What This Is No Cave is
This Is No Cave is a minimalist 2D platformer set on an uncharted planet where your ship went down. The goal is simple: get back to the ship fast, through an underground labyrinth full of tight passages and alien life. You move with your suit's thrusters and a grapple hook, slinging yourself through levels instead of walking them. The whole thing runs on one mouse button, though controller support is there if you prefer it. Along the way you have to deal with the world's apex predators, colossal worms that drop in and turn a quick escape into a scramble for survival. The levels are procedurally generated, so the routes keep changing and the layout never becomes memorized muscle memory. Hand-drawn scenery carries the mood, from dark subterranean caves to a bright jungle full of alien flora and fauna.
Playing it together
The game supports 4 player local play, so a group can share one screen and take turns or race side by side through the same run. Remote Play Together is available, which means friends who are not in the same room can join in over the internet as if they were on that same couch. The shared hook is speed: everyone is chasing the clock, and the leaderboard is where you compare runs by shaving milliseconds off your best times. Quick respawns keep the group from sitting around waiting, so a failed attempt drops you straight back into the action and you can try the same stretch again with a cleaner line.
Before you start
Expect a difficult game. The tag list is not shy about it: this is a precision platformer and a runner, built around physics and trajectory rather than forgiving checkpoints. Speed is the whole point, and going faster means harder sections, so your first runs will be about learning how the thrusters and grapple behave rather than finishing quickly. If that is not the mood you are in, the accessibility options let you adjust lives, burst charges, and even game speed, so you can slow things down and just enjoy the trip. There is also an endless mode: a neverending chase with the worms where you pick up bonuses along the way, with the catch that every buff you take makes the worm stronger too.