Spelunker World will challenge you at every turn, since so many obstacles are deadly. If you persist, you'll find a rewarding experience. I've played the previous PS3 version (Spelunker HD, including the Championship difficulty DLC) a ton, and this is a worthy successor with a few flaws. If you don't know already, the point of Spelunker is that it is punishingly difficult (maybe like Super Meat Boy), so you will die a lot. You only get 2 spare lives to complete a level, but you can always quit and retry a level. Or, play cooperatively online and be rescued to get a new life. The free-to-play aspect kicks in if you choose to get a new set of lives within a level, but this is never required. You can collect equipment to make the game easier by collecting treasures. If you keep collecting the same equipment, it can be upgraded. Upgraded equipment is never required to beat an area, but is required to collect at least one treasure in most areas. Compared to the PS3 versions, Spelunker World lacks offline split-screen co-op but online gameplay seems more stable. Areas are broken into smaller sets of levels so that people can rejoin easier. Since you cannot join an online lobby when the game is in progress, I wish it had an option to spectate or wait until a game is joinable. The treasure unlocking at the end of an area could stand to be sped up. The gameplay feels a bit stiff compared to the PS3 version, but this appears to be due to a slight pause when your character changes directions, which is fine once you get used to it. "Rope Assist" is now on by default which feels strange. This makes the game easier by preventing you from slipping left or right off of vines, but it would be nice if there was an option to turn this off. Difficulty wise, I would say it's slightly easier than the PS3 version both due to the automatic "Rope Assist" and a few situations which would have resulted in death but are now safe maneuvers in Spelunker World. But on the flip side there is at least one situation that will kill you in Spelunker World that had been safe in the previous games. I highly recommend playing especially for the online co-op, which is an experience like nothing else. As long as you play patiently and smartly (and prepare to be trolled by the developers), then you'll do fine.

Spelunker World feels like one of those notoriously bad NES titles that people will always warn you to stay away from. The gameplay is practically broken because of how restrictive it is to the player. You have to play the way Square Enix wants you to play or else you will die at nearly every corner of a jump, drop or obstacle. It does partly redeem itself for giving plenty (and I mean dozens) of lives before the paywall for more lives comes up. The micro transactions aren't anywhere near as severe as Frozen Free Fall. There are some acceptable customization features in the midst of the repetition, but there are still far better games out there that you can invest your time in for free.

This is the lowest rating I've ever given a game on here. Now I'm a huge spelunky fan so when I saw this game, I was very excited. Needless to say I was horribly disappointed. I don't even know where to be begin; This game is flawed in every way possible. A pathetic undertaking that Square Enix should be ashamed to have taken a part in.