One of the games that landed in my inbox last week was This Is No Cave. It’s a high-speed action-platformer billed as a one-click parkour game, and while that sounds great and all, I think I was probably drawn in by the promise of an infinite level with roguelite elements.
The gameplay is super simple, as promised. The aim of the game is to get from A to B as quickly as possible, and without taking too much damage along the way. That might sound simple, and in theory it is, but it doesn’t take long for the platforming to get tricky and the pacing to ramp up. Oh yeah, and you’re being chased.
If you recognise the reference in the game’s name, you won’t be surprised to find out that the thing you’ll be chased by is a giant space worm. Said worm will hunt you through a series of connected tunnels, and you must run, jump with your suit’s thrusters, and use grapple points to swing around corners as you try and get to the end of each stage as quickly as possible.
In fact, if you fondly remember the original SpeedRunners from DoubleDutch Games, then I think you’ll like this, too. I felt the same sense of speed and momentum here as I did when I played that back in the day, I think, because of how both games use the grapple to help you build speed and handle corners.
A good first impression
While I’ve not played enough to call this a review, I’m still happy to say that I’ve really enjoyed my first couple of hours with This Is No Cave.
The controls are simple and accessible – on both mouse and controller – the level design is good (there isn’t any proc-gen in the 30 stages), and there’s the option for four-player co-op, if you’ve got the friends for it. I mostly played on my Steam Deck, so no co-op for me, but it was a good fit on Valve’s handheld.
In terms of content, there are 30 levels at launch, plus there’s the infinite stage to unlock, and three different difficulty settings to work through. There are also leaderboards if you like being competitive. I’m far too clumsy to worry about my scores, but I’m happy for those of you with decent hand-eye coordination!
Finally, since launch, the game has already had an update with the addition of ghosts, so now you can race yourself! Not only that, but the grapple has been tweaked, noob-friendly checkpoints have been added to the more complex levels, and the leaderboards have been updated.
I checked the roadmap, and there are plans for a DLC expansion set in the jungle, new power-ups for the roguelite mode, and there’s talk of a console port. All of which points to a game with an active developer and an engaged community, with more speedrunning on the horizon to look forward to. Just keep an eye out for any giant worms that may or may not be residing in the area.
