Spelunky 2, the upcoming sequel to the charming yet brutal platformer, was initially announced back in 2017 at Paris Games Week, where it was revealed that the original character, has retired from his life of spelunking after finding his true love and raising a child together. The sequel’s protagonist role will be taken up by Ana Spelunky, the daughter of the original game's main character, and will feature online multiplayer gameplay.
Spelunky 2 will retain most of the core mechanics of its predecessor, which will feature a challenging platformer that players loved about the first game. However, game director Derek Yu mentioned that Spelunky 2 would feature new challenges, “that, when added up, really make the game feel different.”
Online multiplayer will be supported in Spelunky 2 that allows players to play with friends and embark on a challenging adventure together. The upcoming title will also include a second layer for every level, which is a new feature in the series that gives players the ability to hop from one layer to another, which can be sometimes used as a shortcut. Yu described the second layer as a “third dimension” in the game.
When the original Spelunky was released in 2009, it was an indie free-to-play game on the PC. Soon after, Spelunky ushered a revival of brutal games that featured old-school mechanics such as side-scrolling environments, and permadeath. The game heavily relied on the player’s reaction speed to evade deadly traps as they traverse randomly-generated environments.
Spelunky was so notorious for its cartoony, yet challenging gameplay that it took the 17th spot on our list of the 20 hardest video games of all time. Given the game's permadeath element, players would have to strategize their approach to complete a level, and would often have to die multiple times to learn what’s coming behind every corner and progress through the game.
If Spelunky 2 will be able to live up to, or maybe even surpass the brutal gameplay of the first, then players are in for a challenge, as it is expected that the sequel will be unforgivably difficult no matter how cute its visuals look. The sequel is being developed by Mossmouth, together with Blitworks.
Spelunky 2 is slated to release in 2019 for the PC and PlayStation 4.
Source: PlayStation Blog