The Eggplant World can be considered the most mythical location in all of Spelunky 2. It can be very difficult to reach it and can take a lot of luck for a Spelunker to get the materials necessary.
How to Reach
There are multiple hoops that a Spelunker must jump through in order to reach the Eggplant World:
Step 1: Obtain the Eggplant
The Eggplant is found by offering a Mystery Box to a Kali Altar. One will be met with the text "Kali enjoys a good mystery!" and will be awarded it.
Tips and Tricks
- Unfortunately, a player is not allowed to take a Mystery Box to another level, instead, it will be left behind at the level exit.
- Because of this, a Spelunker will simply just have to be lucky enough to obtain a Mystery Box on the same stage where an Altar spawned. If this happens while the player is in Dwelling, Jungle, or Volcana, the player can leave the Eggplant with Waddler once they reach Olmec's Lair.
- If the player is past Olmec's Lair, they may still earn an Eggplant in Tide Pool. Level 4-2 in Tide Pool will always contain Great Humphead, who will consistently leave behind a Hired Hand and Mystery Box. If a Kali Altar spawns on 4-2, the player can obtain an Eggplant after defeating Great Humphead.
- However, the player must be able to reach the Sunken City in order to reach the Eggplant World, meaning one will most likely need the Tablet of Destiny.
- In order to obtain it while keeping the Eggplant, the player will have to either use a hired hand to carry Excalibur and the Eggplant to go to Abzu, or only bring the Eggplant and defeat Kingu through other means. The first method can sometimes be unreliable, as a hired hand is likely to die in 4-3 or lose the Excalibur before the player makes it through the Abzu door.
- Despite this, it is much easier to escort the Eggplant from Tide Pool to the Ice Caves, as players wanting to reach the Cosmic Ocean do not have to worry about using a Hired Hand to bring Hou Yi's Bow and the Eggplant to Olmec's Lair, and the RNG is more consistent, only asking for a Kali Altar to spawn on 4-2.
- Alternatively, a player can perform a Qilin Skip to make it to the Eggplant World, if they choose to avoid the Tablet of Destiny in favor of the Eggplant.
- In order to obtain it while keeping the Eggplant, the player will have to either use a hired hand to carry Excalibur and the Eggplant to go to Abzu, or only bring the Eggplant and defeat Kingu through other means. The first method can sometimes be unreliable, as a hired hand is likely to die in 4-3 or lose the Excalibur before the player makes it through the Abzu door.
- However, the player must be able to reach the Sunken City in order to reach the Eggplant World, meaning one will most likely need the Tablet of Destiny.
Opening The Moai with an Eggplant to reach the Eggplant Child.
Step 2: Bring the Eggplant to Ice Caves
After having reached the Ice Caves, a Spelunker must deposit the Eggplant at the Eggplant Altar next to the Moai. The Moai and Eggplant Altar will always spawn near the beginning of the level, and always higher up in the level than Waddler's abode is.
After placing the Eggplant upon the purple altar next to the Moai, it will open, leading the way into where the Eggplant Child sleeps.
Tips and Tricks
- if the player left the Eggplant with Waddler in Olmec's Lair, they will have to backtrack up the level to return to the Moai. One should ensure that they have the mobility to ascend back up from Waddler, whether it is from Rope, Climbing Gloves, the Jetpack, or Vlad's Cape.
- If the Eggplant Altar is destroyed, the Player will be unable to access the inside of the Moai, regardless of whether they have an Eggplant or not. Exercise extreme caution when handing Promixity Mines or UFO's around the Moai, and place the Eggplant as soon as possible in order to avoid a potential disaster where the altar is destroyed and the player cannot open the Moai.
Step 3: Take the Eggplant Child to the Sunken City
Once a player has awoken the Eggplant Child within the Ice Caves, they must accompany them all the way to the Sunken City. This means that a player should either have a plan for reaching it through Tiamat's Throne, or have the Tablet of Destiny in their inventory to obtain the Qilin and reach it safely and normally.
Tips and Tricks
- You do not have to bring the Eggplant Child with you. As long as the player awoke the Eggplant Child within the Moai, it will always teleport to the player once they exit a level, identically to how a Hired Hand would.
- It is highly recommended that the player picks up the Eggplant Child at the beginning of every level and places them down on the ground in a safe spot, where they will sleep for two minutes. When the player finishes the level, they will reappear at the beginning of the next level, meaning that the player will not have to worry about them when progressing through the level, so long as they did not take over two minutes to complete it.
- As the child will only sleep for two minutes, the player may not have enough time to safely complete tasks in Neo Babylon before it wakes up and puts itself in danger. This is especially seen in 4-3, where the player can access the Palace of Pleasure and has to escort the Qilin to the exit. If the player is not comfortable with leaving the child behind at the entrance, they may take the child with them, as they will allow the player to hold them for two minutes before jumping off.
- It is highly recommended that the player picks up the Eggplant Child at the beginning of every level and places them down on the ground in a safe spot, where they will sleep for two minutes. When the player finishes the level, they will reappear at the beginning of the next level, meaning that the player will not have to worry about them when progressing through the level, so long as they did not take over two minutes to complete it.
- Exercise extreme caution in Neo Babylon, and ensure that the Eggplant Child is sleeping in a place where no traps or enemies will hurt them.
- The Eggplant Child WILL attempt to fight enemies, and even wake up from their slumber to try attack enemies that are anywhere near it, even when a wall or floor is between them and the enemy. Because of this, it is strongly recommended to keep the child far away from any threats that it may want to attack.
- The Ghost will kill the Eggplant Child if given the chance.
Step 4: Rest the Eggplant Child upon the Mother Statue in Sunken City
The door to the Eggplant World opening.
Once you have made it with the Eggplant Child into the Sunken City safely, exercise extreme caution and ensure that the Eggplant Child makes it to the Mother Statue safely. Place the Eggplant Child upon the arms of the Mother Statue, and the door to the Eggplant World will open. You've done it! The Eggplant World is just a door away.
Tips and Tricks
- Be extremely careful with the reforming bubble blocks of Sunken City, as they can bring you or the Eggplant Child to an unfortunate ending.
- Keep the Eggplant Child far away from the transporting tubes while there is any sort of threat on the other side, as it is likely to end in disaster if the player does not remove ALL threats before awaking the child and progressing through the tube section. Even a few Grub could get the Eggplant Child killed.
- If one intends to obtain the Arrow of Light and the Hou Yi Bow from Waddler to reach the Cosmic Ocean, it is recommended to make great haste through the level, as they will not have much time to complete the Sun Challenge, retrieve Hou Yi's bow, and open the door to Eggplant World.
- Being in the arms of the Mother Statue long enough will give the player 4 HP.
Features
The Eggplant World will greet the player with the level feeling "You feel strangely at peace."
The Ghost will never spawn in the Eggplant World naturally.
Scattered among the Eggplant World are Eggplups and Eggplant Ministers. They are passive and do not attack the player.
There are three notable landmarks of the Eggplant World:
Ghist Shopkeeper
Hidden a specific block of a specific chunk of the level, there is an entrance to a Ghist Shopkeeper's store. Within it's walls, he will sell mystery boxes containing one of 4 kinds of items: Any gun, any pack item, the Clone Gun, or, peculiarly, a player Corpse Bag containing 12 bombs and 12 rope. This is generally considered not worth it at all, as the player must be Cursed to enter the shop.
Empress' Gravestone
The grave of the Empress can be found before Yama's Throne. It reads, "Here lies the Empress. May she finally find peace." A Diamond will always spawn just below the grave, and taking a picture of the grave with the Camera will cause The Ghost of the Empress to appear.
Yama's Throne
At the top of the level, the player will find the Eggplant King on his throne. It is revealed that King Yama was canonically defeated in the original Spelunky HD adventure when Tina Flan threw an Eggplant at him. He will tell the player, "Every king or queen will someday lose their crown..."
Much like the original King Yama, it is possible to stand on his shoulders. Whipping Yama will leave his skull behind, and cause him to say, "Eat your vegetables!" He will explode into 10 pieces of Eggplant Flesh, as well as the Eggplant Crown. After killing Yama, the music will mostly slow down and distort for the remainder of the time that the player spends in the Eggplant World.
Gallery
Trivia
- Dying in the Eggplant World will give the player a special death message: "As I sank into the eggplants, a feeling of calm washed over me..."
- The canon story of Tina Flan defeating King Yama by throwing an Eggplant at him in Spelunky HD is a direct reference to the first ever solo eggplant run performed in Spelunky HD by Bananasaurus Rex, who was playing as Tina Flan for the run. The run can be seen here.