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Is Spelunky the greatest procedurally generated game of all time?
- Thread starter Rangerx
- Start date
I went through a very big Binding of Isaac phase and thought it was that for a long time, but after rebuying the game on Switch I came to the conclusion that yeah, Spelunky is the better game. Because there's no grind in Spelunky. Everything about the game is there from the start and it's so well designed.
Except this world has Diablo 1/2/3 (all of the dungeons are procedurally generated, except for boss chambers). So no.
But I'm biased, I HATED the time pressure in that game (or any game where it's not a challenge mode or optional puzzle and/or encounter). No idea if that can be turned off in Spelunky though.
But I'm biased, I HATED the time pressure in that game (or any game where it's not a challenge mode or optional puzzle and/or encounter). No idea if that can be turned off in Spelunky though.
This. I also enjoyed Dead Cells, but the grind for higher level abilities/weapons makes the game automatically inferior to Spelunky. Also the latter is so much shorter, which is great for speed runs.
OP, it's in top 5 for sure.
It's definitely one of the best.
*It makes every run meaningful.
*It makes every level feel varied and special, with the different themes/styles they have (Dead Ceels could learn from this).
*It's is about learning and exploring, Instead of being about unlocking things for your next runt.
*It's challenging without making retries annoying/disheartening.
*It makes every run meaningful.
*It makes every level feel varied and special, with the different themes/styles they have (Dead Ceels could learn from this).
*It's is about learning and exploring, Instead of being about unlocking things for your next runt.
*It's challenging without making retries annoying/disheartening.
Spelunky's is excellent in that regard. Risk of Rain and Rogue Legacy are a bit too simple in their implementations to qualify imo.
Spelunky is still the best of the Roguelites. The best "X + Roguelike elements" to this day. Especially because it didn't bother with overbearing persistent progression nonsense yet.
Overall though? Mh.
Crawl Stone Soup
ADOM
UnReal World
Cataclysm
Nethack
Caves of Qud
.....
These are all astonishing games with depths that few games really bother to reach.
Overall though? Mh.
Crawl Stone Soup
ADOM
UnReal World
Cataclysm
Nethack
Caves of Qud
.....
These are all astonishing games with depths that few games really bother to reach.
Obviously that would be Nethack, but yeah Spelunky is pretty good :)
Diablo 2 was entierely procedurally generated, so it count (Diablo 1 also count, but no Diablo 3)
I vote for Diablo 2
It's up there. Definitely one of my favourites. But I'm also a huge fan of things like FTL, Don't Starve, Gungeon etc.
They remind me of some of the more novel games I used to play (or wanted to play) during my Amstrad CPC 464 days...
They remind me of some of the more novel games I used to play (or wanted to play) during my Amstrad CPC 464 days...
No, because Invisible Inc. exists. What devs did with procedural generation in this game is amazing, never had a situation when i was fucked by unfair level generation.
Up there, but there are loads of good contenders
Dwarf Fortress, Heat Signature, FTL, Minecraft, Isaac, Angband...
Dwarf Fortress, Heat Signature, FTL, Minecraft, Isaac, Angband...
Would love to see more developers try to do things possible in Nethack,
One of the big ones is a proper item handling for NPC and monsters.
Leaving wand or cursed item lying around for monsters to use and so on.
I kinda thought so. It's hard for me to put anything above that, but Spelunky is still pretty amazing. It was the sole reason I owned my Vita for so long. I only got rid of it cause the screen cracked and wouldn't come on after I moved, I think it got crushed :(
it is surely one of the best, and one of the most polished ones, with barely any useless items and features in it. It's the Apex Legends of Roguelikes for sure :D
It's definitely my favorite. Some great runner ups in this thread. If we aren't including the map being generated then I'd go with heroes of might and magic 3 as another runner up
Logically the best game of all time would be the best game in whatever category that is being discussed. So my answer would be yes.
Obviously the umbrella of 'procedurally generated' is wide and far, such as simple dungeon generation and randomized loot in a game like Diablo, to entirely simulated worlds of Dwarf Fortress to the sheer combinatoric madness of Binding Of Isaac.
People might say Nethack, I say Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup because it's actually has a cohesive, thoughtful design instead of the complete mess that is Nethack. People saying Angband is the best are suffering from the rose-tinted glasses too; Angband is the slot-machine of roguelikes and there are better variants like Sil that remove the grind whilst keeping the excitement of what a new run can bring.
People might say Gungeon, but I'd say Isaac trumps it in replaybility because Isaac understands what replayability means, Gungeon is all surface. No-one gets as excited for a Gungeon run vs an Isaac run.
You might say Daggerfall, but what use is all that space and sheer volume of content when it's so empty and dead? Minecraft takes even more space but the game is designed in a way that all that space has meaning.
I love procedurally generated / aleatoric / generative game systems and I've played most of them and the problem that most of them face is the designers fail to understand that you can't just 'randomize all the things' or on the other hand 'have random elements' and expect either to work. The best games understand that procedural design and procedural experiences have to be crafted, developed, and designed. Spelunky understands this definitely.
But yea the correct answer is Football Manager don't @ me
People might say Nethack, I say Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup because it's actually has a cohesive, thoughtful design instead of the complete mess that is Nethack. People saying Angband is the best are suffering from the rose-tinted glasses too; Angband is the slot-machine of roguelikes and there are better variants like Sil that remove the grind whilst keeping the excitement of what a new run can bring.
People might say Gungeon, but I'd say Isaac trumps it in replaybility because Isaac understands what replayability means, Gungeon is all surface. No-one gets as excited for a Gungeon run vs an Isaac run.
You might say Daggerfall, but what use is all that space and sheer volume of content when it's so empty and dead? Minecraft takes even more space but the game is designed in a way that all that space has meaning.
I love procedurally generated / aleatoric / generative game systems and I've played most of them and the problem that most of them face is the designers fail to understand that you can't just 'randomize all the things' or on the other hand 'have random elements' and expect either to work. The best games understand that procedural design and procedural experiences have to be crafted, developed, and designed. Spelunky understands this definitely.
But yea the correct answer is Football Manager don't @ me