This is an interesting game for me that I wanted to try out, since one of my favorite developers back in the day, had a hand in making this one.  The studio that made it, Double-Fine, I have a lukewarm relationship with, unfortunately. I like the concept of the games they provide, but their gameplay is always lackluster to me. And that is also the case here, sadly.  Perhaps if they had gone a different route to tell the tales provided, this would be a much more engaging adventure.


Story: 6
The Cave is  really, a puzzle platformer.  The tale is about a magic cave (surprise?) and the 3 people out of 7 you pick to tell their tales, live their woe, spill their guts, and get to the bottom which is when they will get a great prize... right? Sure. There's something at the bottom of this cave, and everyone wants to know what it could mean for them, but we're dealing with a motley group here; A redneck, a lady from the future (!), a scientist, a knight, a pair of creepy kids (count as 1 person), a monk seeking his master and enlightenment, and an explorer/adventurer type. Apparently the cave's power is to not only talk, but to bend time and space, for you will find yourself not just exploring a cave, but other wild locations and scenarios. Each of the characters has odd quirks to their quest that are shown through detailed still pictures from their past. The cave often gives you dark humor and the occasional note about the surrounding areas, a grim tour guide, as it were. The Cave does have a gift shop, so its not all bad.  

My issue was while the 7 stories are kind of neat, you never really hear from the characters themselves. The Cave does all the talking, and you don't really feel like you are controlling a team of misfits stuck together. The small vignettes the Cave shows you are about all you see of the characters lives. I felt the Cave was the real star here, and while  its funny, I wanted to know more about the 7 I was controlling.


Graphics: 4
I am a fan of old-school graphics, but these remind of a low budget PS1 game. Nothing is shown in any great detail, and while I liked some of the effects for lighting and water, I didn't like the look of any of the humans, playable or otherwise (this is kind of a running theme I have with Double Fine's art team).  The objects you wield look great, and sparkle just enough to notice if you drop them somewhere and forget. I did enjoy the small things one could spy stuck in the rocks (non-reachable) such as the TARDIS from Dr. Who, and other such novelties.

While the location may seem dark to begin with, it doesn't stay that way. The Cave is more than just ... a cave. The animations are smooth and looked well done. Each character you choose has a unique ability, and those are animated as well. If you are a fan of Double Fine games in the past, this may look good to you, but it didn't do anything for me.


Sound: 7
A lot of moody music in this, each character has a theme, good use of piano throughout.  Not a lot of variety in music, however, mostly brooding, sombre tones and a few sci-fi sounding tracks.  The voice work is great, as is the sound effects. But again, with our heroes saying nada, it could only remind me of how some playful (or hostile ) banter between my team would have benefited the game. After all, none of the 7 are a designated team, surely someone objects to being thrown in with a hillbilly and a monk!  The Cave mocks its own voice, and your failures as you try to progress, there are also NPCs to talk to.


Addictiveness: 3
Its a slow puzzle game, with some metriodvania style backtracking in some instances. This is fine and good, but there is a whole lot of nothing between locations. If there was more to do, or things to fight, something to add more to the game, it would benefit. I didn't like some of the puzzles, but fortunately, most are pretty easy to figure out and work with. After all, there are only so many things to click on. Sadly, despite having multiple endings I just couldn't really get into this game. Perhaps if it was just going to a room and coming across an immediate puzzle, the backtracking for simple items felt like padding.

Depth: 7
There are multiple endings. Since you can only take 3 characters in, you'd have to play it 3 times to see everyone ending, but every character also has 2 endings. So theres even more replay. Everything is pretty cut and dry through, with little in the way of alternate methods to solving the puzzles. Each character does have their own special power (the time traveler can do some limited teleporting, for instance) and each has their own section in the Cave that only they can access. There is more depth that I expected since the puzzles are really the only thing to do here.

Difficulty: 6
Is it hard? Yes and No. Some puzzles require you to think it out, but you are hampered by the lack of inventory, for sure. Each character can only hold one item, so even if you figure out what to do, you might have to backtrack through empty tunnels a bit to get what you need. There is no way around it though, being a puzzle game, you must solve them to even continue. The jumping is decent, I didn't run into many problems with it, but the platforming itself is a bit clunky, so you might walk right into a pit of spikes if you are not careful.


Verdict: 5.5
While nothing is fundamentally wrong with this game, I didn't find it very engaging or fun, due to lack of personality in our heroes, and lack of general things to do in The Cave. A bit more exploration and alternate solutions would have been nice, but not as much as giving some vitality to the ill-defined lumps we seem to be controlling. If you are a fan of Double-Fine's other games, this may appeal to you. 


+Multiple endings encourage replay
+ Dark humor is well used
+ Sound is pretty good overall, somber music and great voice acting


- player characters lack a lot of personality
- gameplay is a bit clunky in platforming and crude item management
- Dull at times as you're running back and forth to solve puzzles