues into 3 categories
    1/3    Heading into Spelunky 2 off the back of hundreds of hours of HD has been great fun and I love a lot of the new mechanics and features, the new shops, optional quests, the back layer, fluid physics etc but I feel like your average person won't find enjoyment from Spelunky 2 for reasons I will detail below.
    Dwelling, the first stage. I'll split these issues into 3 categories

    1/3 Formulaic progression from 1:1 to 1:4
    This area is absolutely far too busy and more often than not is extremely unfun and unrewarding. 1:1-1:4 is practically the same everytime save you may find an alter or dark level, and the Key/Yang optional quest may alternate between 1:2 and 1:3. For a game like spelunky this repeating formulae doesn't work and results in very boring, time consuming gameplay which honestly just feels like a chore. I realise the turkeys are optional but the health they give for blowing them up is pretty important considering the difficulty of Dwelling. The further levels do not have this issue really at all. The Quillback fight is incredibly repetitive once you've done it a few times and doesn't need to be a guaranteed event.

    2/3 Resource rarity and too resource consuming:
    The terrain generation on dwelling is extremely punishing in that you practically have to use all your resources to get around, there's many areas where it's completely impossible to scale back up the level without sacrificing ropes. it's not uncommon to have to use 2 ropes and a bomb or two to get Udjat eye. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if crates weren't so rare. It feels like there's maybe a quarter of the crates you got in this level's equivalent in Spelunky HD and even then crates weren't incredibly common. This wouldn't be a problem (and isn't) if this type of resource consuming level generation was saved for later in the game when you have established a run with resources to spare.

    3/3 The sheer amount of mobs, arrow traps + moles and lizards
    Dwelling practically plays out like a Spelunky HD Frozlunky Sashavole generation mod, you'll know what I mean if you've played it. The amount of mobs you can see at any one point in the area is far too high, especially considering the moles which have 3 health and can move through blocks + the lizards which also have 3 health and whilst aren't terribly hard to avoid are still very time consuming and frustrating to deal with. I don't know why Derek/The development team decided to add 2 new mobs which both have 3 health as it breaks down the pacing of this first stage quite a bit. On top of this, moles seem to have iframes when moving in and out of blocks (I've not tried with explosives as bombs are precious on the first area). On top of this there's also an insane amount of arrow traps, it's not uncommon to see 2 arrow traps pointing directly in the area of your spawn from the getgo, and there's plenty of traps which cannot be dealt with via arrow whipping due to their placement which further breaks the pacing as you have to go find an item to set them off.

    Also, the music for Dwelling is incredibly grating and disappointing when compared to Spelunly HD's first area's 3 great songs

    The culmination of all these things makes the first area game a complete slog and will definitely put off would-be new players.

    Post-Dwelling

    Once you're past the first area the game is actually incredibly fun, Jungle and Volcana are both equally interesting areas. They both have lots of variation and extra flair added to them. Volcana having dead are restless, dark and the factory variations which are rare and exciting to come across + Vlad's castle and the Jungle having dead are restless, dark + the black market and any other variations I've not yet seen. and fun challenging mobs without being overbearing (moles, lizards)

    The Olmec fight is okay, it's kind of silly that on the second stage you practically just AFK whilst he destroys the level so you can decide if you want to go to temple or tide pool, but it's okay and i appreciate olmec is kind of a nice homage to the first game if anything even if the fight isn't great.

    From my experience Tide Pool, Ice Caves and Babylon are all good zones although I think Babylon's mobs are a little bit boring mechanically even if their artwork is awesome, I've not played enough of temple to comment. Although except for maybe temple all of the zones are far more laid back than the that is dwelling and it causes the games' overall progression to feel disjointed and weird as the game is seemingly getting easier from the first area.

    The problem with all these great zones and pieces of content is that when you die (and you will die a lot) you are sent back to the insanely grating and unfun first zone which really kills motivation to play in general for me. I generally am more upset over having to play on dwelling again than I am about losing all my gear and progress. However I do appreciate the game has only been out for a few days and there is a ce    … Expand
  7. grayback
    Oct 2, 2020
    3
    Not really an improvement. Feels like a disjointed collection of mods for the first one instead of a sequel.

    Gameplay doesn't flow as good as in Spelunky HD, and most of the new content is either useless or just forgettable. In addition, performance on low end machines (even with recommended specs) is surprisingly bad, dipping way below 10 fps when liquids appear on the screen. The    Not really an improvement. Feels like a disjointed collection of mods for the first one instead of a sequel.

    Gameplay doesn't flow as good as in Spelunky HD, and most of the new content is either useless or just forgettable. In addition, performance on low end machines (even with recommended specs) is surprisingly bad, dipping way below 10 fps when liquids appear on the screen.

    The bottom line is that you won't feel the need to play it after a few hours, wich speaks volumes about the regression in gameplay. Not worthy of the Spelunky name.

    Also... no damsel? WTF!    … Expand
  8. DamageMaximo
    Nov 6, 2020
    2
    Are you a masochist?
    Boy I know the perfect game for you!
    In this beautiful game called Spelunky 2, you can notice it is harder than the first game, which takes more dedication so you can actually make more progress while playing it, only so you relax for a second and you instantly fall into a chain of constant hits and constant stun-locks which will prevent you from escaping, making    Are you a masochist?
    Boy I know the perfect game for you!

    In this beautiful game called Spelunky 2, you can notice it is harder than the first game, which takes more dedication so you can actually make more progress while playing it, only so you relax for a second and you instantly fall into a chain of constant hits and constant stun-locks which will prevent you from escaping, making you watch all the health you dedicated yourself to gather disappear in 3 seconds, that's the Spelunky experience, and the community seems to call this "the fun part of spelunky", as I said, if you are a masochist this is the game for you.

    The art style is a bit better than the first game, but is still terrible since nothing seems to fit in the environment, in later stages you will see many colors and objects making a cluster of things in which will hurt you eyes and make it unpleasant to look at, all so you will not see the enemy creeping up on you and you will die because of the chain of hits mentioned earlier.

    Soundtrack is fine but inferior than the first game.

    Character designs are fine, the new main character has the best design for sure, and I love it, 'thus making it get 1 score.

    Gameplay is clunky, unresponsive, and unnecessarily complicated just like in the first game, making it really repulsive for any new players.

    The environment interactions are the only actually good thing in the game, being able to activate traps by throwing objects in front of them, knocking out enemies and sacrificing them to get more items, these are all good things which make it deserve 1 more score and could make the world feel alive if it wasn't for the terrible art style as mentioned already, and the non-immersive ambience.

    Spelunky (1 and 2) are the most overrated games ever and I have no idea how this thing got so many fans.    … Expand
  9. Sotov
    Nov 25, 2020
    0
    There is not enough grass in this title for it to be worth your time.
    Do not buy, do not play, do not succumb to anti-grassers, **** the anti-grassers.
    0/10.
  10. Ahmadhallak07
    Dec 15, 2020
    0
    How this this **** game take 91 and cyberpunk 2077 89 this game its **** bad
  11. peterus
    Dec 9, 2020
    3
    I've played hours and hours of Spelunky 1. Its sequel is just not fun, I've refunded it after 2 hours.
  12. IcreatedAnAccou
    Nov 11, 2020
    0
    Get ready to pay 20 bucks for a game thats not even worth pirating. Any and i mean ANY content youve seen of this game that makes it look fun you probably will not see in game. Several hours into gameplay now and I've only gotten to 1-2 and Im about to uninstall the game because I havent heard anything other than one repetitive song. Over and over and over and over. This game could be funGet ready to pay 20 bucks for a game thats not even worth pirating. Any and i mean ANY content youve seen of this game that makes it look fun you probably will not see in game. Several hours into gameplay now and I've only gotten to 1-2 and Im about to uninstall the game because I havent heard anything other than one repetitive song. Over and over and over and over. This game could be fun if it saved your point but it doesnt so good fing luck having actual fun playing this **** game… Expand
  13. AnonymousPower
    Jan 2, 2021
    0
    This game isn't designed to be fair, it's designed to be punishing and tedious. For example, NPCs have more permissive rules for being able to damage the player than vice versa; they can damage you while you are stunned and can hit you rapidly, which means you will often get stun locked and just have to watch in dismay as your 20 lives turn into 0. On top of the number of one shots you canThis game isn't designed to be fair, it's designed to be punishing and tedious. For example, NPCs have more permissive rules for being able to damage the player than vice versa; they can damage you while you are stunned and can hit you rapidly, which means you will often get stun locked and just have to watch in dismay as your 20 lives turn into 0. On top of the number of one shots you can walk into, things just hit too often and too hard.

    With lots of luck and hours of grinding annoying deaths, you will get shortcuts to new stages. These make the game barely tolerable. However, using the shortcuts locks you out of being able to acquire certain items, and starting from the beginning to set up the conditions required to acquire those items over and over is an insane challenge of patience. This means that runs feel contrived rather than emergent. And at a certain point, to unlock the next shortcut you have to drag a friendly AI and a holdable item through several stages of **** that was the point I had enough.

    The game feels tight, and has the pieces of a rogue-lite, but those pieces are brought together in a way that feels frustrating rather than satisfying and rewarding. The game tries your patience with every run, and eventually it becomes too much to bear. It is inherently flawed and undeserving of its cult-like status, as there are so many games out there that balance these pieces better.    … Expand
  14. Pascamp
    Mar 26, 2021
    0
    não faz nenhum sentido as natas altas desse jogo. nferior ao primeiro jogo em todos os sentidos. A menos que você tenha jogado mil horas do primeiro título e tenha visto tudo o que ele tem a oferecer e de alguma forma não queira mergulhar em modding, Spelunky 2 não tem nada a oferecer que agradará a um jogador novo ou antigo. Seu design geral é menos ajustado, parece mais amador e muitonão faz nenhum sentido as natas altas desse jogo. nferior ao primeiro jogo em todos os sentidos. A menos que você tenha jogado mil horas do primeiro título e tenha visto tudo o que ele tem a oferecer e de alguma forma não queira mergulhar em modding, Spelunky 2 não tem nada a oferecer que agradará a um jogador novo ou antigo. Seu design geral é menos ajustado, parece mais amador e muito menos coerente… Expand
  15. maylokana
    Jul 24, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. spelunky 2 is an initially fun game for your first 100 or so hours. completing challenges, getting through all the areas, filling out your journal, all that good stuff.

    but then cosmic ocean rears it ugly head and then you don't want to play the game anymore.

    all that fun is thrown out the window as soon as you realize the entire meta of the game revolves around CO. those 22 levels were just the preparation/warmup to go through 94 more levels of boring, monotonous recycled layouts for another 2~4 hours. anyone who plays this game anymore only plays it to get to CO to "prove" themselves or whatever. there's no reason to go through CO yourself unless you want to understand what all the hype is all about.

    .. the mods you can play around with are pretty neat, though.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

5
#5 Best PC Game of 2020
63
#63 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 18, 2020
    90
    Blitworks took the best from 8-bit platformers (Rick Dangerous! Montezuma’s Revenge!), evolved it greatly, and wrapped it up in visuals worthy of 2020. The result is amazing but be aware that you’ll be dying over and over and over again, because part of the game’s retro heritage is its frustrating difficulty level. Other than that, I have absolutely no complaints and place Spelunky 2 among my top 10 games of the year. [12/2020, p.46]
  2. GamingBolt
    Oct 31, 2020
    80
    If you loved the original, you’re going to love Spelunky 2, and find it equal to its predecessor in all ways except one- where the original was a trail blazer, the new game seems content to, much like it asks of its players, simply plumb into familiar depths.
    Read full review
  3. DualShockers
    Oct 8, 2020
    95
    Spelunky 2 takes the ridiculously polished foundation from the first game and blows it out with new content, mystifying secrets, and big-time cave mole jerks.
    Read full review
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