Cave Story+ (Nintendo Switch) Review

Lonely is perhaps the best way to describe Cave Story+'s tone. Much of the experience is spent platforming through colourful locations and shooting exotic enemies, but it holds on tight to a feeling of solitude.

That isolated mood makes it all the more impactful when stumbling upon an NPC. It makes interactions special. Which is surprising, really, because Cave Story+ is more of a platformer than most Metroidvanias.

The brief interludes of story work so well thanks to how they're interspliced within the gameplay. Mr. Traveler wakes up in an abandoned cave, on a floating island, and without any indication of where to go. When he finally makes it out of the cave, he's greeted with a village that suddenly feels more exciting to explore than if the game had simply started there.

Studio Pixel treats plot like a reward and that shows in the design. It's easy enough to die in the opening cave, but it doesn't feel unfair. Instead, it commands an understanding of the mechanics.

Mr. Traveler has momentum to his walk and jump, backtracking is at times necessary to make progress, and weapons can level down just as easily as they can level up. It's a lot to take in at once, but it feels rewarding to conquer.

The thrill of completing a challenging stage is at times enough, but Studio Pixel goes one further with story. Immediately after clearing the cave, Mr. Traveler stumbles upon a village filled with NPCs. It feels rewarding getting through a difficult set-piece and being given a respite in return.

It's important that this give and take of challenge and rest has been established immediately since this is the formula the whole game works on. Sometimes the respite isn't always a docile village, but instead a puzzle with no risk of death. Other times it's a conveniently placed house with a save point in a dangerous area.

The plot itself is far darker than the colourful world leads on, tackling themes of slavery, weaponry, and the responsibility of war. The narrative's tension ends up matching the gameplay's tension, particularly in the second half when enemies start to ramp up, creating a cohesion between story and gameplay that is seldom found in most games, let alone Metroidvanias.

On the Metroidvania side of things, there are plenty of weapons and items to unlock that help lighten the platforming load - although, nothing to the point of trivializing the core design.

Unlike most Metroidvanias, however, Mr. Traveler doesn't needs to find these items to progress. In fact, it's incredibly easy to bypass a useful weapon or item, making obtaining one all the more satisfying. Items are hidden because they're meant to be a reward, not a means to an end.

Cave Story+ is also more disjointed in its map than most of its contemporaries, which might be disappointing to some, but the disconnect allows stages to breathe freely without needing to worry about how to weave in and out of one another.

What Cave Story+ does better than anything else is its boss fights. For every amazing platforming section, there's more than likely a great boss at the end of it to overcome.

Bosses really demonstrate the brilliance of Studio Pixel's design. While bosses vary in difficulty, each one has the same basic idea of mixing platforming and combat together. Since weapons lose experience and delevel when Mr. Traveler gets hit, rushing into a boss and shooting blindly will ultimately lead nowhere. Proper strategy and quick thinking is necessary at all times.

Despite originally being released as freeware in 2004, Cave Story+ fits rather well in the modern industry. Studio Pixel was never just copy and pasting old-school design into a platformer. There's a level of care, polish, and foresight that many developers this generation could and should take note of.

Cave Story+ is hard because a challenge can be fun. Every story beat is rewarding because it's an actual reward for doing well. Finding a secret is fun because it's the fruit of genuine exploration.

The video game industry and its expectations will keep changing, but one thing is certain: Cave Story isn't going anywhere - and that's great.