spelunky posts

Spelunky is a cool free 2D platformer game that was created by indie developer Derek Yu a while back. Currently Yu is making an updated version of the game Spelunky HD, for the Xbox 360 console. It will have updated graphics, more enemies and for the first time local four player multiplayer.

While Yu stated on the game's official web site back in 2009 that he didn't have any plans to port Spelunky HD to the PC, plans do indeed change. PC Gamer chatted with Yu at GDC 2011 and when asked he now admitted, "There's a very good chance we'll see the HD edition of Spelunky on PC at some point." Meanwhile the game is due out for the Xbox 360 later this year.

One of our favorite indie games of last year, and favorite indie games in general, is Spelunky. Jam-packed with all sorts of sexy rogue-like and treasure-hunting shenanigans, it's an absolute steal at the low price of free. It has been in open beta since December, but that time is no longer. Spelunky is now 1.0, and has its very own website to download from, company to pester (Mossmouth), and forums to peruse. This is great news, and while the changelog is more about bugfixes than anything else, it's great for it to finally get released.

Along with this news comes even bigger news. Spelunky is diverging, with one path going the route of release on the Xbox 360, and the other path going the route of open-source on the PC. Things on the XBLA version will include new modes and achievements, while the PC version will open up for anyone to modify. According to the developer, there will probably also be cross-pollination between the two branches.

Welcome to the Indie Showcase, a semi-regular column on Big Download that takes a look at games we haven't covered on the site that we really think you should play.

Wow. 2008 sure was a whirlwind year for independent games on PC and console alike. Games like World of Goo, Braid, and Everyday Shooter have defied our expectations and brought forth a sort of indie gaming renaissance. So let's take a look back at all those indie games released or significantly updated in 2008. There's a lot that can be learned from the independent and the auteur, after all. These games will be in no particular order, because I don't want to taint this list with trying to name a best, second best, and so on. They are all great games.

Click on the image above to continue reading about the best indie games of 2008

Welcome to Freeware Friday, a weekly column showcasing excellent games that you can play free of charge!

It's not often that a beta will make it onto Freeware Friday as a game worth playing. Usually this is because they are buggy and incomplete. The polish is what makes a game great, and most of that is applied during the beta stage. So far the only exception to this has been the transcendent Dwarf Fortress, which manages to be more complete than most commercial titles while still in alpha. However, Spelunky, even though it is in beta, has captured the feel of old-school adventure platforming with the incredible difficulty of rogue-likes in just the right way.