Hundreds of meters beneath the earth, miners from the Rockwell Mining company have suddenly gone missing. They send in their new Cave Crawler robot to find the bodies without the risk of making more. Operating the crawler from our own POV, we descend further and find out there’s more to the Rockwell Mining company than they let on.
The caves are silent, empty, and massive. Some of the drop offs and large caverns that lead into just pure darkness create an interesting and creepy atmosphere. It makes you wonder what else is there, like secrets you’ll never find out. Just like in real life there’s the shafts that are a huge drop off and lead to nowhere, maybe that’s where some of the miners ended up.
Even though we’re controlling the Cave Crawler, it doesn’t feel safe either way. Though not risking our life like the miners, it’s just too quiet at some points. Then the sudden noises, and vague shadows in the distance really make the game stand out. It’s perfectly done horror, you feel alone but being watched at the same time.
Cave Crawler Story Explained
Getting deeper in the caves, you eventually find some miners dead among the energy crystals. It’s usually a pretty brutal scene, with the crystals absorbing and taking over the miners body. Just like a disease or parasite. At this point it seems the Rockwell Mining company deemed them expendable. All for the pursuit of the crystals that harbor energy comparable to nuclear outputs.
At the heart of the mine, we come across the best and spookiest part of the game. The worms in the walls start to really squirm out and take over the place. More miners just completely absorbed by the crystals and left to die. The final reveal of the center of the crystals was excellent, but I won’t give it away here.
Final Thoughts
Cave Crawler is a top quality short horror game with a terrifying and intriguing atmosphere. If you’ve ever wanted to feel alone in a spooky cave, this is your game to try out. The ongoing story after the searches was fun to uncover and to see where the mining co goes with it. Another game that this reminded me of was Meat Madness which has a sort of similar concept.
