Spelunky

At first glance, Spelunky looks like a cute platformer about an adventurer with a whip, but it is actually one of the strictest and smartest games of its time. Every descent into the caves generates a completely new layout of rooms, traps, enemies and treasures, so nothing can be memorized. What you can learn is how the individual parts of the world react to one another, and that is where all the magic lies. Death is instant, final, and you start again from the very first level, usually feeling that you alone are to blame.

Your equipment consists of bombs, ropes and a whip, and you can find or buy further items, from climbing gloves to boots that protect against traps. The real depth, however, comes from how the systems are interlinked. A fire trap ignites a crate, the crate sets a shopkeeper alight, the shopkeeper flies into a rage and hunts the player for the rest of the whole expedition. A stone block dropped onto an enemy opens up a path, but at the same time wakes the inhabitants of the neighbouring room. These chain reactions create stories players still tell today, and helped make Spelunky one of the most cited templates for the entire roguelike wave.

The PlayStation Vita version was offered together with the home console release, and the handheld format suits it exceptionally well, since a single run takes only a few dozen minutes and invites you to try it again at any moment. A daily challenge was also added, where everyone gets the same cave layout and a single attempt, which turned it into a popular ritual. The pixel art is legible even on the smaller screen, the music alternates adventurous motifs with tension, and the audio feedback tells you exactly what has just woken up nearby. Critical reception was enthusiastic, and the game is still cited today as a textbook example of perfectly balanced random design. Beneath the surface there are also several well-hidden paths and alternative endings whose existence most players remain unaware of for a long time. Anyone who gives Spelunky enough time gets one of the most durable games that exist on the Vita.