Here’s a little know fact: Spelunky is actually an open-source title that was released in December of 2008 by Derek Yu. It’s freeware, but Derek Yu went on to create the development studio Mossmouth that expanded on that freeware to bring the $15 title to Steam (and later ported to consoles).
The title was a monumental hit when it released on Steam on August 8, 2013, bringing rogue-like dungeon crawling together with platforming in a title that is well-known for being difficult while offering players a heft of agency to tackle problems as they see fit.
Now, Mossmouth is bringing Spelunky back in a whole new realm of cave-diving and exploration in Spelunky 2 that features a brand new set of explorers, this time searching through the Moon for treasure and what is left of their family.
Note that the title doesn’t have a release date, meaning that you currently are unable to pre-order the title if you are so inclined to do so; PlayStation is getting the preferential treatment (again) as they’ll be the first to receive Spelunky 2 on September 15; the studio notes that they are attempting to bring it to Steam within a few weeks after the PlayStation 4 launch date.
From multiplayer that allows you to explore the moon with a friend (or unsuspecting soon-to-be enemy) to a brand new line-up of fun characters to explore with, Spelunky 2 already holds promise that it will be more than worth a shake once it finally releases, presuming that everything is functional.
If PC users need to wait a bit longer so everything runs smoothly, it isn’t the worst feeling in the world knowing that once it does drop, it will be fully playable with few hiccups in the experience.
This puts the PC release at the tail-end of September or the beginning of October, presuming that there aren’t many obstacles that suddenly rear their head; an unlikely experience considering that Mossmouth were originally PC developers, and have successfully ported the original Spelunky multiple times to various platforms.
Along with this comes new NPCs that will litter the moon that may stretch a bit farther than what some are used to: a walrus noticeably sits in a shop instead of the standard human shopkeepers.
There are still very many questions that fans have regarding the upcoming Spelunky 2, but presuming that it adheres to the principals, that made the original Spelunky as enjoyable as it was, means that it should be a relatively safe bet for the beginning of Fall, 2020.
It’s really just a question of how much agony you can endure as you take yet another sudden dive from a platform thirty minutes into a run.
