Cavern Kings: A Game About Digging Your Own Grave

Cavern Kings is an infinite action platformer game by indie game developer and pixel artist, Vine. This game is inspired by Vlambeer's "Super Crate Box" and the increasing difficulty aspects of "Risk of Rain" which are the first things I noticed about the game. It is currently going under public beta and you can get the game here. It will be available for PC, Mac and Linux once the game is complete.


Some of the basic game features are 4 playable characters with their own special abilities. In the beta, you can only use one which makes it interesting to see what the other characters can do.



Randomized terrain and monster generation is another feature that is interesting simply because things can get crazy in an instant. In my first few runs in the game, The first and only time I encountered a boss was in the 3rd floor then I encountered a floor wherein I have to find a key before I can go any further. By the time I got to this floor, the amount of monsters that were spawning was already quite large so it took me a while to get the key and carry on.



The weapons are all very unique from the distance of the projectiles to the number of blocks you can break through. From what I noticed with the melee weapons or the digging tools, attack speed is also a factor. It makes it a bit logical which is great for any game but it also makes the game more balanced.

One of the best things about this game is how the game teaches the players the basic controls which is by putting the player in a safe place to try things out without any danger.



The items you first pickup seem like a melee weapon which is also used for digging and a ranged weapon mainly used for killing monsters. It can also be used for reaching the TNT when they're in hard to reach places.



I like how it gives you some variety by being able to use both melee and ranged weapons. One interesting detail about these weapons is that the ranged weapons stack. I don't know how it exactly works but it sure sounds interesting.



A feature that isn't in the beta is the Bestiary and Logbook. I look forward to this because these give it more replay value as some gamers would want to complete it.



One of the best aspects of the game is the fine pixel art and the smooth animations. You can really see the hard work put into the pixel art just by looking at how crisp and fine it is. One of the best animations in the game is the weird worm-like monster that flies in and out of the screen.

There are a total of 50 powerups in the game. I know it doesn't sound like much but it's more than enough to keep things interesting as players progress.



One of the things I like about this game is the chiptune-influenced soundtrack by Ryuno. His music reminds me very much of Anamanaguchi's music especially the ones for the Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game soundtrack. Below is a demo of Ryuno's work for Cavern Kings.





I love the game. It's unique in it's own way, I love the challenge it offers and I can't wait to see more monsters and the other playable characters and weapons. It may not be the greatest game of 2014 or whenever it comes out but it sure is something to look forward to.

The game has been 100% funded on Kickstarter and it's already in Steam Greenlight. Although the game is already funded, it hasn't been Greenlit by the community yet. 


If you like it, please do pledge in the Kickstarter page, Green light it, Support Vine. Other than helping the guy out, it could also get the game out there sooner.