Hey, everyone! I'll get RIGHT to the point. Our plan is to release online multiplayer to everyone on Steam on December 14th as an "open beta". You'll have immediate access, but we're calling this a beta because our work will continue and we imagine some issues will crop up once everyone starts playing. But our closed beta is going well and players are having a great time with it, making it into the deepest parts of the game smoothly with four players!
ːspel2caveːːspel2caveːːspel2caveːːspel2caveː ːangryshopː
If you're curious, here's a video by Xanagear from his awesome "Spelunky 2 and Friends" series, which shows off what the closed beta has been like! Spoilers, obviously!
Cross-Play? Other Features? The Future?
Our main goal is to make sure that online multiplayer is working well on Steam and PS4 before we work on cross-play. We're aiming to release our big update for PS4 by December 21st, so cross-play will probably not be available this year. We're seeing some notable improvements to PS4's online, particularly in the worst cases, but we're trying to be cautious and continue testing and looking for bugs. Don't let the "2d" label fool you: Spelunky 2 is actually a very performance-intensive game, with a lot happening all at once, on levels that can be much larger than Spelunky 1's. Imagine checking on collisions, destructible terrain, and liquid physics every frame (on two layers!). That's the main issue we've been dealing with.
After cross-play, we'll look into expanding online multiplayer in various ways, like bringing it to Arena Mode. As always, we'd love to hear what you're excited about, but keep in mind that we're approaching this expansion step-by-step.
Thank You, Spelunky Community!
Thanks for your patience and support as we work on online multiplayer! Co-op has always been a special and unique way of playing Spelunky that brings people of all ages and skill levels together. Even though it's the same adventure, the addition of other players brings the mechanics and level design of the game into a whole new light. It was definitely a disappointment for us that we couldn't let you play with each other online when the game released, especially during this frustrating time where we have to be apart! But we felt it was the right thing to do, to make sure we could bring you the best experience possible in the long run.
So keep an eye out for the public beta of online multiplayer on Steam! Once again, the planned release date is December 14th!
Happy Spelunky-ing! ːgoldidolː