My extended family fell in love with this game. My 12-year-old niece, when she was 10, would organize times for her family to play it together, and has since introduced her friends to the game, who ended up buying it.
While I hate pixel art in general, and this is no exception, the gameplay is just so much fun that in this case I'm willing to overlook it. What makes the game work so well is the randomness - you don't choose your character, and which enemies are suicide bombers is randomized, so you end up with a different experience every time even in the same levels. The game has a distinctly unique cadence that goes back and forth between "hurry up" and "look over and analyze the situation." And that tension between the two, which is also what makes Spelunky 2 so much fun, works really well here.
While I hate pixel art in general, and this is no exception, the gameplay is just so much fun that in this case I'm willing to overlook it. What makes the game work so well is the randomness - you don't choose your character, and which enemies are suicide bombers is randomized, so you end up with a different experience every time even in the same levels. The game has a distinctly unique cadence that goes back and forth between "hurry up" and "look over and analyze the situation." And that tension between the two, which is also what makes Spelunky 2 so much fun, works really well here.