Looking for a video game that takes you deep underground into virtual caves? Here are 15 of the best.
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 here
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.
8. Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
PEGI rating: ages 18 and up
In 2018, gamers took a journey to the fourth century BC when the Peloponnesian War raged between the city-states of Athens and Sparta.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey takes you through a large open world, including more than 20 caves to be explored and looted.
9. Terraria
Available for Android, iOS, Mac, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One
PEGI rating: ages 12 and up
"Dig, fight, build!" runs the slogan of this game that ingeniously combines action with creativity. There are caves to be raided for resources, equipment to be crafted and foes to defeat.
With
Terraria's intuitive gameplay and varied action-adventure activities, it's no wonder it's one of the best-selling games of all time.
10. Stardew Valley
Available for Android, iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Xbox One
PEGI rating: ages 12 and up
If you inherited your granddad's dilapidated farm, what would you do? 2016's
Stardew Valley
lets you answer that question through all aspects of farm life, from growing crops to fishing, from exploring caves to starting a family.
11. Scanner Sombre
Available for Mac and PC
PEGI rating: not rated
At the beginning of the first-person exploration game
Scanner Sombre (2017), you wake up in a tent in a cave. You find an augmented reality headset that guides you through the cave. Things quickly take a creepy turn with the remnants of witch-hunts and mining tragedies. Not one for the faint of heart!
12. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
PEGI rating: ages 18 and up
"Skyrim": the very word conjures up both a mythical past and a distant horizon. This 2011 role-playing game gives you both in spades. You're on a mission to defeat a world-eating dragon – a mission that takes you through dungeons, caves, cities, towns, villages and wilderness.
13. Far Cry 3
Available for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One
PEGI rating: ages 18 and up
So far, we haven't touched the rich and varied world of the first-person shooter. But in
Far Cry 3, you've got a gun and you aren't afraid to use it. Your aim is to rescue your friends from pirates and escape from the tropical Rook Islands. But it's not going to be easy. Along the way, there are ancient caves to explore – and much, much more.
14. Spelunky
Available for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Xbox 360
PEGI rating: ages 7 and up
In
Spelunky,
you spelunk. But this isn't a gentle afternoon with the local caving group. No, this game features treasure, damsels in distress, fiendish foes and treacherous traps.
One of the best things about
Spelunky
is that the caves are procedurally generated. This means each time you play the game, you're getting a slightly different experience. Neat!
15. The Cave
Available for Android, iOS, Mac, PC, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360
PEGI rating: ages 12 and up
In 2013's
The Cave, players explore a magical talking cave and its twisting, turning passageways.
You select three out of seven possible characters, each with a dark past. You believe the cave will teach you something about yourself – and your future. Once inside, you collect objects and solve puzzles within the sentient cavern.
Because you spend the game with three of the seven characters, the game can only be completed over several run-throughs – perhaps one reason for its reputation as a darkly absorbing game.
Video games can be great fun – but not as fun as finding real-life
caves to explore. Fancy discovering a few underground secrets? Join us at Stump Cross Caverns in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. It's easy to
book tickets online.
