Double Fine Production's latest quirky adventure The Cave sees seven explorers delve into a talking cave to find what they desire most. A talking cave will be the least crazy thing you hear by the end of this tale
What really brings this game to life is its excellent storytelling and humour. Double Fine has shown that they are masters of combining the two in previous titles and The Cave is no exception. Each story is wonderfully interwoven between each other with transition areas to make it feel like it is all part of one big narrative and the dark humour of the narration parallels the dark nature of each characters tale making it weirdly hilarious. There are also collectible cave paintings throughout the descent which show each character’s backstory and sinister motives for achieving their ultimate desire. In the end however, the conclusion did feel a little underwhelming, but the story leading up to it kept me interested and engaged the whole way through.
Despite any minor issues I may have mentioned, they don’t deteriorate the enjoyment of this title at all. It’ll probably only take you about 3-4 hours total to finish a run through with each group so replayability isn’t very high as the story and collectible artwork are really all that will bring you back. But for only $14.99 it’s well worth the experience you get out of this wonderful title with its simplistic gameplay, co-op and hilariously odd story. The Cave has been available as of January 23 for PlayStation Network, Nintendo eShop on Wii U, Xbox LIVE Arcade and Steam (PC, Mac, Linux). So grab some friends and explore just what exactly lies at the bottom of the alluring, mysterious and talking cave.
Score: 7.5 / 10
