Cave Crave arrived last summer for Meta Quest and then PSVR 2, receiving good feedback from players. It’s since become a ‘Top Seller’ on the Quest store, thanks to its immersive gameplay and continual updates. Now the team at 3R Games have revealed what’s coming next, in the form of Thailand’s Tham Luang for Cave Crave.
Thailand’s Tham Luang Cave in VR
If that name sounds familiar, it’s because the world-famous caves gained global attention in 2018 after a teenage football team became trapped inside after sudden flooding. Experts from around the world came to their aid, and the entire team was eventually rescued.
As part of its “Real Caves in VR” initiative, 3R Games has decided to bring this location into VR. With the help of Vern Unsworth, an experienced cave diver who was directly involved in the 2018 rescue effort, and Roo Walters, a 3D cave-scanning specialist, the team are accurately recreating the cave for players to explore.
“Our goal remains the same,” says 3R Games CEO Piotr Surmacz. “We want to let players experience the scale, atmosphere, and complexity of iconic underground spaces from the inside – without turning real-life events into gameplay.”
Currently, there’s no release date set for the Tham Luang update.
Continuing to Court Controversy
The Tham Luang cave will be the second to feature in Cave Crave, the first being Nutty Putty. While Tham Luang thankfully avoided a tragedy, Nutty Putty is very different. The underground system located in Utah, US, is no longer accessible due to the death of John Edward Jones in 2009. So, 3R Games recreated the caves using public documentation and an official cave map, with 3D scanning not an option.
While being able to explore these complex and sometimes dangerous cave systems from the comfort of your living room is great. The fact that, of the countless places the team could choose, they’re selecting cave systems which have had recent media attention, rather than picking them for their caving merits.
Cave Crave Gains More Content
The studio hasn’t been purely focused on Tham Luang either. Cave Crave’s first paid DLC, the Backer’s Pack, is available now for $9.99, featuring a set of eight unique equipment skins. Furthermore, a major new update has arrived for the Meta Quest edition, adding a brand-new Story Mode map as well as a range of quality-of-life improvements.
If you’ve not yet braved the unground labyrinth that is Cave Crave, check out our review first.
