Colossal Cave Reviews
Only for nostalgists and those who love getting lost on spelunking holidays.
Colossal Cave isn’t for everyone, but it’s like a slow and meticulously designed theme park ride, all built around an old text adventure game, making for a fascinating experience. Whether you play it or not is probably more up to your personal sensibilities, but Colossal Cave remains an immersive excavation that’s more than worth the trip, even with all the old screws and rusty bolts binding the two periods of game history together.
Like its own mysterious underground complex, Colossal Cave is obscure and unfriendly, trickily hiding some scarce but valuable treasure. If it wasn't for the fascinating source material, it would be jaw-droppingly bad. However, the source material is fascinating, and this remake is one way to engage with it. If, for that reason, you are willing to overlook both the outdated design elements you would expect and the bad design decisions and sloppy implementation you wouldn't, there could be something here to enjoy. We certainly wouldn't judge anyone who discovered an egg-sized emerald of fun in Colossal Cave, but neither can we seriously recommend it.
Colossal Cave is a love letter to the 1976 original which fans will enjoy, but newcomers will likely be confused, intimidated, and frustrated by its design.
A misguided attempt to recreate one of gaming's oldest and most influential classics, that's let down by outdated visuals and prehistoric gameplay elements.
Perhaps Colossal Cave’s unthinking fealty to the original, and its seeming dismissal of so many of the innovations that might have improved it, could be forgiven if it featured any puzzles or mechanics that would be tough to replicate in a modern design context. But no such innovations are apparent, and new touches like the first-person camera create new problems like making it easy to miss important items in the cave. Colossal Cave, then, can hardly be called a “modernization,” because it would have felt antiquated even if it came out 20 years ago.
Colossal Cave was a classic text adventure, but whether this reimagined take is "the adventure you've longed for" might boil down to your tolerance for dated elements. So much has changed in the decades since the original title, and the developer and Roberta Williams were household names in the gaming community. Going through the passages of this non-linear adventure can still be a mysterious, secret-filled romp. But it's likely best tackled with a good dose of nostalgia.
Colossal Cave is a fascinating game, and this modern remake brings the wonder of a text adventure to life in full 3D. It's streamlined with a few updates, while still keeping the spirit of the original. The game has more than a few issues, but is well worth playing for a magical adventure.
Colossal Cave managed to capture the true essence that made the original game so captivating and engaging. The fantastic use of immersive sound makes you feel like you're really on a humorous cave-spelunking adventure.
Colossal Cave is an intriguing experience that might struggle to find an audience. I’m sure that people who played the classic title will like to see how it looks in 3D or VR. It is also clear some of its charm is lost in the transition. Modern gamers might be turned off by the relatively limited mechanics and narrative. A solid dose of nostalgic appreciation is required to keep going after a few good runs.
Colossal Cave is a good adventure game that will appeal more to those with some nostalgia for classics and classic sensibilities. The limited inventory system and the slightly obtuse puzzles might not gel if you've only been exposed to modern adventure games. That said, the sense of exploration is still strong, and the point system gives the game some replayability, which is something rarely seen in the genre. The reimagining of the original game works well, and genre fans who are keen to see where it all began should pick this up.
Colossal Cave relies heavily on the nostalgia and brand awareness of the original. It is a game that is very difficult to play without this remake. Unfortunately, the transition to 3D makes the game less accessible and in many cases even more frustrating. Listing the lyrics will be a trip back to the past for fans of the original, but it quickly becomes very irritating, especially in the menu. A VR update is planned for this year, based on the PC VR version. But after the few hours with this game in "normal" 3D and the fact that the PC VR version solves few of the problems, this is a game I won't be playing in PS VR 2.
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I enjoyed this game and would recommend it to adventure game fans, especially for anyone who, like me, never played the original. But I wish they had either gone all in with the preservation and just added the audio-visual updates or gone for it and revamped the whole thing. Instead, we are left with a half-measure that does not live up to the fans’ hopes nor presents something new players will want to engage with. That said, I still hope to see more from the Williams. I remain a massive fan of their work and will always be grateful for their impact on me as a child.
While the old-school legacy of a Roberta Williams adventure brings flavor to the experience, the end product is lackluster
The core structure feels a tad dated while the reimagined game play elements don’t quite go far enough to match modern day standards. Below the eccentricities of Colossal Cave is an adventure packed with character and charm that’s still worth taking however. Even for newcomers.
"Colossal Cave" is a nostalgia bomb of early gaming's text-based adventure past mixed with the aesthetics of 90s "slideshow" adventures, masterfully combined by the oldest and most respected names in gaming. It's a short, sweet, and expertly delivered experience for gamers of any generation.
Revisiting Colossal Cave is a peculiar, uncanny experience. I understand Roberta Williams’ desire to bring it back to life, even if I’m not convinced the format she’s chosen to present it in does justice to the original’s pioneering spirit or the grip it managed to hold on the imaginations of those who played it. But perhaps that was always an impossible task.
It’s a very level game—enjoyable at first, but not very exciting after you’ve spent several hours with it. When you combine this with its emphasis on replayability over length and a paucity of mechanical revision, you get a lacking game with a highly contradictory price tag. These drawbacks are hefty, and they cause 2023’s Colossal Cave to be a difficult recommendation for those who aren’t already enamored with its text adventure roots.
There’s no denying the love and passion that went into recreating Colossal Cave into a 3D experience. The fact that the Williams’ came out of retirement to undertake this project, just proves how special the game is. However, I can see it being divisive among gamers. Older players (like myself) and veterans of the early adventure game genre, will more than likely revel in its faithfulness to its source material. I was completely hooked by its mysteries, and have gone back several times to try to discover everything Colossal Cave has to offer. Younger players, on the other hand, might be put off by its lack of narrative, complex puzzles, and very minimal hand-holding. I hope I’m wrong, and that Roberta Williams gets the appreciation she deserves from a whole new generation.