The Cavern

When I first heard about this game and saw footage/screenshots I was really impressed and had high hopes for it. But after development halted and I found out that it was created by only two people my expectations were lowered quite a bit. Not in a bad way, I just went into it thinking 'Oh, it's another indie game that will probably need some polish over time'. After having now played I would say I was about right in my prediction. [b] GAMEPLAY [/b] - So The Cavern is pretty much an escape the room type of game where you move from room to room (or cave to cave I guess) by solving puzzles. The goal in each room is to unlock the door that leads to the next (or so it seems so far). I haven't finished the game so I'm not sure how big these rooms will get, but so far they are pretty small. [b] PERFORMANCE [/b] - The games visuals are sharp and I really like the setting. But as for performance, the game does need a bit of work. I have had frame rate jitters (I have a 980 Ti) throughout my play time and objects you interact with can be kind of buggy. I had to start a room over because my lantern got lodged/stuck through a chest. I also noticed that the floor in the game is a lot deeper than my room floor so I was unable to pick up certain objects on the ground (some of which were important). I might try recalibrating SteamVR to see if it fixes it. Lastly, your vision turns black anytime your head goes through a solid object. ANY object, even the lantern you're holding or a twig on a tree. Kind of annoying, but it's not the first game where that happens. Not sure if this is deliberately done in game development or what... [b] PUZZLES [/b] - As for the puzzles, one of the earlier ones was too hard for such and early part of the game in my honest opinion. Maybe 5 or 6 levels down the road sure, but for the second room I thought it was borderline frustrating. I found out that there is a hint system however, which is nice. I haven't played enough to give an overall impression of all of the puzzles but some example are, **[b] minor spoilers inc --> [/b]**, pouring gas into a generator to start it, finding a number code to a chest, using an axe to break through a blocked entryway. I guess I'm just not a huge fan of escape the room games in general, but yeah. I really like the visuals, environment and story so I kind of wish that puzzles were easier just so I can experience it all in a somewhat relaxing, non-frustrating manner. The treasure hunting aspect of the story reminded me a lot of Uncharted. I'd still recommend checking it out if this sounds like your cup of tea. I know this review probably sounded kind of negative but I still think there is a really good game here and I am still eager to finish it. It's definitely playable don't get me wrong and I can recommend it. I look forward to seeing it improve in the future. **Gameplay Vid if anyone cares** --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkPUKxxMes

Really disappointed. The game seems to be great, but be warned, at the moment on HTC Vive you can't access the inventory with the menu button, it is simply bugged. So i cannot recommend as long as this won't be fixed. A discussion thread is refering to this.

Inventory funtion broken - is essential for a puzzle in the game - judging by forum Devs not fixed or replying to gamer comments UPDATE Was a long shot but since the game has changed since the purchase requested a refund which was refused since it was obviously after the two week purchase rule

I have difficulty playing this game for too long. Simply put, there is something about the rendering that makes viewing the game difficult. Pardon my lack of technical jargon. The quality of the graphics is good, but it's the way they apear in the game that is frustrating to view. There is bluriness, stuttering, and tearing when I move. There is really something wrong with the way light works in the game. For example, reading notes (and there are many) is difficult. The caverns are too dark to read the notes. So when you move the notes near a light source, the light makes the note glow too brightly which washes the letters out. It becomes a challenge to find the perfect angle and amount of light for which to read the note. I picked up the black survival knife (in the room with the combination locked chest) and was frustrated with how difficult it was to view in a cleanly rendered manner. I'm running this game on an i7 with a 1080 graphics card. I do not get VR motion sickness, but I don't feel well when I play this game. I can't recommend this game with these technical shortcomings. I really hope there is an update.

Maybe I haven't played as much VR as the rest of you but the graphics here in my opinion are incredible. With the addition of animations, shadows, and basic physics this game has a good architecture from which to build. Intuitive controls. Spent about half an hour exploring, playing with objects, the other half solving puzzles (well set difficulty as afr as the puzzles are concerned). You can actually strum the guitar, and spiders bulk themselves up when they get too close. Details like that really make a game.

The game looks beautiful, but I was unable to play it as it has some major stuttering issues. When the headset is moved the image doubles up (almost looks like vsync tearing). I look forward to trying again if the game is updated!

Game has been abandoned by the devs who refuse to fix a critical inventory bug and do not respond DO NOT BUY!!!

Dont buy this! Broken since more than a year, can't access the inventory, without which you can't solve some puzzles.

Ein eigentlich gutes Spiel, was aber leider von den Entwicklern verlassen wurde und einige kritische Bugs wie Inventory-Fehler oder Grafik-Ruckeln wurden nicht behoben. Daher unbedingt Finger weg! Meine Kuratorseite: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30155555 Meine Steamgruppe: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/voodoode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIiebt-gV9s

Love this. Atmosphere, puzzles and gameplay are top notch. Does not work on index (I had to use old vive wands). Also could do with some object boudaries for avoid hidden object stuff.