Indie Impressions: Spelunky

Spelunky is a platformer with randomly generated content. Nethack is a cited inspiration, and much like Nethack, the game is a pain. Randomly laid out dungeons with one hit kill spike traps and fidgety controls are not my cup of tea. Especially as you only get one life to complete the game. Plus actually "winning" the game requires some ridiculously unguessable actions.

But it does have nice graphics (if you're into old pixel art). It's fun to use ropes and bombs to find different ways through the levels. And the idea that "maybe I'll make it through this time" is interesting, if not compelling. If not for the one hit kill spike traps, I probably would have stuck with it.



I guess that's the recurring theme throughout indie games. They're for fairly specific audiences, most of which do not include me anymore (if they ever did).

I am accustomed to a smooth ride.
Or maybe I'm a dog who lost its bite.
I don't expect to be treated like a fool no more.
I don't expect to sleep through the night.
- Paul Simon