Cave



There are many caves to be found throughout the Forest that wind throughout the majority of the Peninsula. Most of the unique objects and scenes relating to the game's story can be found in the caves. Over time, the developers have moved almost all of the key items (such as the map, compass, flashlight, axes, katana, etc.) into the caves.

= Entrances =

There are three primary cave entrance types, with a fourth only in use for one cave (Cave HC). There are walk-in caves, where the player squeezes between two rocks into a small opening, and rope-down entrances, which look like holes in the ground with climbing ropes and stones around the entrances leading in. In addition, several caves have underwater entrances. These generally require the rebreather to successfully navigate. Note: it is possible to fall into several rope-down entrances, so the player is advised to take caution.

= Threats =

The caves start out crawling with cannibals, and some also contain mutants like the Virginia, Armsy, and Cowman. In addition, there are many groups of mutant babies, which can be a significant threat in the more enclosed passages. The Pale Cannibals come in two primary flavors: the standard pale/blue male, and a weaker hunched type in-between the regular and skinny aboveground cannibals. Both can occasionally wield crude weapons, most often the crafted axe.

Cave enemies are unique: they will quickly reset to their safe positions if they get stuck or wander off, but they do not respawn when killed (there is a bug where cannibals, not mutants, may occasionally respawn). On the other hand, surface enemies spawn infinitely at increasing rates, yet cannot use climbing ropes, squeezes, or flooded shafts. As such, cleared caves ironically can become safe havens and private shortcuts for the player as the game goes on.

Cave enemies may respawn while in multiplayer after saving, quitting, and resuming while partway through a cave or potentially in other ways.

= What to Expect =


 * Caves usually have an abundance of supplies scattered about (such as cash, coins, flares, sticks, ropes, sodas, dynamite, etc), most of which respawn upon going through any cave entrance. Thus, the player may often end up leaving better-stocked than when they went in.


 * The caves are mostly pitch black (with the exception of scattered skull lamps and luminescent formations), requiring the player to use a light source such as the lighter, flashlight, or a tool wrapped in cloth (the best being the "upgraded stick", with by far the longest burn time 5 min) Except for lighting a burning arrow, which for some reason never goes out.. Tip: Adjusting the game's color settings to a lighter scheme such as "Modern" or increasing gamma may help a lot with this.


 * Some of the caves have save points in the form of orange tents left by previous spelunkers, and the player can build disposable leaf shelters in emergencies.


 * Unless it is broad daylight outside, touching water in caves will usually result in the "cold and wet" status condition.


 * Many of the most disturbing scenes to be uncovered in the Forest are within the caves.

Trivia

 * In older versions, rain above ground affected much of the cave system, often soaking the player and putting out their torches for no apparent reason. This was fixed in v0.71.

Multiplayer Cave Update History
These fixes only apply to multiplayer: