Spelunky is the brainchild of Derek Yu, the artist on games like Eternal Daughter and Aquaria. The art style definitely reflects his nostalgic sensibilities as it is all hand-drawn pixel art. The animations are a little jerky, though, and whether it's intended or not, it does throw one off. As for sound, the normal sound effects are alright but the music needs some more selections and work. It is an in-progress game, though, so it is entirely forgivable.

The entire point of Spelunky is not unlike that of Lode Runner or any rogue-like. You must gather treasure from the environment, rescue damsels in distress (well, okay, not quite like a rogue-like), kill enemies, and make it to the exit of each level. Treasure ranges from the relatively low-worth gold nuggets to bars, gems, and even solid-gold idols. Each item of treasure you collect adds more to your money pool, which can be considered to be your score, even though other actions such as kills and rescues don't go towards the cash. Upon dying, your money, kills, and rescues will be recorded on a scoreboard for you to see your personal best. And trust me, you will die. A lot.

The environment, interestingly enough, is a series of procedurally generated caves that hold all sorts of creepy crawlies, items, and other interesting things. There's the aforementioned golden idols, which give you a huge cash boost if you take them to the level exit but trigger a huge boulder once picked up much like Indiana Jones. There are shops where you can buy new equipment or more ammo for your current equipment. There's gigantic spiders, traps, and murderous cavemen. All of these obstacles must be surpassed on your way to each exit. Despite being mostly random in its creation of the game world, there are some common traits. The exit is always on the bottom of the level, and spider kings/queens/whatever always have webs nearby to stick bombs to, among other things.

The controls and actions in Spelunky are extremely quick and responsive, which can be a little distressing when you are trying to perform more precise movements. The slightest misjudge can hurt your character pretty significantly, and in some cases, kill him outright. You can only initially jump, move around, throw bombs (your only initial mining miethod), and throw ropes. As you proceed and get more abilities from buying stuff or defeating enemies, you get goodies like sticky bombs, a bow and arrow, or a mining pick. On top of all this, you can pick up debris on the ground and hurl it as well!

Spelunky is still in beta, so it's got a fair amount of bugs and such. However, it's got a clever style, intriguing and addictive gameplay, and incentive to continue playing all wrapped up into a delightful little freeware package.It would be a shame to not play Spelunky, if just for the fact that one would be missing out on such a phenomenal game. You can download the latest beta and give feedback on what you thought by visiting the TIGSource forum thread. Happy treasure hunting!

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