Caverns for Kids (Spelunker World Review)

Quick Facts:

Developer: Tozai Games
Initial Release Date: November 11, 2015

Platforms: PS4

Rating: E

Imagine the deep, dark underworld of a mysterious cavern. Each step into your descent you move further away from the familiarity of the light caressed surface to find yourself lost and alone. The claustrophobic tightness of the rock formations sometimes cause those who enter them to squirm and shiver under the powerful influence of fear. This is the risk people take to explore the unknown world beneath our feet. Welcome to the hobby commonly known as spelunking.

People all over the world partake in this dangerous pastime in order to explore places most wouldn't dare to enter. It's the thrill of the descent rewarded by the beauty and spectacle of the cavernous underworld. Sometimes they run across underground lakes that shimmer in an eerie glow or find rare jewels buried in the rock. This isn't a common occurrence, but it is possible.

Spelunker World attempts to capture this feeling of exploration and discovery, but through the lens of a children's book. Instead of feeling fear, all I felt was aggravation and a deep desire to show the game that I could get through the caves unscathed. This is partially due to the fact that these are some of the wimpiest spelunkers I've ever seen in my life. Fall two feet from a rope to the ground and you get to watch as the character grabs his knee before the game restarts you back at the last checkpoint.

These checkpoints are placed generously around the map, but why are these guys even down here? Children off of a kindergarten playground can take better falls than these animated spelunkers, but oh well. At least I still enjoy the game. I just have to be more careful with their fragile bodies.

Once I got over that hurdle, I realized that they also can't run, even when a boulder is falling after them like that scene from Indiana Jones. My eyes focused on the screen as I pressed the right button as hard as I could, only to watch my character waddle like a constipated wind up toy. Come on! I caught myself saying to the screen. Thankfully, the developers also knew the limitations of their characters and set up the chase so that I barely made it out alive.

Outside of those small grievances, the game is actually quite entertaining. Every cave is unique, and some of the platforming sections are genuinely enjoyable. I caught myself smiling as I'd rush through the cave as fast as possible, picking up items and dodging hazards with ease. After getting accustomed to the slower pace of movement, it became easier to maneuver around the environments which are nicely animated.

The game ditches realism in favor of a simplistic, clean art style which I appreciate. It is easy to tell different items apart and the gameplay mechanics are straight forward. For example, in order to open the blue door you will need a blue key. The only difficult part is finding that blue key, but if it were too easy the game wouldn't be any fun.

Once the level is completed, you are rewarded with experience points which help level your character up (which didn't seem to produce any noticeable results except extra storage space in the backpack). Also, there is an interesting collecting mechanic where you open up "lithos" to unlock new pieces of clothing. I'm not an expert in spelunking or anything, but I don't know how you can make a t-shirt out of some rocks you found in the ground, and even if you could I wouldn't want to wear it.  If you don't like the clothes you unlock, you can always sell them for more gold, which can be used to buy more stuff in the store later on.

One thing that I found very odd about the game's design was that all of the levels are unlocked from the beginning. You don't have to beat level one to get to level two, though it is recommended. If you feel like a boss, you can go ahead and try to beat the further levels first but I can guarantee that you will be frustrated at the spelunkers inability to trip without crying about it. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this game, and will probably continue playing it until I beat every level with my wimpy wanderer. Through the fire, flames, bat poop, and rolling stones I will prevail. In fact, anyone with free time and a Playstation 4 can join me in my quest to conquer the darkest caves because the game is completely free. There are no paywalls, limited microtransactions and everything is playable from the start. Just be careful. Two foot falls and bat poop are deadly.