Video games have always been about adventure. From the comfort of your gaming chair, you can explore other worlds – sometimes fantastical, sometimes closer to home.
So, it's no surprise that game designers the world over have delighted in creating virtual caves to explore. They provide a controlled environment for players to navigate, explore and plunder for resources.
They also lend themselves to a variety of moods. Caves can be creepy, magical, beautiful or a bit of all three. It all depends on the aim of the game and the vision of its creators.
From the text adventures of the late 70s to the online worlds of the new millennium, caves are a fixture of video games – and they show no signs of going away.
In this article, we run down 15 of the best video games about cave exploration. We've taken what you might call a "console-agnostic" approach – in other words, there are games for PC, Xbox, PlayStation and more.
We hope you find something that engages, inspires and entertains.
1. Colossal Cave/Colossal Cave Adventure
Available for Mac, Meta Quest, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 PEGI rating: not rated
We begin in the late 1970s with Colossal Cave Adventure – a text-based adventure game that journalist Steven Levy has called the genre's equivalent of Shakespeare. The game, based on the real-life Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, takes the player on a fantastical journey in search of treasure and gold.
In 2023, the game was reimagined as Colossal Cave – a virtual reality experience for modern consoles. If you want to play the original cave game but can't stomach walls of text, it's well worth a try.
2. Deep Rock Galactic
Available for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Xbox One PEGI rating: ages 16 and up
We jump from the 1970s to 2020 when Deep Rock Galactic was released for various platforms.
You play a dwarf employed by an intergalactic mining corporation. Your mission: to extract minerals from the caves of Hoxxes IV.
3. Dear Esther
Available for Mac, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One PEGI rating: ages 12 and up
This 2012 adventure game is a lonely but absorbing experience. Your objective is to explore the ruined buildings, shipwrecks, caves and other features of an uninhabited island in the Hebrides. Along the way, you hear a man read a series of letters to his late wife, Esther.
4. Firewatch
Available for Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One PEGI rating: ages 16 and up
In 2016's Firewatch , players control a fire lookout named Henry in the Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming. But things aren't all they seem to be. Soon, Henry is exploring the forest in search of answers. Could a locked cave hold a clue?
5. Amnesia: Rebirth
Available for PC and PlayStation 4 PEGI rating: ages 18 and up
Released in 2020, Amnesia: Rebirth is a first-person survival horror game. You wander through a dimly lit desert land in search of your companions. As you venture through caves and tombs, you must find matches, lamps, torches and candles and solve puzzles by their light.
6. The Tomb Raider franchise
Available for a wide range of platforms PEGI ratings: various – search by game title
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British archaeologist Lara Croft simply can't get enough of raiding caves, tombs and ruins for artefacts – and gamers the world over can't get enough of the series. At the time of writing, some 100 million copies have been sold.
7. Subnautica
Available for Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One PEGI rating: ages 7 and up
In 2018's Subnautica , you play Ryley Robinson. You find yourself in the aftermath of a spaceship crash, stranded on an ocean planet known only as 4546B. Your mission is to locate essential resources in the planet's underwater caves and islands – all the while dodging some lethal predators.
