Tastes Like Spelunky

Tastes Like Spelunky by halibabica is not a completely original game, but a modified version of the popular indie platformer Spelunky created by Derek Yu. The gist of the original game is that the player is an adventurer who explores an ever-changing dungeon loaded with treasure and deadly obstacles. One of those dangers is the so-called Man Trap, an aggressive, carnivorous mobile plant monster. Tastes Like Spelunky lets you play the role of such a Man Trap for once, resulting in a similar yet also very different game experience compared to the original.

My experience with this game is probably a little different than usual: When I tried Tastes Like Spelunky for the first time, I hadn't actually played the original Spelunky yet (although I had seen others play it). Looking back, I can say that for a newcomer, getting into Tastes Like Spelunky is not much more difficult than when starting with the original. (Although there are a few things that are a bit obscure, the best example being the obvious item pair of the locked chest and the key being replaced by the not so obvious golden food tray and oven mitt.) In this review, I am going to examine Tastes Like Spelunky largely in comparison to the original, though, since there are probably very few people who will experience it as out of context as I did, and explaining the original here as well seems pointless.

Many of the graphics are the same as in the original, but quite a number of changes have been made in the right places. This is especially visible in the animations for the plant-based main character and his trusty spelunking tools, such as bud bombs and climbing vines. But even more noticeable is the treasure that can be collected along the way. Because what would a plant monster do with money anyway? Therefore, Tastes Like Spelunky turns the hunt for riches into a hunt for food. Instead of gold, jewels and idols, you will risk your life for meatballs, drumsticks and hamburgers, their worth being measured not in dollars but in calories. The absurdity of this whole concept may sound off-putting to seasoned Spelunky players at first, but it's actually quite funny to watch how the focus of all the dungeons is shifted towards scavenging for meat.

Under these new circumstances, the way the game plays must obviously be different as well. Perhaps the most significant change is the Man Trap's ability to eat things. Before you can use any item you find, you will have to devour it first. In order to do so, the player has to expend one so-called "Bite", a new resource introduced in Tastes Like Spelunky. Since Bites are even more limited than other resources such as bombs, managing them cleverly becomes quite an important task. The reason for this is that readying items is not the only use of a Bite: Being the carnivorous plant it is, the Man Trap can also feed on large food objects (the "idols") or the bodies of enemies. In exchange for one Bite, the player regains one point of health instantly when doing so.



My embarassing record so far. And actually, that's not even that bad.


If you just shook your head at this unbalanced ability or started cheering hoping for a way of not dying so often when playing Spelunky, you can stop that right away. Tastes Like Spelunky is just as challenging and frustrating as the original, and being able to regenerate health relatively easily does not change that. The reason for that is not only that health loss is by far not the most common way to die - instant death by traps or shotguns happen much more often. But in addition, you simply can't afford to use up all your Bites to gain health if you want the benefits of some good items. Therefore, the introduction of Bites simply adds a new and exciting element to the struggle for survival in the winding dungeons.
Unfortunately, it is also in this context where one of the biggest issues of Tastes Like Spelunky lies: Since Bites are such a valuable and rare resource, you will not want to waste any of them. As a result, the game's mechanics indirectly discourage you from picking up certain less valuable items, as settling for anything less than the optimal choice is usually not worth the Bite. As a result, items like the ninja star, the throwing gloves or the spiked boots practically lose all purpose in Tastes Like Spelunky and might as well not have been included.

The way in which the "inventory" is organised also adds to the problematic nature of items in this game. As a Man Trap, you can only carry up to three items of different kinds inside your stomach, all of which have their owns slot: One for weapons, one for actively used non-weapon items, and one for items with a passive effect. There is also a fourth slot reserved for food that you are currently digesting, as after you've already had a food item or enemy, you can't eat another one for 30 seconds. Unfortunately, it is not always clear right away which category an item belongs into, which can result in huge mishaps as consuming another item from the same category overrides and removes the old one. This is particularly frustrating in the case of accidentally replacing items necessary to reach the City of Gold Meat. In addition, it makes certain items appear even more worthless, as finding and eating a better item of the same category will erase them anyway and make picking them up even more of a waste of Bites. On the other hand, being able to carry around an object while still holding a weapon (inside your belly), thus not having to constantly juggle them around, is a very nice feeling, especially in the notorious dark levels.

If, among all this talk about items, Bites and health, you started wondering where Spelunky's famous damsels in distress would fit into this concept, if at all, then do not worry. As the only way to restore health in the original, they might seem unnecessary in Tastes Like Spelunky, but they have their specific place: Getting them to the exit alive allows you to eat them calmly between levels without having to expend a Bite, which makes "rescuing" them efficient again. But since you are not a friendly hero but a carnivorous plant now, the damsels will obviously try to escape from your grasp. In order to be able to carry them around, you have to knock them out for a while first, and repeat the process when they wake up and try to run again. It is a problem that they can only survive very few hits, so that at a certain point all there might be left for you to pick up is a dead body (which you can still eat at the cost of a Bite, though). This is especially annoying if the damsel appears very early on a stage, as that makes it almost impossible to get her to the exit in time, even if you do everything right.While it is obvious that luck always plays a role in randomly generated levels, it just does not feel fair to be deprived of a bonus point of health just because a damsel spawned too far away from the exit.



Three guesses what just killed me there. Hint: It wasn't the Man Trap in the upper left corner.


One of the other disadvantages of being a horrible plant monster is that even the greediest of shopkeepers won't sell to you. All shopkeepers are automatically hostile towards you, and although they do not actively come after you as long as you stay out of their way, they will immediately put their shotguns to use if you try to enter one of their stores. This means that especially early in the game, acquiring some good items without having to rob a shop becomes rather difficult, and attempts to plunder the shops are likely to result in numerous deaths on the player's part. It also means that, unless you're properly equipped and very careful, the Black Market becomes an inescapable deathole.
On the upside, from the first jungle level on, you will occasionally encounter other Man Traps that try to sell you an item in exchange for some calories or dead bodies, thereby making up for the lack of available shops to buy from. And you never have to worry about them attacking you, as apparently even human-eating plant monsters shy away from cannibalism - they even have some funny lines of dialogue ready for you.

All in all, Tastes Like Spelunky has its issues and is not a totally revolutionary modification of the original, but its ideas and their execution are definitely good. If you enjoyed Spelunky, chances are high you will appreciate this variant as well.