As a big fan of the first Spelunky... I don't think I like this one quite as much. There's a lot more content, but the fact that so much of it is in the way kinda ruins the flow of the game.
To get to the Cosmic Ocean, something that I never quite managed but got repeatedly very close to before throwing in the towel, you have to: get the key and the chest in the dwellings, beat a boss, get Hou Yi's bow with a 1-minute minigame, either find Vlad's Cave or the Black Market, acquire their crown, beat another, longer boss to get the Ankh, drop the bow off with the slime guy, pull off another, longer quest that changes depending which path you pick, lose the Ankh (if you don't do the cool trick in Abzu, like some sort of loser), beating another boss at the end, then get to Neo Babylon, find the right Ushabti, take it to the end of the level, take the Qilin that hatches from it through the last normal level, fly up to the Sunken City, beat another very hard challenge to get the Arrow for the Bow, pick up the bow from the slime guy, get to the final boss, beat it, shoot it in the eye and then you can finally see the last area.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining that this is hard. It's Spelunky, it better be. I'm complaining that you're constantly going out of your own way to do something that it barely feels like you're ever actually... playing Spelunky. It's the world's hardest fetch quest. Getting to Hell in Spelunky HD isn't much easier (it's easier, but just because Spelunky 2 is just overall harder), but it requires a lot less deviations from the main game, and I enjoy that a lot more. Secrets in Spelunky HD feel like some neat, extremely deadly easter eggs that you can mess with at your leisure. Sure, I got a pug, let's do the Worm, why not. In Spelunky 2, most of them are required, and the game is so long and grueling that I can't really fathom wanting to prolong it further with something like the Mothership (especially since you'll have to drop the weapon you get from it to get to CO). Runs also feel more samey, especially because as I just mentioned, you're going to be juggling the same few items every time. The first set of levels is also a lot harder, slower and less varied than HD's much more freeform Mines.
It's weird to give the game 4.5 stars after all this complaining, but it really only affects you after you've actually beaten the game, which in itself is a very satisfying journey. There's a lot of things that Spelunky 2 does better than HD. I love the branching paths, even though you'd have to be insane to pick Temple. I really like the newer visual style, it's an almost atmospheric game at times. I like that dark levels no longer ruin your day, thank god for that. I LOVE online multiplayer, it's extremely fun (and funny) to just match with some randos online and see how they (and I) inevitably fuck up and die. It's a great game, I just wanted to explain why I like it just a bit less than HD.
To get to the Cosmic Ocean, something that I never quite managed but got repeatedly very close to before throwing in the towel, you have to: get the key and the chest in the dwellings, beat a boss, get Hou Yi's bow with a 1-minute minigame, either find Vlad's Cave or the Black Market, acquire their crown, beat another, longer boss to get the Ankh, drop the bow off with the slime guy, pull off another, longer quest that changes depending which path you pick, lose the Ankh (if you don't do the cool trick in Abzu, like some sort of loser), beating another boss at the end, then get to Neo Babylon, find the right Ushabti, take it to the end of the level, take the Qilin that hatches from it through the last normal level, fly up to the Sunken City, beat another very hard challenge to get the Arrow for the Bow, pick up the bow from the slime guy, get to the final boss, beat it, shoot it in the eye and then you can finally see the last area.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining that this is hard. It's Spelunky, it better be. I'm complaining that you're constantly going out of your own way to do something that it barely feels like you're ever actually... playing Spelunky. It's the world's hardest fetch quest. Getting to Hell in Spelunky HD isn't much easier (it's easier, but just because Spelunky 2 is just overall harder), but it requires a lot less deviations from the main game, and I enjoy that a lot more. Secrets in Spelunky HD feel like some neat, extremely deadly easter eggs that you can mess with at your leisure. Sure, I got a pug, let's do the Worm, why not. In Spelunky 2, most of them are required, and the game is so long and grueling that I can't really fathom wanting to prolong it further with something like the Mothership (especially since you'll have to drop the weapon you get from it to get to CO). Runs also feel more samey, especially because as I just mentioned, you're going to be juggling the same few items every time. The first set of levels is also a lot harder, slower and less varied than HD's much more freeform Mines.
It's weird to give the game 4.5 stars after all this complaining, but it really only affects you after you've actually beaten the game, which in itself is a very satisfying journey. There's a lot of things that Spelunky 2 does better than HD. I love the branching paths, even though you'd have to be insane to pick Temple. I really like the newer visual style, it's an almost atmospheric game at times. I like that dark levels no longer ruin your day, thank god for that. I LOVE online multiplayer, it's extremely fun (and funny) to just match with some randos online and see how they (and I) inevitably fuck up and die. It's a great game, I just wanted to explain why I like it just a bit less than HD.