Spelunky 2's Hired Hands will now stop dropping stuff on your head

This update also makes those pesky bear traps stand out more

Whenever I read the patch notes for Spelunky 2, I picture myself dying in bizarre and obtuse ways. Each bullet point – every balance change and quality-of-life improvement – is a cautionary tale about how a run could end. "Bomb bags and bomb boxes now react to lava," you say? Yeah, I'm gonna die to that!

If you're chipping away at a brick wall (and let's face it, no matter how skilled you are in Spelunky, there are always new challenges to strive for), then every little adjustment can make a difference.

We recently told you about an update that rebalanced the first zone, Dwelling, so that the creatures wouldn't be quite so out of control. Now, here's another one: a just-released update with a lot of great tweaks. I'll recap some of my favorite odds and ends, or you can read the whole spoiler-y list over here.

• Prevented Hired Hands from dropping held items from ledges
• Mounts' hitboxes slightly widened so they should be harder to miss and easier to ride
• Balance: Added gold on top of snap traps as bait so they're easier to spot

These are the big three right here. Hired Hands are a hilariously tragic nuisance. The fire-breathing Rock Dogs, in particular, can be weirdly finicky to jump on even when the coast is completely clear. And snap traps... oh, snap traps. They're arguably the sneakiest obstacles to watch out for in Spelunky 2.

I don't know why I keep giving them a chance... from r/spelunky

Other much-appreciated changes:

• Small physics tweak that should make the player less likely to be unjustly crushed
• Players can now fall through platforms while attacking
• Vlad's Cape now auto-deploys after the second jump if holding the button
• Prevented spear traps from appearing in the entrance room in a specific theme
• Dialogs' and descriptions' text box size now also changes depending on players settings
• Vendors will now drop their weapon when eaten by a mantrap
• Pets can now enter through special worlds' doors
• Minor improvements to collision detection

Derek Yu and BlitWorks are listening to player feedback, and it shows. I'm thankful.

Patch Notes: 1.13.0b [Steam]