I want to hate Spelunky. I really do. I die hundreds of times with lots of frustrating ignorance contributing to the deaths…and yet, I’m in love with this stupid game.

Spelunky is one of those games you can pick up and play at any moment, even if you only have 5 minutes. It has a fun premise – with you being a midget that is looking for other midgets lost in a mine filled full of traps, spiders, snakes, Democrats and many other treacherous obstacles. It is almost like a cartoon Indiana Jones arcade game. But this game is HARD.

If I were ranking Spelunky on the hardness scale, it would be harder than Mega Man, FTL, Ninja Gaiden and maybe any other game I have played. I don’t want to say it is the hardest game of all time because some dork will come along, breathing through his mouth, and tell me about something that is harder…but it ranks in my list of toughest games. As of this writing, I’ve yet to make it past the jungle levels (but I’m getting closer!). Early on, I couldn’t make it past the second stage. Sometimes, I die on the first stage…still.

Levels are totally random. You might start out and get super lucky, get 28 bombs, the mining tool, a jetpack or a shotgun. You might also then get shot by an arrow, propelled at 100 miles per hour into a spider, then fall on spikes and lose it all. It really is that crazy.

Even the tutorial on this game is super-hard. I died many times on it.

There are times that this game makes me want to go punch a homeless man in the mouth. Somehow, I keep coming back to it. I feel like an abused spouse who keeps running back to their husband/wife who is all punchy instead of lovey. But not all games should be easy and this game certainly fills a “challenge void” that seems to exist in today’s gaming world. It is currently free on PS4 for Plus users so check it out and let me know what you think about it.