The Cave tells the story of seven characters who explore a mysterious Cave because...well, because why the hell not. There's the time traveler, the hillbilly, the adventurer, the knight, the scientist, the monk and a pair of mysterious ghostly twins (who control as one person). During each play through you choose three of the seven characters and explore the depths of the titular cave. Since you're locked into these three characters, the game's puzzles and challenges change to make their abilities, meaning repeat playthroughs are warranted if you want the whole story.

Please understand though that I use that term -- whole story -- very loosely. The game does very little to explain much of the characters, their motivations or just why the hell they're choosing to go explore a cave. There are small, well-done drawings you can discover that give you a brief look into each character's past, but that's pretty much it. Why isn't this as annoying as other games? Well, because the game is just so damn charming.

"...the quality writing and one-liners will have you giggling..."

The Cave looks like an interactive, and slightly more animated version of Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride mixed with something out of Adult Swim. Characters and the environment are nicely detailed, but still retain their cartoonish appearance thanks to some awesome shading. The entire adventure is narrated by The Cave itself, in a delightfully sinister tone that seems to mock you with every step you take. It's not up to the level of the narrator in Bastion, but the quality writing and one-liners will have you giggling -- at least the first time you hear them.

Though it may masquerade as a platformer, The Cave has more in common with Gilbert's classic adventure games like Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island than anything else. Progression through the game requires some pretty hefty puzzle solving skills, but they never feel like they require it. Some of the best moments in The Cave are those “aha!” moments when a solution suddenly clicks in your head. Those moments are often followed by thoughts of “why in the hell didn't I get that sooner?” As The Cave begins to open up, Puzzles get more difficult and larger in scale, but they always feel like they're attainable and you can't help but wonder how you'd solve it with another set of characters.

"A lot of the game requires you to backtrack...a lot."

The downside of all of this? A lot of the game requires you to backtrack...a lot. See, you're in control of three different characters at all time, but you're only ever in control of one character, so you'll be switching back and forth between the characters to solve a puzzle, which gets old very quickly, especially since a lot of The Cave looks very similar (especially in the early parts of the game). One puzzle early in the game requires you to find a way to get past a fire breathing monster, but to do so you'll have to find an object to power a crane, you're not told what that object is, and when you do -- you'll have to go back..almost to the beginning of the game to do so.

The dark depths of The Cave can be a dangerous place, but those looking for a solid adventure game in the vein of Ron Gilbert's classic games should definitely take a look. It's filled with great moments and design, but unfortunately -- there's also a lot of backtracking and repetitive gameplay. Faults aside, The Cave is a game that excels in so many areas, but its few faults stand in the way of it being a truly great game.