Spelunky 2 mod Overlunky lets you zoom out and blow up every level
At last, revenge against moles
I've exhausted Spelunky 2 of everything it can give me (because I've no interest in pursuing its remaining secret endings). I've therefore turned to mods to help extend the experience. There's not much available so far, but there is Overlunky, a mod framework that lets you teleport to any level, spawn items including explosions, and zoom the camera out way far. It's cool to play around with, and hopefully a platform for more to come.
Here's a video of it in action:
If there are things in Spelunky 2 you'd like to see, but you lack the skill and perseverence necessary to get there, then this might be one way you can experience it for yourself. You can spawn all the crowns, for example, gift yourself a shower of rubies, or simply plop down a doorway to a later world you've never reached.
Or you could just wreak vengeance for every petty death the game has ever inflicted upon you by simply blowing up every level.
As much as I like easy money and blowing everything up, it's the ability to zoom out that I've played around with the most. Spelunky 2 plays on the limits of your vision, with traps that can be triggered while still off-screen, or easy-to-miss objects or doors you can find yourself urgently backtracking to find. Being able to zoom out changes all that. It doesn't erase the game's challenge, but it changes how you make decisions when you know there's turkeys ahead, or lava to the right, or a really good shop near the exit. It's been enough to freshen up an experience that, for me, had grown stale after 150 hours.
How install Overlunky for Spelunky 2
Installing the mod is straightforward, though there are a couple of extra steps if you want to do it the most secure way.
First, grab the latest release from the mod's Github repository. Extract it anywhere. You can theoretically now run Overlunky, run the game, and have a blast.
The problem is that Spelunky 2 is also a multiplayer game, so having mods that let you cheat running while you play probably isn't a great idea. As the mod's own page says, "You are strongly discouraged from using any modding tools in your actual online Steam installation as to prevent unlocking achievements, ruining or corrupting your savefile and cheating while using online features."
The mod's creators recommend creating a duplicate of your Spelunky 2 install folder. You'll be able to find Spelunky 2 in \steamapps\common\Spelunky 2\, and you can copy it to any other location on your hard drive. Then install Mr. Goldbergs Steam emulator in this new game directory. Download the latest build at that link, and copy the steam_api64.dll from the .zip over the one in the game directory.
That should be it. Your duplicated Spelunky 2 won't talk to Steam anymore, and so shouldn't interfere with achievements or other online functions while you blow the world to bits. You might encounter some problems, as your virus checker might block the Steam emulator. It's an uncommon .zip download with a bunch of DLLs inside. I've been using it for weeks now without any apparent issues, but install it at your own risk.