Secret Level – Episode 12 “Spelunky” Recap & Review

Spelunky

Episode 12 of Secret Level returns to the cartoony graphics of the Sifu episode earlier in the season. Here, we see an adventurer called Ana, who’s trying to navigate through the mines without dying. However, that’s easier said than done when she continues to die, forced into restarting the labyrinth from the beginning.

Her companion, Liz, explains that she scratches on the wall every time she dies. Liz believes they should be taking dying more seriously than they are, and tries to encourage Ana to learn something from this. She doesn’t though, as she dies numerous times in a little montage. She eventually stops when she reaches 82 times.

Ana feels hollowed out and she’s not sure she can carry on. Liz continues to encourage her though, and explains that every day is like that. She needs to embrace her different lives and stick to the beauty of it all.

At this point, Ana realizes that the marks she’s making on the walls aren’t just the moments she died. Instead, these are a memorial to the different adventures she created. It’s enough to invigorate Ana, who decides to head out on another run.

The Episode Review

What’s particularly interesting with this episode is how it reflects the feelings of playing roguelikes. These games require you to die constantly in order to learn the mechanics and get through to the other side in one piece. Along the way, you encounter so many challenges but also find yourself faced with memorable, beautiful moments, and that is captured really well in this episode.

The markings up on the wall are a nice way of signifying this, and the message at the end about embracing each life and not wasting them is a nice way of reinforcing our own lives and how we shouldn’t be wasting our time but instead, maximizing every moment to try and succeed in the future.

Secret Level does well to capture this within the world of Spelunky, and it’s certainly a charming episode, backed up by some gorgeous visuals.