Home / Games / Cave Story+
Cave Story+
Run, jump, shoot, fly and explore your way through a massive action-adventure reminiscent of classic 8- and 16-bit games.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-08-31 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
35 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“This is only one of the best Metroidvania type games to have ever been created. Great exploration, tight controls, awesome boss fights and a great story. In my humble opinion this is one of those games that everyone…”
“After messing around this game on my old Wii AND the 3DS back in the day, never really getting past the beginning, I finally sat down to play this [b]classic[/b] it and it's very charming, and it's on the short and…”
“THE OG indie game. Made by one dude; Pixel (then ported by Nicalis). Play it through at least one time blind. It's an absolute masterpiece light-metroidvania with meaningful decisions in sometimes seemingly meaningless…”
24 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“I love this game, and finally, the Steam version gets some love with all the Switch content making its way over as well as the added mod support. I hope Nicalis actually makes this build public sooner rather than later,…”
“They Brought us the Switch version update, Finally! Please go play this game, it's an absolute Masterpiece!”
“THE OG indie game. Made by one dude; Pixel (then ported by Nicalis). Play it through at least one time blind. It's an absolute masterpiece light-metroidvania with meaningful decisions in sometimes seemingly meaningless…”
20 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“This is only one of the best Metroidvania type games to have ever been created. Great exploration, tight controls, awesome boss fights and a great story. In my humble opinion this is one of those games that everyone…”
“I used to be a simp for Misery 9/10”
“Cave Story is a delightful reminder that indie classics didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It brings the charm, the tunes and the occasional boss fight that makes you wonder if you accidentally angered the game’s deity.…”
11 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“After messing around this game on my old Wii AND the 3DS back in the day, never really getting past the beginning, I finally sat down to play this [b]classic[/b] it and it's very charming, and it's on the short and…”
“This may be my top favorite game guys. It's a must have classic game that I feel many people will fall in love with. As someone who has a short attention span with games, this one keeps my attention at all times lol.…”
“i can finally write this a good review. nicalis has finally given it the respect it deserves with the most recent update. this is one of the best metroidvanias of all time. the story is adorable, the gameplay is…”
11 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Thanks for patching the game! I haven't tried the plus version of this game that much, but I have gotten close to beating the original. This game was so impactful for indie games and is truly a hidden gem now a days.…”
“Cave Story is a delightful reminder that indie classics didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It brings the charm, the tunes and the occasional boss fight that makes you wonder if you accidentally angered the game’s deity.…”
“Surprised I haven't written a review for this yet but the rap album/walkthrough coming out followed by the announcement of all the switch updates (and official modding support) coming to pc has spurred me to write one…”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“i can finally write this a good review. nicalis has finally given it the respect it deserves with the most recent update. this is one of the best metroidvanias of all time. the story is adorable, the gameplay is…”
“I usually don't leave any reviews but I'll make an exception for this game because it's quite literally a scam. See, the original Cave Story is (and has always been) available for free online and is essentially the same…”
“Cave story is a very solid game with some deeply annoying issues in its design that mean I probably won't be 100%ing the game anytime soon. Despite this it's still a classic with a fun story, good music, a cute style to…”
6 of the 103 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“This new update is a joke, they announced that it was "out now" and yet it wasn't, as of writing this two weeks after they announced the update, you still have to type in a password to access a hidden beta version,…”
“I usually don't leave any reviews but I'll make an exception for this game because it's quite literally a scam. See, the original Cave Story is (and has always been) available for free online and is essentially the same…”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“it is ok for being one of the most hyped up/well known/"classic" indie games, it sure isn't very good cave story is full of bizarre design choices, finicky interactions, slippery controls, a confusing and lacking…”
“I'm going to try and keep this as level as I can. Story's pretty good, if a bit disjointed. You're thrown in as a guy with no idea WTF is going on and have to pick up the pieces as you go, no complaints here, it works…”
“Боссы умирают с проспама кнопки стрельбы. А те которые нет - их нельзя дамажить, что ещё хуже. Стоишь ждешь пока их можно заспамить.”
3 of the 103 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“I've played Cave Story a thousand times before. I've played on PC, I've played it on my DSi, I've played it on my 3DS, so surprisingly this is my first time playing Cave Story+. You should understand, this port has some…”
“I played this masterpiece many times before but the state of this PC version is unacceptable. It's not playable on an ultrawide screen because the image gets totally cropped on the top and bottom. There is a switch…”
“it is ok for being one of the most hyped up/well known/"classic" indie games, it sure isn't very good cave story is full of bizarre design choices, finicky interactions, slippery controls, a confusing and lacking…”
3 of the 103 reviews raise this · 1 of them still recommend the game.
“I've played Cave Story a thousand times before. I've played on PC, I've played it on my DSi, I've played it on my 3DS, so surprisingly this is my first time playing Cave Story+. You should understand, this port has some…”
“I played this masterpiece many times before but the state of this PC version is unacceptable. It's not playable on an ultrawide screen because the image gets totally cropped on the top and bottom. There is a switch…”
“Horrible port. The unskippable extremely slow dialog gets on my nerves.”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 92.8% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“Over a decade later, and the Devs cooked up a fat update including coop??? they spoil us. Please play this game, its a phenomonal piece of history”
— a player, Steam review · 8 hrs played“Recently got majority or all the exclusive console/portable console ports (Switch co op and lighting for example) and the rad jukebox. Didn't think they would do it ever since they announced it but here we are.”
— a player, Steam review · 167 hrs played“"Future content updates" was not a lie. I wasn't expecting it in 2026, but it's a welcome surprise.”
— a player, Steam review · 8 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-05.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-04). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Cave Story+ 260630 Update
Welcome to the Cave Story+ Community hub blog update. New build is up with lots of little improvements. See changelog below! In addition to the usual bugfixes, this update brings improved performance
Cave Story+ Major Upgrade!
The long-awaited public release is here! Cave Story+ 2026 is now available to all players by default, with no need to opt-into a special branch. Once again, a huge thank-you to everyone for providing
Cave Story+ Update 2026
The branch and password needed to access all the new content is:Branch name: ModdersDelight Branch Password: ModPizzaParty Oh Yeaah!!! The massive Cave Story Steam update today, adds a ton of new feat
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Action, Adventure, Indie |
| Player tags | Platformer · Metroidvania · Indie · Great Soundtrack · Pixel Graphics · Action · Adventure · 2D · Singleplayer · Retro · Classic · Exploration (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Partial Controller Support · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * * |
| Achievements | 76 |
| Official site | http://www.nicalis.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows XP Processor: Intel Core Solo Memory: 128 MB RAM Graphics: 64MB RAM Hard Drive: 200 MB HD space