Cave Story+

Should've made the story about the toaster guy, i fw him.

Back in 2004 when this was released as a free passion project, I can totally understand how it garnered so much praise and such a cult following. But with-in the context of playing it in 2025 and it being something I paid for, I can't recommend it. There are much, much better options out there and a lot of it's design choices show off both it's age and original budget of, I can only imagine, not very much.

It's not all bad. I like the story, it's cute and actually has some depth to it, it managed to feel light whilst not becoming side fluff I couldn’t care about. I did want to know what was going to happen next. The soundtrack is also solid all the way through. That's pretty much where my solid praise runs out though.

On the negative side, the movement is ridiculously floaty. It's not inconsistent, or unfair, but it feels bad and as much as I got used to it, I never managed to stop disliking it. A smooth and enjoyable platforming experience this is not.

Furthermore, whilst there are a few examples of good level design, they came mostly towards the beginning of the game and by the mid point and increasingly towards the end, I found most levels pretty messy. A spam of two or three enemies if you’re lucky, sometimes just the same enemy over and over, a bunch of geometry seemingly just there to make hitting enemies that were slightly above or slightly before your line of fire irritating, because it certainly didn’t look appealing. Lots and lots of gatcha spike/lava traps after unsighted jumps, enemies hidden behind level objects. This wasn’t helped by the save system, which is old school save points, meaning the game is pretty much divided up into sections. If you die, go back to the start of that section and they got increasingly broad as the game went on. Couple that with the mess of enemies, the gatcha fail traps and trying to navigate all this whilst controlling a character that feels like they’ve been pumped with helium… it started to get a bit irritating. The sad thing is it wasn’t even that hard, I don’t think a single boss or section took me more than 5 attempts until the part I gave up on. I didn’t get majorly stuck anywhere, it was just so very unenjoyable to play.

By the time I realized I was hating every second of it and gave up, I was on a section that involved killing a very dangerous enemy that would usually get one or two hits on me before it died, going into a boss fight that wasn’t too bad but wasn’t super easy and required a few minutes of concentration, then onto another boss fight I was still trying to work out, die, back to the enemy at the start again. It turns out I was very near the end of the game and there was one more boss phase and a final boss to go, all in the same section, with no save, a war of attrition with the deck stacked against the player, die, start it all again. I can appreciate difficulty in my games but in Cave Story it feels a bit artificial, it’s like the dev wanted to make it harder but had hit their limit design wise, perhaps coding wise. So they decided the only way to do it was more, just make them do more, for longer, not really new or different, just more.

There is the blueprint for a timeless classic in here, but for me it never came to fruition. Too janky, too undercooked and too old school. Impressive for a free Metroidvania from 2004 but stacked up against the opposition now, in 2025, nah, not for me I'm afraid. I wish I’d spent my time on something else and would not recommend to a friend.

This is my favorite game of all time. I make it a point to play through it every year.

One of the best indie games of all time, no question. All made by one guy. Great level design, characters, and story, with a good soundtrack. You'll definitely like it if Metroidvanias are your thing. Also a solid platforming game.

There’s also the original version you can get off their website for free. I personally prefer this version as it makes life easier just having it on Steam.

The game is good

I acknowledge legacy of this game (and the game has actually influenced me too), but I think it's not for me.
Soundtrack slaps.

Negative review just because Nicalis is terrible. You can get the freeware version online or the better version on switch.

The game itself is phenomenal; i picked this up with people saying it didn't live up and they were wrong. I loved it enough to make it through bloodstained sanctuary.

a lot of people like to talk about nicalis swindling pixel but i did like
a single google search and no???
that never happened???
like pixel's on speaking terms with nicalis, at least as recently as... 6 years ago, which is a bit.
a contract WAS signed that we don't know the exact disclosure details for, but pixel agreed to the terms, and if they had nothing but RAGE and HATRED i doubt that "we're still on speaking terms" would be thrown around.
pixel is still involved with cave story as a whole, which is also why a sequel was never made.
also some people like to complain about this not being a more modern version, but i find it important for media preservation. granted, they could probably make a menu to choose what version, but then there's the issue of off porting it from whatever media it is on. it's not just a simple one and done deal from what i know.
sorry for ranting, tl;dr nicalis didn't screw over pixel and they're chill, and you should go play cavestory+ or the freeware version.

Can't recommend this version. Nicalis knows people want Switch version ported to other platforms, yet something withholds them from updating this ancient thing that still costs the same.

It's always sad to see abandonware.

I beat the original version before, and I picked up this version to stream on Twitch. The game runs as it should, but I don't like how I have to resize the window every time I start it up... Setting a fixed window size should have been an option. Wide-screen support could've been added too...

good caves

The slidy camera makes me motion sick. Im trying to position myself for a jump and the camera will not stop moving.

This game is incredibly fun if you're into metroidvanias that lean a little more into the Metroid side of things. It blows my mind that only one person created the original release of this title.

An absolute classic platformer with a few added features, including remixed music and challenge modes. You play as Quote, whose mission is to stop the Doctor from realizing his evil plans. Defeat giant bosses with an arsenal of weaponry, and save the world from impending doom. Amazing pixel art and 8-bit music keep you in the retro game mindset you'll need to make some very punishing platforming jumps.

It's pretty good.

I love when Cave Story Guy said "It's Cave Storying time" and Cave Storied all over the place. That was at the hardest part of the game, I don't regret buying at all. Peak gameplay

cav strery

A quality port of a fantastic game that everyone should try!

Arguably one of the most important indie games of all time. Short, a little eclectic in its secrets, a story with some good moments if a little bare bones: but all in all a good time that stands up to modern gameplay standards surprisingly well. Can still be enjoyed today, though I don't know if i'll ever be able to finish the true ending. Still had a great time though.

I'd recommend a controller for quick input & low latency reaction, because having two hands and all fingers or thumbs intact resting on all buttons or triggers would put TAS to shame

good game

good game, undead core is a bullshit fight because holy fuck why would anyone make 4 bosses in a row

the single greatest game i have ever played

cavest ory is awesom

👍

Nop, unlike most of the comments, I would not recommend this game, not because of publisher issues but because of the game itself.
True, it has charm - the music is awesome, the characters are likable, the plot is intriguing, and those things definitely helped to keep me in the game for so long.
However, the gameplay is annoyingly hard, which brings fun to a minimum.
First, the character movement - the inertia was a pain from level 1.
Second, the weapon level system sucks. Getting level down on your most suitable weapon in a decent chunk of the boss fights usually means a game over. And the inability to insta-skip cutscenes only fuels the rage flame on your 10th try.
Third, major boss fights look like a scene from Tohou - the screen is flooded with bullets, and half the time, you can barely see your character.
And most late-game enemies aren’t even strong - they’re just annoying, constantly ambushing and attacking you from inconvenient angles.
And plotwise the prerequisite to getting a good ending is bullshit, you can't possibly deduce it by yourself, cos makes absolutely no sense. At the end of a normal run, when you get to the shack, you get a hint that things could be different if Professor lived. "Ok, but how do I save him?" you think. And the answer is - you don't. Just don't go see him and talk to him in the labyrynth, and he lives. Speak with him - he dies. Your actions change reality in a completely indirect and invisible way - it's a Deus ex machina-level plot twist that you’d never anticipate.

I acknowledge the importance of Cave Story as far as it's placed within the history of PC indie games.
Maybe I've played too many games that have derived from cave story at this point?

Man is it ever a sequence of go-here-do-this-come-back with float-on-ice platforming. The controls are simple and are as much as you could want from a PC game that emulates control styles of older video games using a keyboard. The artwork and soundtrack for the game is very nice, and I've enjoyed what I've heard of it but am currently not compelled to continue playing. Get this game on a sale if you like metroidvanias and don't want to think about anything for a while I guess-- only after playing Shovel-Knight, Celeste, Castlevania(s) and like the thirty mega-man games though.

Basic story about underground small-men being terrorised by someone who's not underground and you stop them if you play the game.

I guess I wanted more than just a platformer? It feels like your average platformer if each level had a new power-up and that was as far as it went. I feel no desire to use other weapons. I just want to make it back across a hallway to deliver a key or something and don't want to engage in the simple gameplay loop created by the respawning enemies. The new weapons that have different projectile styles don't cut it in terms of variety for me?

Do not expect to find anything new here if you have played more than three platformers over the past 15 years.

Not the best version of the game, but it's Cave Story, still fun all around.
I suggest supporting the japanese version on Switch, the whole game can be switched to english.
I would say the best version that has the most content would be the Switch version, but you can't go wrong with the original FREE PC version. Support Pixel.

8/10

Cute little game.

Others have said it but its true, get the freeware version instead.

a classic

doktor, turn off my red flower inhibitors

awesomesauce

This game isn't really as good as I remembered; I beat it a while back but never got the true ending. It has a mechanic that slows the pace of the gameplay and frustrates the player. When you defeat an enemy they drop triangles that, when you pickup, level up your weapon. Each weapon can level up to 3. When you get hit, your weapon levels down. So when you traverse levels you are constantly killing and enemy with a fully leveled weapon, switching to a low level weapon and then running to pick up the triangles. In boss fights getting hit once or twice is a death sentence. Switching weapons is a hassle, I would advise looking up a guide and intentionally not getting certain edge case weapons.

On top of that the story is depressing as hell. The scientist team that comes in shows no regret whatsoever at the end after their intervention caused the death of the local populace while happy music plays. Also some of the characters such as the witch, who has some kind of redemption, and Sue, the daughter of the lead scientist, are incredibly selfish. You do not care about the survivors of this tragedy.

This game was also pretty overpriced during sales for a while, especially for a port of the game that is arguably worse than the 3DS eShop version (not Cave Story 3D). However this release does support mods (just not from Workshop) which is a plus.

I did Kero Blaster, which is from the same developer, more than this unforgiving title. I would like to try Ikachan again as well.

I found out about this game because it's the basis for Momodora, which I'm glad became its own thing. Cute characters and a sense of adventure and it's from 2004?

This game is good, really good but the development for this version has been abandoned, as shown by the Mac version being broken by default, and missing features from the Switch release.
If you don't mind not getting achievements, I recommend downloading "doukutsu-rs" on github, Its a faithful remake of Cave Story with all the upgrades from the switch version.

Great game, I hate it

Sooo soo goood...

8,5/10

This is not my first attempt at this game, many years ago I played the free version on PC and I remember it was a very nice experience. Cave Story is one of the better platformer/metroidvania games I've had the opportunity to play. For many players it may be a bit too short, but apart from that everything is great here <3 starting with nice pixel graphics through gameplay, music and a cool storyline.

----
Graphics: 8
Gameplay: 9
Audio: 8,5
Story: 8,5

I could write a long review explaining how great this game is, but after more than 20 years of its first release, everything than can be said about this game has probably been done so already. So, I'll just say that this game, developed entirely by a single person, Pixel, during five years, is simply the best indie game ever made, and one of the best in all time.

yes

my absolute favourite game ever, i used to play this on the ds. banger game

Cave Story is a fantastic game. The characters are funny and memorable, your weapons are diverse and have many opportunities to shine, and the gameplay is great. Perfect if you love metroidvania games or want to experience a masterpiece.

10/10 MASTERPIECE!! i love almost everything about this game to art, music, characters and most importantly gameplay! it's super fun and would recommend and frick the egg corridor! hate that place

Absolute gem of a game. Story is interesting, characters are lovable, fights are hard but fair, mechanics are tight, and there are 3 different endings to the game. And god damn do I love the music. This game is a love letter to what a good action platformer should be.

5/5 star

one of if not thee best game i have ever played

You should know the game is good already. Why are you looking at the reviews?

fuck with your dpi settings to get the proper aspect ratio