Most who read my reviews have probably figured out that I love discovering a good indie mobile game under the radar of the App Store’s “New Games We Love” list. Today’s offering is no exception. After releasing the well-received arcade game Super Dashy Knight earlier this year, indie dev Isak Persson has dropped another retro offering in our laps. Persson’s latest game, Cavefall , combines elements of an arcade dodger with embedded story elements that make this game something a lot of casual gamers will find satisfying.
The gameplay in Cavefall is pretty basic. At the opening of the game, players take on the persona of an unnamed arctic explorer, standing outside of a dark cave as a blizzard howls around him. He has been tasked with finding a group of lost explorers who disappeared in one of the caves. You tap play and the adventure begins as your hero dives feet first into the cave, sliding down an endless pit of darkness, anchored to the sides by only by his pick axe.
Gestures in the game are limited to taps that allow your character to bounce from one side of the cave to the other. As you slide down the cave walls, there will be intermittent perils such as icy ledges which impale your hero if he lands on them or terrorizing bats that you must either dodge or smash into to keep from losing a life. As with most arcade games, there is a form of currency to be collected— red coins — in various places throughout the cave. These coins are used to unlock perks like extra life slots or coin magnets.
While most of the features of the game are typical of a classic arcader, one thing I particularly liked was the addition of a storyline. As you slide through the cave, you’ll sometimes find ledges where a note can be retrieved that gives you clues about what happened to the explorers who went before you. The more notes you find, the more areas of the cave you unlock. Each area provides a new set of challenges and more clues about what happened to your colleagues.
While I might normally play a game like Cavefall for an hour or so and then never return, with the addition of the storyline, I’ll certainly be playing this one to the end just to see what happened to the other explorers. Cavefall also incorporates a really nice pixel art style that I’m kind of a sucker for, making it that much more enjoyable.
Cavefall is a free-to-play offering with some intermittent ads, but you can remove them by paying a one-time fee of $1.99. Cavefall is available to download now on the Apple App and Google Play Store.
