In any business, there are special surnames that do not need an additional presentation. Surname Gilbert In combination with the name Ron – Of these. One of the creators of Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island – This is already in some way the title, and the title is specifically «Advent».
When Gilbert In the Commonwealth with Tim Shafer (TIM SCHAFER) – another legendary developer from Lucasfilm – Suddenly, he did not build a canonical adventure at all, but a platformer, representatives of the gaming community experienced some surprise. Another attempt to try yourself in a new genre?
The project is called The Cave, which in itself symbolizes. In the end, the history of quests began with Colossal Cave Adventure, So, perhaps, a new arcade from Double FinE Productions It is worth considering not just as a change in the vector, but as something more?
Something very large
And indeed, having examined The Cave closer, we understand that old Ron deceived us slightly. This is not an arcade – this is a quest with platformer elements. There are seven stories in the spotlight here – according to the number of characters who arrived at the gates of the dungeons from different spaces, times and cultures. Each of them has a reason to go down to the cave. Or even a cave with a capital letter – this will be more true. After all, this cave is a rational and caustic creature. She promises to her “speleoists” the fulfillment of cherished desires. But does local adventurers really need their desires to be fulfilled?
Here they are standing-seven in front of the entrance: a cardboard-slip knight who is afraid of his own shadow, a fighting monk, a strange time traveler, an autistic lady-scientist, deathly, roasting children, naive to idiocy, a village boy and an adventurer, who is an adventurer who is an adventure.pretends to be looking for lost partners, but is actually interested only in treasures. Each of them has a goal or dream: the knight needs an excalibur, the village is dusts to find true love in the depths of cave corridors, orphans were set off in search of mental warmth, the monk needs enlightenment.
And the cave will help them with this, there is no doubt. Like a golden ball from a “picnic on the sidelines” or a room from a “stalker” shot Tarkovsky, Like a reasonable ocean from Solaris or just a genie from a bottle, this strange entity will give everyone what his heart really wants.
All sisters in the hellish circle
Despite the fact that the characters are seven, only three can participate in the game at the same time. We must choose our trinity heroes at the very beginning, before entering the cave. This means that during one passage can only be found with only three stories.
The fact is that the cave modifies its «insides» depending on the composition of the participants. There are a number of public locations available to each set of characters. Visitors to the underground kingdom in any case will have to pass by a ferocious monster, find three treasures, drive three trolleys with a valuable cargo for a half -crazy miner. But, in truth, it is these sections of the path that seem slightly boring and monotonous-mainly due to the need to steal kilometers repeatedly in order to complete fairly simple tasks. So, we will have to return three times for dynamite through the entire mine to get to the next blockage, behind which the next trolley is hidden.
The fun begins when we fall into one of the “personal” locations intended for specific travelers from among those seven that stood at the entrance. You can’t get there without a key character – only a hero endowed with a special ability can pass.
By the way, it seems that we have no question of abilities. And there is something to tell about. After all, visitors to the cave are not only diverse creatures, but also powerful. At least in some reasonable limits. The monk owns telekinesis, the knight can become invulnerable, a researcher hacks computer systems, a village fool breathes under water.
Typically, these skills are of paramount importance only in the location devoted to a specific hero. Without invulnerability, you can’t get to the knightly sword, underwater breathing is necessary to swim to the fair, where the village women have to meet their love, and the ability of the priestess of science to open code castles will help to go through the laboratory.
Not all of the excalibur that is in stone
Actually, in this very personal executive place of our heroes, the most evil mockery of the cave mind awaits.
The knight, for example, has a traditional knightly novel. To try to get a sword of stone, he must first bring his daughter’s amulet to the future father-in-law. It is assumed that the princess will voluntarily give this sign of love to the applicant for the hand and heart. However, in fact, it turns out that the royal daughter is ready to give her decoration to the knight only if he brings her a treasure that will guard the dragon.
An unarmed and cowardly knight steals a jewel of a monster, helplessly watches the inglorious death of the princess and brings her an amulet, flattened by a dragon as unnecessary. And the spirit of the cave, meanwhile, ironically advises us to wash the “gift” from the remains of the girl – this, they say, simple politeness.
It is not surprising that an antigeric knight cannot get a stone sword on his own. He has to resort to a shameful trick again. And literally at the next move along the cave – when our trinity is forced to escape from the king before he discovers what happened to his daughter – a sword mined with such difficulty, slipped out of the character’s hands and crashes into another stone. Now – at the bottom of the lake, from where it can no longer get under any circumstances.
I take it, I take it, but I don’t take it
Actually, the platformer got into The Cave in completely microscopic doses. Basically, the characters run and, as in a traditional quest, pick up objects to apply them in a certain place. Jumping and climbing ropes here is an element of entourage, not a gameplay. The annoying element, you need to admit: most of the time is leaving back and forth.
The fact that the character can take only one item can seriously complicate the case. The inventory is not provided here. What I took in my hands – then. At the same time, as in Maniac Mansion, it is full of useless things here. And not that it was easy to calculate in advance what to take with you, and what is not. So, inevitably you have to return for the out of place abandoned by the guns of plot advantage, so as not to be at a dead end.
Most of the tasks themselves are simple and will be affected even by the child. Here to pull the lever, there to balance the cargo system, somewhere a distracting maneuver, and somewhere-to charge the battery from a flock of electrical acne. However, from time to time, the developers suddenly surprise us with a truly unexpected move – and we feel how the carefully packed template is cracking.
The rampant in the unconscious
The gameplay is slightly sprinkled with pleasant black humor. The author’s voice, he is a cave mind, is not at all preoccupied with such trifles as the moral or value of human life. And he himself is not worried about it, and does not recommend to us: not a single hero will leave the cave with a clear and unsuccessful conscience. Under the mask of a pretty entertaining toy with a “cartoon” graphics, a real psychological thriller is hidden here, in which the cave is a symbol of the unconscious with all its back streets and inhabitants. And far from always – friendly.
The picture seems quite sweet, but nothing more. Graphics here are completely subordinated to the idea. Its purpose is not so much to delight the eye with beauties as to emphasize the characters of the heroes and the eclectic intrapercetic atmosphere. She performs her task as she should – perhaps not required more.
The Cave – The project is far from indisputable, not without flaws, not for a wide circle. And at the same time, this is a vivid phenomenon in the game industry and an applicant for a place of honor in the history of quests. We recommend not to miss such a new product – you should get acquainted with it.
Pros: unusual idea;original mini-stories;unique characters;Black humor;Psychological subtext.
Cons: A few protracted levels.
