Why Spelunky 2 Was a Complete Masterpiece

Article by Bo Prescott
Published June 23, 2025

After playing the original Spelunky and the sequel, it's no wonder it has become such an indie blockbuster. An inside source revealed that Spelunky 2 is estimated to rake in nearly $10 million in total sales. The game is a mini-monster. It had a skeleton crew working on it under developer Mossmouth, run by Derek Yu. Spelunky 2 was the obvious sequel to the big surprise hit Spelunky. The original was near-perfect execution of a platformer-roguelike, and clearly good enough. Fans loved it, and they loved the procedurally generated levels. As the gamer, you essentially go on runs playing as long and skillfully as you can until you have to start over due to permadeath.

Interestingly, the reception for Spelunky 2 is not as good as the original which is beloved. At Indie Game Magazine, we wanted to understand why, because the game is an absolute improvement of the cherished features of the original. We did extensive market research in coming up with some indie game insights.

The sequel has larger rooms, more tools, and more pathways but not too many. Some people seem to prefer the original more compacted caves with less space and less choices. They liked the coziness and the absense of an overwhelming set of options during gameplay. Not only that, this game is super hard and some people just aren't into that.



If you naturally stay above ground in your day to day life, a spelunker is a cave explorer also known as a caver. In real life, it's exceptionally dangerous trekking through caverns, but Spelunky and the sequel make it fun without all the uncomfortable death threats of real cave exploring. Derek Yu put his various experience together in creating a masterpiece game. His years of tinkering and learning resulted in a well implemented game design, not always done. He really took his time making sure things were done well. His discipline in not releasing a half baked game are a big reason that Spelunky and the sequel are both so much fun.

The sequel picked up where the original left off, but with even more polished artwork, and a smoother infrastructure. Everything from the gliding level camera to the robust menus just feel better than the original, which was already great. The original was a hit for a reason. It was a well implemented game design within the newish rogue-lite style of procedurally generated levels, that gave people a non-frustrating fun game experience. The artwork was charming and the little yellow hard hat character dropping down through caves felt original. The quick thinking needed and the block busting all felt rewarding and passing time was a pleasure doing this.

Considering all of this, a third Spelunky could be the ultimate blend. If Mossmouth is looking to make even more people happy, a possible scaleback on room size and in-level options might do the trick, just keeping the fan favorites. Original Spelunky was brilliant and a real treasure of an indie hit. Spelunky 2 took it to perfection, but not everybody feels that way. Some people just don't like change and it's different enough that those gamers may balk. Yet another sequel could blend those two to more of everybody's liking.

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