UPDATE 20/8/24: Well, there you go. Following last week's Deadline report, Amazon has officially unveiled Secret Level, a new "adult-animated anthology series featuring original stories set within the worlds of some of the most beloved video games".

It's a 15-episode series from the creators of Love, Death & Robots, and it'll feature stories inspired by Armored Core, Concord, Crossfire, Dungeons & Dragons, Exodus, Honor of Kings, Mega Man, New World: Aeternum, PAC-MAN, Sifu, Spelunky, The Outer Worlds, Unreal Tournament, Warhammer 40,000, and a variety of PlayStation Studios games.

And if that takes your fancy, you'll be wanting to circle 10th December on your calendar - which is when the series arrives on Prime Video - then check out its teaser trailer below.

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Chaos and comedy. Death and rebirth. Luck and, uh, running out of luck. A good roguelike doesn't treat the player like other games do. Roguelikes won't guide you helpfully along a path, or let you cinematically snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. They're more likely to dangle you deep between the jaws of defeat and fumble the rope until you go sliding down defeat's hungry gullet. This is their beauty, and it's a part of why we keep coming back for another go. Next time everything will go right. Next time you'll find the right pair of poison-proof loafers, the perfect co-pilot for your spaceship, a stash of stronger, better ropes. Next time.

Here's our list of the 19 best roguelikes on PC you can play in 2024.

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Chaos and comedy. Death and rebirth. Luck and, uh, running out of luck. A good roguelike doesn't treat the player like other games do. Roguelikes won't guide you helpfully along a path, or let you cinematically snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. They're more likely to dangle you deep between the jaws of defeat and fumble the rope until you go sliding down defeat's hungry gullet. This is their beauty, and it's a part of why we keep coming back for another go. Next time everything will go right. Next time you'll find the right pair of poison-proof loafers, the perfect co-pilot for your spaceship, a stash of stronger, better ropes. Next time.

Here's our list of the 19 best roguelikes on PC you can play in 2024.

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My position on things is that you can't really finish Spelunky. In Spelunky, a brilliantly malevolent yet dependable roguelike and platformer, there's always something more to try, something new you might learn.

Even so, the degree to which I personally had not finished Spelunky lay far beyond what most people would mean by not having finished the game. More clearly: until this week, I had not defeated Olmec, the very first final boss, if such a formulation is possible. Anyway, now I have. And so Spelunky is our game of the week as a result. Go and play Spelunky! It's still brilliant.

I don't know why I hadn't defeated Olmec until now. My clock reads 220 hours on Steam alone, and I've spent what feel like whole lifetimes playing the game on the 360 and Switch, and even the original version on PC. I would say I'm probably 400 hours in all told, and also: Olmec isn't even that hard to beat. Open up shortcuts and you can be there in minutes, and all you need to cheese him is five bombs. And also also: he's a reference to the final boss of Super Mario 3, which I defeated when I was 12 or thereabouts.

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Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!

Oh and if you want to read more, you can - you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site.

We're well aware of our human capabilities, so games often deliver fantasies about going beyond them. We play characters with extraordinary acrobatic abilities, or with incredible strength or martial prowess, and sometimes, we play as characters who have powers we could never have. Mixed within this is the fantasy of becoming something completely different and changing entirely from a human into something else, and that's what I want to get at here. Ever since Altered Beast, and probably for far longer, we've had games that allowed us to change shapes and access new abilities as we play. We've even had games take us to inorganic places, with mech suits and more. Shape changes can be the ultimate power-up. The question is, which are the best?

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Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing over the past few days. This week: twin-stick shooters, caving, and ink.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.

On a whim I did the Daily Challenge in Spelunky the other day. It has been years since this was a regular feature of my life. I had lots of Spelunky nerves, a reminder I hadn't played in a while: the toothy plants made me shiver, and a door in Jungle with spike traps on either side was enough to make me doubt my abilities.

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Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing over the past few days. This week: twin-stick shooters, caving, and ink.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.

On a whim I did the Daily Challenge in Spelunky the other day. It has been years since this was a regular feature of my life. I had lots of Spelunky nerves, a reminder I hadn't played in a while: the toothy plants made me shiver, and a door in Jungle with spike traps on either side was enough to make me doubt my abilities.

Read more