As hobbies go, caving certainly isn’t for everyone. Heading deep underground to explore a dark, dangerous world of caverns and tunnels, squeezing through narrowing gaps is unnerving for all but the adventurous few. But thanks to VR, you can do all of this from the comfort of your own home. 3R Games has recently released Cave Crave for Meta Quest, and as our friends at 131XR find in their review, this experience gets a lot right.
On this page:
Let’s go spelunking!
Whether you call it caving, spelunking or pot holing, the activity is just the same. You grab some safely gear and supplies and heading into a claustrophobic domain where death is an increased possibility. A single-player game, Cave Crave aims to provide the most realistic caving experience to date. While titles such as The Climb 2 took players to new heights, Cave Crave takes you deep into the Earth’s underbelly.
In doing so, you’ll have to hold your breath to squeese through gaps. Use tools to unblock paths, and make sure you don’t lose your way in the laberinthine tunnels by marking your way. Best of luck!
Cave Crave Review
As a solo adventure, Cave Crave has a basic narrative involving your character’s dad and an inheritance buried somewhere deep within these caves. As 131XR finds in its review, while you can take or leave the loose story, it’s the caving simulation that’s really the key here.
Unlike the recently released Tunnels which is a horror game set underground, there’s no scary element here. You’re given almost free rein to explore as you so wish, beating environmental challenges as you come across them. These can range from climbing steep cliff to navigating watery obstacles. What’s important to note here is that while the general visuals can look quite repetitive in a video or in a screenshot, Cave Crave’s atmosphere easily makes up for it.
As 131XR mentions, there are points where you have to squeese through narrow gaps by holding your breath. This is done by squeesing both triggers. However, such is the level of immersion that you’ll find yourself actually holding your breath in real life, as if that’ll have an effect on the game.
As it stands, if you’re looking for a caving experience with no horror elements, 131XR’s review recommends Cave Crave.
What’s next for Cave Crave?
Since launch 3R Games has released a couple of new updates for Cave Crave. These have included two new maps, Devil’s Gut and Mosslump Cave, as well as gameplay improvements. As for future content, the studio has promised more maps, new mechanics such as diving and sliding, plus a multiplayer mode. This will offer co-op adventures alongside bigger team missions, helping fellow cave explorers find a route through.
Have you tried Cave Crave yet? Does this look like the kind of game you’d embrace or avoid entirely? Let us know in the comments.
