The Dark Cave is a gritty pixel art turn-based roguelike where you fight tense battles in opposite 3x3 grids against wave after wave of enemies. Choose between three heroes, each with different perks and talent trees: the sturdy knight, the quick fairy and the undead phantom. You will need to carefully consider every movement: your moves are limited and only recover between layers of the dungeon; when you run out of moves, every single step costs you health points. On top of that, every skill (and even walking!) has a cooldown time. You have the ability to see when and where the next attack of your enemies will land, though â so planning ahead is essential to make every movement count.

To aid you in your adventure you have up to 5 skills â some are aggressive, others are defensive. You need to consider where in the other grid your attacks will land, and plan your movement accordingly, keeping an eye on your enemiesâ own attacks. You can also use potions to various effects: recover HP or moves, inflict negative status to your enemiesâ¦ And finally, you can collect different relics that stay with you throughout your entire run and grant you positive effects. Between layers in the dungeon, different NPCs will give you the option to enhance your skills, get new ones (sacrificing your old ones in exchange), and buy more powerful gear.

As you advance through the dungeon, you will get experience points that let you buy talents that give you powerful new abilities that stay between runs. Use your best tactical thinking combining skills, relics, potions and talents to grow in power and survive the hordes of enemies, each of them with unique pattern attacks, skills and weapons, descending deeper and deeper into the increasingly dangerous dungeon of The Dark Cave.

Movement during battles is limited. You will need to carefully consider each move and anticipating monster movement positions is necessary.

Movement during battles is limited. You will need to carefully consider each move: if you run out of energy youâll start losing HP

Build a strategy that combines skills and movements to attack and defend yourself from enemies: anticipating the movement and attack patterns of every monster is key to your survival

Select a hero from 3 distinct characters, each with 20 available skills that can be upgraded multiple times

With 20 enhancement effects, 20 potions, and 40 relics, forge your combat style through combinations

After you finish a layer, the Blacksmith, the Angel and the Black Marketeer will bring you different items to help you on your journey. But sometimes youâll have to sacrifice something in exchange for their boonsâ¦