Cavern Adventurers Review (PC)

Beneath the bark and rubble of a monster-infested underbelly of interwoven jewel and stone, a special cavern exists in which only the bravest of adventurers dare to tread. It’s here, in this honeycomb network of peculiar corridors and deeply rooted treasure-filled chambers where wealth idles not in the inverted root of a blossoming flower up above, but down below, in the deepest, darkest depths of a hollow world of despair and uncertainty. It isn’t a place for you to reflect, much less unwind for some well-needed respite; it’s a hellhole—a disconcerting reminder that, for each and every layers that comes to light, another piece of the puzzle will pounce from the pit, be it a monster, thief, or perhaps even spoils beyond your wildest dreams. It’s all there, and it’s ripe for the taking. The question is, which of them are you like to encounter first, weary traveler?

Cavern Adventurers is a melting pot of static pieces—a hybrid world-building game that takes the likes of This War of Mine and Deep Rock Galactic into its own hands with a new earthly twist. In this world, however, you don’t have the objective of surviving on the outskirts of a war torn region, but rather, within the mines of a bottomless labyrinth of caverns. With that, there are two things for you to accomplish here: carve deep enough into the network to extract rare materials, gather blueprints, and develop multi-tier strongholds; and use adventurers and other monster companions to fortify bases, establish structurally sound barriers of defense, and withstand the effects of an ever-shifting underground system.

There’s a fair amount of dirt for us to shovel through before we reach the bottom of this barrel, so if you fancy sticking around a while, then grab a pickaxe. Let’s mine.

Home Away from Honeycomb

At the heart of this world is a simple incentive for you to chase—a promise, of sorts, that informs you right from the moment you don the axe that there are forms of riches buried deep within the soil of an inhabitable land. But, as with any promise that comes with its own terms and conditions, it also tells you that, while the highest levels in this underground honeycomb system are mostly safe to explore and ultimately transform into a hub for both miners and adventurers (the two factions that you alternate between based on the time of day), there are also monsters, thieves, and tower defense elements that you must eradicate along the way. The deeper you dig, the tougher the foes and challenges become, and so on and so forth.

The progression is pretty straightforward here: clear a floor of all its natural rarities and threats, and then transform it into a communal space for merchants to exchange goods—a benefit that provides you with more gold and other rewards—as well as Agents to offer their services across a wide range of expeditions. As you progress further into this network and build up your honeycomb haven, better tools and perks begin to emerge, and not to mention more opportunities for you to expand your colony, establish close-knit bonds with other citizens, and unlock tools and traps of the trade to keep potential enemies at bay. But that’s about as much as you have to do here: dig, evolve, and monopolize an underground treasure trove of sorts.

What Looms Beneath

Like a lot of colony-centric sims that accommodate multiple factions, Cavern Adventurers invites you to alternate between a day and night cycle—a system where, during the daytime, you have the chance to put your miners to work and unlock new quarters, and in the nighttime, adventurers to the grindstone in a bid to create intricate traps, engage in short battles, and connect with other members of the colony. Granted, the process of learning how to use these two unique forces in a cohesive and effective manner can involve something of a trial-and-error routine. And yet, it feels as if the more you subject yourself to the grind, the more rewarding the monumental task of developing a self-sustainable colony eventually becomes. It’s the process of finding that point in the evolution process, that’s the uphill battle.

Thankfully, there’s more than enough content here to work through, with the added bonus of side quests and recruitment milestones fleshing out the vanilla and, let’s face it, rather predictable gameplay loop. Aside from the usual upgrades that one might install in an underground world, there are also handfuls of special wards to build, including mining stations, merchant stalls, cubbies for workers, storage facilities, and even the occasional garden area, to boot. And the thing that I absolutely adore about all of these things is that, when each of them move in a free-flowing manner, you have the opportunity to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. It’s a simple thing, I’ll admit, but one that’s as equally gratifying as it is inviting.

A Diet of Rock and Teeth

Cavern Adventurers brings a cozy sprite-like art style to the table — and a pretty good-looking one, at that. It also brings its own melodic soundtrack that, while not the hallmark of an award-winning orchestral score, gels well with the simple yet elegant tone of the gameplay loop and general aesthetic of the blueprint at hand. With all of these perfect pairings working in tandem with one another, Cavern Adventurers manages to encapsulate an idyllic world that’s both complimentary to the traditional colony-building sim and to the universally beloved sandbox fantasy.

I will say this: Cavern Adventurers still has a lot of work to do before it reaches its “crystallized” phase. With several minor bugs and a handful of visual flaws—stubbornly fixed camera angles, being one of the most notable issues—left in the framework, it seems that it isn’t quite ready. It’s digestible, for sure, but I’d be lying if I said that it was all sunshine and rainbows.

Verdict

Cavern Adventurers provides a solid foundation for a genuinely enjoyable colony-building sim experience that will likely keep you digging deeper into its nexus for a handful of hours, and then some. With thanks to its natural ability to spin a compelling yarn with oh-so many different layers to create and manipulate, you could quite easily spend an entire weekend carving through the motions and still have enough time to find a second rabbit hole to plunder. It’s a predictable pattern, the process of mining and expanding a base, but it’s also one that brings its own unique perks and a tremendous sense of accomplishment. And if you’re like me, then you’ll probably wind up chasing that satisfying feeling like a feline with a laser pen.