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A platform game descended from roguelikes....
"Spelunky is a cave exploration / treasure-hunting game inspired by classic platform games and roguelikes, where the goal is to grab as much treasure from the cave as possible. Every time you play the cave's layout will be different. Use your wits, your reflexes, and the items available to you to survive and go ever deeper! Perhaps at the end you may find what you're looking for...
Don't be afraid to die! But also don't be afraid to live! Happy Spelunky-ing!"
"The significant consequences for death also add a perverse twist to the tension between exploratory risk and reward. Is it worth jumping across that line of vines dangling over the pit of spikes to get to a room full of gold? Sure, you've traversed similar pits countless times, and that gold will be useful for buying items that will make later challenges much easier. But if you mess up this time, you'll be sacrificing your performance on the six perfectly executed levels you've already completed, and lose the 15 useful, wall-busting bombs you've accumulated this time through. A careful player will quickly learn that discretion is the better part of valor, and that even an eminently manageable level of risk should be avoided if at all possible.
There's always a moment of teeth-gritting frustration when one false step obviates all your careful work, but you'll end up blaming yourself for being distracted or careless much more than you'll blame the game for being unfair. Spelunky runs aren't massive, time-consuming affairs, either—an expert player can dash through all 18 levels in under eight minutes, with a little luck—so it's not like you've lost hours of toil with a single mistake."
Bit quicker to win!
"Spelunky is a cave exploration / treasure-hunting game inspired by classic platform games and roguelikes, where the goal is to grab as much treasure from the cave as possible. Every time you play the cave's layout will be different. Use your wits, your reflexes, and the items available to you to survive and go ever deeper! Perhaps at the end you may find what you're looking for...
Don't be afraid to die! But also don't be afraid to live! Happy Spelunky-ing!"
"The significant consequences for death also add a perverse twist to the tension between exploratory risk and reward. Is it worth jumping across that line of vines dangling over the pit of spikes to get to a room full of gold? Sure, you've traversed similar pits countless times, and that gold will be useful for buying items that will make later challenges much easier. But if you mess up this time, you'll be sacrificing your performance on the six perfectly executed levels you've already completed, and lose the 15 useful, wall-busting bombs you've accumulated this time through. A careful player will quickly learn that discretion is the better part of valor, and that even an eminently manageable level of risk should be avoided if at all possible.
There's always a moment of teeth-gritting frustration when one false step obviates all your careful work, but you'll end up blaming yourself for being distracted or careless much more than you'll blame the game for being unfair. Spelunky runs aren't massive, time-consuming affairs, either—an expert player can dash through all 18 levels in under eight minutes, with a little luck—so it's not like you've lost hours of toil with a single mistake."
Bit quicker to win!