Let me set the stage for this review by saying that Spelunky is one of my favorite video games of all time; it’s the game that I point to as one of the best examples of emergent gameplay, risk vs reward design, and a model for the roguelike genre as a whole. All of that is still true with Spelunky 2, but make no mistake, this is a true sequel that doesn’t rest on its laurels. One that embraces all of the things that made the original so wonderful while also finding new and completely unexpected ways to improve upon the sense of exploration and discovery that’s so central to the experience. Yes, it’s brutally and often hilariously difficult, but if you can learn enough of its secrets to push through that, you’ll be hard pressed to find a game as consistently rewarding and endlessly engaging as Spelunky 2. This, my friends, is the motherload.