This Is The Run

I’ve been playing a lot of Spelunky lately. I’ve dabbled before, but after getting it on Switch over the holidays, I’ve really been making progress. 15 hours in, I’ve glimpsed the third area maybe three times. It’s going great.

Thanks to early episodes of the Eggplant podcast (back when it was called The Spelunky Showlike), I’ve picked up all kinds of tips from the community. The main thing that’s shaped how I play the game is their focus on the Daily Challenge. I’d started getting sick of the first area when I started listening, with death after death on those same brown rocks. Instead of hurling themselves into the depths 100 times a day like I was, they were focusing on that one seeded run each day and improving each time. Or failing and spending the rest of the day gearing up to take another shot at the game.

My big mistake was not taking runs seriously, with all too many ending seconds after they started thanks to a careless jump or bomb throw. Although I haven’t pared back to just the Daily Challenge (I don’t think you can unlock characters or shortcuts that way), I take it every day now and see how far I get. One thing that’s really changed in my regular runs is how often I’ll think “This is the run.” and stop taking silly risks.

This does lend some extra irony when accidents happen (“I thought this was the run,” I’ll scoff at myself when dying on spikes in the second level.) but I find myself getting past the first world more and more often. I found the Black Market a few days ago and died trying to rob it! I went back the next day with enough money for the Ankh and died two levels later! I went back today and died in the Market!

Thinking on my time with other run-based games like Slay the Spire (or my greatest shame Super Auto Pets), I’ve realised that it’s only when I’ve shifted into that “This is the run.” mindset that I’ve made real progress on a run or even finished one. Pursuing random dead ends and playing while listening to something else are perfectly good ways of interacting with a game with their own rewards, but I all too often feel like a hamster stuck in a wheel when I play roguelikes. Now I can feel like a hamster stuck in a ball, still locked to the run’s limits but getting somewhere despite them.

It’s going to be a while before I reach the end of Spelunky, let alone discover all of its secrets, but thanks to a change in perspective, I’m going to fly much further before I fall with each attempt.