Cavernous II
developed by  Nucaranlaeg gamedev | rated 3.5 stars, 59 ratings.
|
59 ratings
rated 3.5 stars, 59 ratings.
Posted September 9, 2024. Updated September 9, 2024. Played 2778 times for a total of 4051 hours.
description
Work with your clones to extract mana from strange rocks, allowing you to explore further in the cave you just happened to wake up in. Cavernous is a puzzle game, and not for the faint of heart (not least because the interface is poor - sorry!)
newest comments
when you infinetly loop a repeat interact it crashes the game
... I'm quite disappointed that, with 3 attack and 8 defense, a goblin chieftain still kills me. My attack is equal to its defense, my defense is higher than its attack, so why can't we just be locked in eternal combat until I run out of mana and grind combat stats with it? It feels awkward since it somewhat breaks the established rules, especially since other stats can be grinded using similar cheese strats
developer response: This was a deliberate decision to avoid trivializing combat. This way, combat remains relevant through the whole game (though eventually some is possible to trivialize, it comes much later). Sorry it feels so unintuitive!
Having reached the first 6 goals and half of zone 7, I can confidently say this game is a puzzler masquerading as an idler. There are a few small bugs, like routes not updating properly, stat routes not giving proper stat gains, and maybe some annoyances, like fixing an error in one zone route for one mana rock means needing to fix it for all other mana rocks using that route, but overall quite fun.
I do think the game is much more pleasant in accelerated time, which is always active once you have stopped playing for a day or two before coming back, but that's effectively true of all loopers, which is a bit of a shame.
This is actually an amazing game. Kind of obtuse at first, but once you figure out what's going on, it is well worth the effort. I appreciate it!
Game is a mess. Auto restart only works on one setting (always) and it ignores some of the commands. Manual takes forever. The gameplay loop is boring.
top comments
If you are new: Everything up to your first clone is the "tutorial". The game will change once you get two bodies.
The game is a timeloop game. Each time you add a new mana rock, you gain a large amount of new time. You can turn gold into time. And, you can make one-off runs to turn gold into a new clone/body.
Once you get a clone, you have basically doubled what you can do. And, you can do things in two places. In zone one, there will be times when you want to make a bridge, and send both clones north; there will be times when you want to send one quickly south through the kudzoo to explore. And there is no "one true path". For zone 2, there will be times you want to bring one bridge; times you want to bring 2 bridges; times that three bridges are good enough, and times when you need all 4 possible bridges.
Remember, you must spend one bridge to leave zone 1 to zone 2. You only need to use ONE CLONE at the portal to leave; not only is it not required to get everyone there, it often will not be possible. At some point in zone 2, you will need/gain a third body.
Your bodies do not need to stay together! In fact, it will be much, much better if you split them up. If you are moving them one at a time, and updating the map with each movement, then the progress / time usage will be slightly off, and restarting the same loop will give you a very small but noticeable extra.
For initial progress, I recommend having one clone doing "industry" (smelting iron / making bridges / vaporizing gold), and one exploring. This is not going to be "the whole game". There is no "one true path". You will change what you do.
The game does have a memory of paths you have taken, as well as automatically milking your best past routes to mana rocks. So you can automate the "gain all available mana". Note that each time you get a new clone, your best paths will probably change. You will need to redo every rock for "best" results. New clones will duplicate the last clone -- so if you plan your route accordingly, you will automatically accept new clones easily.
I do think this has great potential, even though the tutorial isn't the most explicit. It is nice, especially since you have multiple ways of playing the game and you are rewarded for trying new stuff.
Nevermind that previous comment, I am an idiot. An utter buffoon, if you will. I wasn't even interacting with the Mana-infused rock this entire time, lol.
For all of the people thinking this game is just slow grinding, this game is actually a puzzle where you can finish up to zone 6 without ever using a single life/loop with the intent of farming stats.
You getting permanent stats is actually an afterthought that makes the game slightly faster over time and should be treated as such, it is not the objective.
litteral masterpiece trust me guys you are all stupid its so easy to get down and so fun when you do