Delicious Fruit
Download Game 14 Reviews:
Wolfiexe
Chaos Cave is a fun little game consisting of two segments, these being a spiky descent through a needle filled cave and a HP-based barrage avoidance, both utilizing a washed-out and easy-on-the-eyes colour scheme.
The needle is enjoyable, and each screen follows a certain theme often utilizing a specific spike formation. The jumps all feel well thought out and there's nothing too bumpy in difficulty. Save points are also generously placed so there's no long-save heartbreaks to be had. I do think sometimes the number of spikes can detract from the visuals as it makes a couple screens look quite cluttered, although the glowing visual effect does complement it nicely.
The avoidance is very nicely designed, with a lot of thought to the infinite jump arena you're given and the lenience of having 3 HP. The small visual touches make the fight look very polished and are just subtle enough to not be distracting. Attacks are also nicely synced up the song, which is worthy of a SourPls or two. My only real issue was the second-to-last attack where bullets spiral from out of the arena towards the middle, which just felt kinda chaotic and uncertain to read for me. There's a good chance I was doing a bad strat, so maybe others will have a better time.
If you hitless the avoidance, you unlock an extra piece of platforming which is a reworked version of the needle stage, featuring new music and more spikes. The screen layouts and paths are the same, but with some more difficulty packed in. Some jumps felt a bit overly cramped, but it was again, enjoyable.
Well worth a play. Even if you're opposed to one of the two things this game has to offer, the game presents you the option of starting with either the needle or the avoidance right from the get-go, so it's a nice way to let the player decide what they want to focus on.
[1] Like
The needle is enjoyable, and each screen follows a certain theme often utilizing a specific spike formation. The jumps all feel well thought out and there's nothing too bumpy in difficulty. Save points are also generously placed so there's no long-save heartbreaks to be had. I do think sometimes the number of spikes can detract from the visuals as it makes a couple screens look quite cluttered, although the glowing visual effect does complement it nicely.
The avoidance is very nicely designed, with a lot of thought to the infinite jump arena you're given and the lenience of having 3 HP. The small visual touches make the fight look very polished and are just subtle enough to not be distracting. Attacks are also nicely synced up the song, which is worthy of a SourPls or two. My only real issue was the second-to-last attack where bullets spiral from out of the arena towards the middle, which just felt kinda chaotic and uncertain to read for me. There's a good chance I was doing a bad strat, so maybe others will have a better time.
If you hitless the avoidance, you unlock an extra piece of platforming which is a reworked version of the needle stage, featuring new music and more spikes. The screen layouts and paths are the same, but with some more difficulty packed in. Some jumps felt a bit overly cramped, but it was again, enjoyable.
Well worth a play. Even if you're opposed to one of the two things this game has to offer, the game presents you the option of starting with either the needle or the avoidance right from the get-go, so it's a nice way to let the player decide what they want to focus on.
Rating: 8.3
Difficulty: 55
Aug 24, 2019
kurath
Stumbled across this randomly and it was worth it.
Utilizes the pretty standard formula of a few screens of needle and an avoidance, though rather than successive they're in a hub, leaving you free to do them in either order or just a single one.
The needle was really great - it had a downward progression to it while utilizing the screen space well and managed to make use of really interesting layouts and creative jumps while keeping difficulty down. Also had a cute little easter egg.
Avoidance was solid as well. Heavily RNG based with 3 hp, but designed in such a way that it doesn't screw you. Its all quite fair, though there's probably a couple attacks where a bit more telegraphing would've helped (which seemed to have been the creators intent, rather than forcing the player to learn through trial and error). Its a great intermediate level, lots of room for error while still being challenging and having a good helping of different attack patterns for a player to improve off of.
Overall its short but worth it. Recommended for players a few fangames in looking to polish their needle and RNG reading skills, or anyone looking for a nice light challenge.
[1] Like
Utilizes the pretty standard formula of a few screens of needle and an avoidance, though rather than successive they're in a hub, leaving you free to do them in either order or just a single one.
The needle was really great - it had a downward progression to it while utilizing the screen space well and managed to make use of really interesting layouts and creative jumps while keeping difficulty down. Also had a cute little easter egg.
Avoidance was solid as well. Heavily RNG based with 3 hp, but designed in such a way that it doesn't screw you. Its all quite fair, though there's probably a couple attacks where a bit more telegraphing would've helped (which seemed to have been the creators intent, rather than forcing the player to learn through trial and error). Its a great intermediate level, lots of room for error while still being challenging and having a good helping of different attack patterns for a player to improve off of.
Overall its short but worth it. Recommended for players a few fangames in looking to polish their needle and RNG reading skills, or anyone looking for a nice light challenge.
Rating: 8.8
Difficulty: 50
Apr 20, 2018
LastTISisLife
Based on 100 % clear (which means beating avoidance hitless and then beating extra needle). Any% requirement of this game is very fun - needle is good and avoidance is interesting barrage. However, i can't recommend going for hitless, it isn't best avoidance for that. If you beat it tho that will unlock extra needle, which is a downgrade compared to main stage tbh. But yeah, for any% - totally worth a shot, especially since you can choose freely from start between stage and avoidance, which is always appreciated
[0] Likes
Rating: 7.6
Difficulty: 61
Oct 17, 2024
Cutiefruity
Rating does not include hard mode needle
Very fun avoidance, and pretty fun needle, too short for it's own good but still great
[0] Likes
Very fun avoidance, and pretty fun needle, too short for it's own good but still great
Rating: 8.0
Difficulty: 50
Dec 19, 2020
Jdx83
Rating includes the hard mode needle that's unlocked after beating the avoidance hitless.
[0] Likes
Rating: 7.8
Difficulty: 62
Nov 3, 2019
Mrzwanzig
The needle in this game is pretty good, but I haven't got much to say about it, and it's fairly short and simple. The avoidance is very interesting though, featuring several attacks that strike a perfect balance between feeling unique and still being simple enough to be understood immediately. The exception is the second to last attack, which like Wolfi I thought was a bit of a chaotic mess, and is the reason I didn't end up going for the hitless run to unlock the hard mode needle. Overall a great time, definitely recommended.
[0] Likes
Rating: 8.5
Difficulty: 51
Oct 28, 2019
Onynekyu
Review based on normal clear (Needle & Avoidance)
[0] Likes
Rating: 8.5
Difficulty: 55
May 18, 2018
iraqlobster01
Pretty good game. Hope mole makes more games in the future.
Platforming:
Normal platforming is not too difficult; it is around 7 screens long and slowly gets harder as you progress. Most of the platforming consists of unique jumps surrounded by the typical jump you might see in any other needle game. I would say the creator strikes a nice balance between uniqueness and simplicity, which improves the experience and makes the needle more fun to play. Some saves later in the game deviate slightly from the established difficulty curve and the uniqueness of the needle in general declines at times, so I couldn't say it was "perfect" needle. It was pretty damn close.
The hard needle is the same length and uses the same screens but with buffed jumps. Once again, the balance between uniqueness and simplicity is struck well and the increased difficulty offers an additional challenge. The variations in difficulty do stand out more here, which made some saves more frustrating than others, but once again it did not take away any enjoyment I had with the game.
Avoidance:
The avoidance utilizes the infinite jump gimmick and gives you 3 lives (if you want to unlock hard more, clear the avoidance without getting hit) . It is around 3 minutes long (I might be overestimating but I'm too lazy to check again) and is 100 percent RNG. The sophistication seen in the needle transfers itself over to the avoidance, as the creator makes the projectiles do pretty unorthodox things while remaining fair and somewhat easy to read. Additionally, the avoidance does some other unconventional things with some attacks seen later in the fight, as the laser attacks are something I had not seen before playing this. Balancing is a bit off, as the hard attacks are somewhat scattered in the fight. Other than that, good fight.
In terms of the actual attacks, you'll usually be dodging in the middle or edges of the screen. The first few attacks are simple enough to dodge and are easy to get consistent at. The boss slightly picks up around the 1 minute mark with some decently difficult to read curving that comes from the center of the screen. Once that attack ends, the first laser attack (which is in the screenshot above) starts and lasts around 30 seconds. After that, the boss slightly picks up in difficulty with an "K3 earthlike" attack, a bouncing attack, another laser attack (which was the hardest for me due to how fast the lasers shoot, you've gotta be quick if you wanna avoid getting hit), 45 seconds of rng from each angle of the screen, and the final attack. The final attack will probably be the hardest for most players if you don't know where to dodge; I found that the lower left corner was good enough for me. In terms of flaws, the 2nd laser attack was pretty tedious due to how fast the lasers actually shoot. I felt like I had no time to react before I got hit.
Aesthetics:
The game looked great. The graphics were reminiscent of IWST Meltdown and I definitely felt as if I was back playing that game while playing this. Nice unintentional nostalgia. The music picks were also great. No complaints overall.
Wrap-up.
Great game. Make more of them Mole. I really enjoyed this one and hope you do decide to in the future.
moleYo
[0] Likes
Platforming:
Normal platforming is not too difficult; it is around 7 screens long and slowly gets harder as you progress. Most of the platforming consists of unique jumps surrounded by the typical jump you might see in any other needle game. I would say the creator strikes a nice balance between uniqueness and simplicity, which improves the experience and makes the needle more fun to play. Some saves later in the game deviate slightly from the established difficulty curve and the uniqueness of the needle in general declines at times, so I couldn't say it was "perfect" needle. It was pretty damn close.
The hard needle is the same length and uses the same screens but with buffed jumps. Once again, the balance between uniqueness and simplicity is struck well and the increased difficulty offers an additional challenge. The variations in difficulty do stand out more here, which made some saves more frustrating than others, but once again it did not take away any enjoyment I had with the game.
Avoidance:
The avoidance utilizes the infinite jump gimmick and gives you 3 lives (if you want to unlock hard more, clear the avoidance without getting hit) . It is around 3 minutes long (I might be overestimating but I'm too lazy to check again) and is 100 percent RNG. The sophistication seen in the needle transfers itself over to the avoidance, as the creator makes the projectiles do pretty unorthodox things while remaining fair and somewhat easy to read. Additionally, the avoidance does some other unconventional things with some attacks seen later in the fight, as the laser attacks are something I had not seen before playing this. Balancing is a bit off, as the hard attacks are somewhat scattered in the fight. Other than that, good fight.
In terms of the actual attacks, you'll usually be dodging in the middle or edges of the screen. The first few attacks are simple enough to dodge and are easy to get consistent at. The boss slightly picks up around the 1 minute mark with some decently difficult to read curving that comes from the center of the screen. Once that attack ends, the first laser attack (which is in the screenshot above) starts and lasts around 30 seconds. After that, the boss slightly picks up in difficulty with an "K3 earthlike" attack, a bouncing attack, another laser attack (which was the hardest for me due to how fast the lasers shoot, you've gotta be quick if you wanna avoid getting hit), 45 seconds of rng from each angle of the screen, and the final attack. The final attack will probably be the hardest for most players if you don't know where to dodge; I found that the lower left corner was good enough for me. In terms of flaws, the 2nd laser attack was pretty tedious due to how fast the lasers actually shoot. I felt like I had no time to react before I got hit.
Aesthetics:
The game looked great. The graphics were reminiscent of IWST Meltdown and I definitely felt as if I was back playing that game while playing this. Nice unintentional nostalgia. The music picks were also great. No complaints overall.
Wrap-up.
Great game. Make more of them Mole. I really enjoyed this one and hope you do decide to in the future.
moleYo
Rating: 8.5
Difficulty: 60
Sep 9, 2017