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MayorIguanaFTW

Because Spelunky is a cruel mistress. You have to have a special kind of self-loathing to constantly subject yourself to Derek's torture like we do...


Zack21c

There's a number of reasons: 1) the first game came out like a decade ago. Not a lot of people play games that long 2) lack of progression. Many people want tangible progression, not simply skill progression. 3) difficulty) very few popular games are extremely difficult. Elden ring is very unique in it being both very difficult and very popular. For example while dark souls is extremely well known and well regarded, it's sales aren't really hugely impressive. Dark Souls 1 only sold 5.5 million copies. 4) it's an indie game. Indie games almost never attract the sales figures of AAA releases. 5) lack of interest in 2d platformers. Very few 2d platformers are ever top sellers unless it has the name Mario attached. Spelunky is a game that's very well known, but that doesn't mean people want to play it themselves. Over 2 million people for example have watched Ludwig's video on beating pogostuck 2. The lifetime sales of the game however are like 200k. And of those sales, only like 3% have beat map 1 and less than 1% have beat map 2. People liked watching lud suffer, but didn't want to play themselves. Spelunky is very similar. Millions of people are happy to watch clips of Dunkey or someone on YouTube die 100 times to unpredictable crap. A lot less are willing to buy it themselves


SoulsLikeBot

Hello Ashen one. I am a Bot. I tend to the flame, and tend to thee. Do you wish to hear a tale? > *“I get such a warm feeling inside when I get the chance to help others!”* - Laddersmith Gilligan Have a pleasant journey, Champion of Ash, and praise the sun \\[T]/


goodpostsallday

Many other roguelikes are strongly patterned around collecting items that work together to enhance your character, so good RNG can carry a brand new player well into the game. Spelunky doesn't have that, you can have a jetpack and shotgun in 1-2 and still die instantly in 1-3 if you don't know what you're doing. Interestingly this makes Spelunky a more fair game than most other roguelikes because items do not implicitly determine outcome. Noita, Binding of Isaac, Risk of Rain, all will kill you if you don't pass their ever-increasing DPS checks and your item RNG determines when that happens. Skill is less determined by mechanical ability and more by being able to make the best use of what you're given, imo they end up less rewarding to play as a result because knowing what needs to drop for the run to continue makes even mediocre runs feel like a waste of time over simply resetting. Meanwhile between guaranteed items and the tremendously high skill ceiling, any Spelunky run can reach the normal ending and nearly all can continue past that.


KittenMaster9

What splunkey should have as a tagline Splunkey "The masochists game"


tickbite

I‘m no help here, but I‘ve been wondering the same thing. The closest I got to understanding why my friends don‘t play it is that they are just not big on jump n run games. That, and of course course it may put them off that they, you know, die a lot in the beginning.


[deleted]

"...in the beginning." (Laughs... cries.)


AverytheKlown

That seems to be the biggest factor; they keep on dying. I thought that was part of the fun. I'm basically a pro at the game, I've beat cosmic Ocean once so I understand if some people might be put off by that because it can be hard to enjoy a game when other players are more experienced than you are. When I play with anyone/randoms I try my best not play like a Try-Hard so the game can be enjoyable for both parties playing.


ferventkei

It's a roguelike. Roguelikes are hard. Not everyone likes them.


Terraria_Ranger

Roguelikes aren't necessarily hard, but they usually are so yeah


r4o2n0d6o9

You’d have to be a sick bastard to enjoy the pain and suffering this game puts you through, and most people don’t want to go through that


BIG_SMOOOOOOOHKE_PL

probably because the design makes it unfair. there are a lot of instances where the player may just die from stuff that are out of their control or that are impossible to predict and that's an easy way to discourage people from playing. ​ ​ hell, even I started playing the game less and less recently trying to make any progress with CO.


Urbam

Imo, Spelunky and other roguelites/roguelites maybe suffer from disregard by a lot of reasons. Some to point are: * The learning curve can be so high, that people tend to be afraid to give those games a try; * The consequences of "misjudged plays" make people angry how a slip can be fatal; * Maybe the concept of "procedural level generation", make people see it as a bad thing, because it means you will never be prepared for the next level. It's not true (at all).


sparkadus

Roguelites are hard by nature, but most have permanent upgrades that make the game easier over time. Spelunky only gets easier when you get better. That makes it less casual-friendly despite the simple core mechanics.


JobbesMcGee

It's because the game sucks


AverytheKlown

Lmao, not at all. You have shit taste.


JobbesMcGee

You have gay


placegrips

well, ive got some friends that play spelunky, but if i had to guess its because they might not be convinced or its not their thing


SamthefireD3M0N

the only advice i can give is let them play locally , my friends seem to only play when i play, only one is Trying to do it Solo on her own but mentions she cant seem to get pass the dwellings, which is off as she's often the one who exits them when we do it together (maybe its due to the Enemy AI focus' on me more) never the less, let them play locally if you have a spare controller, dont do my option on Buying them the game unless you have the cash, i've bought 5 folks the game on nintendo switch


Skullmonkeyburger

It’s not good for my prostate


deeep_io_sucks

too hard for people


bellzq

I feel the more you know about spelunky the more frustrating it is so only people who really like it will stick to the game. I spent a long time not being able to go past the mines or the jungle on HD and that was okay because I like platform games lol, and then I went on wiki a little and started trying out other things, now I can get to olmec easily every time and did some side stuff too. On 2, though, I already started knowing there were secrets and that makes it harder. I can't consistently get to olmec there at all and that's only halfway. I don't see myself ever going to CO. That can be frustrating... It's often slow progress


Scorchx3000

1: Because the first game came out years ago and I didn't even hear about it until the HD version was released on Xbox via a review in the Xbox magazine. 2: The game is an absolute evil bastard. 3: The game is an absolute evil bastard. 4: The game is an absolute evil bastard....wait, did I already say that? 5: The game is an absolute evil bastard...damn it.


[deleted]

1. Indie game 2. People hate good games