Miasma Caves

About

Miasma Caves is a single player platformer game with fantasy, anime, post-apocalyptic and violence themes. It was developed by windygames and was released on February 28, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Miasma Caves is an pacifist rogue-like game focused on exploration and discovery. The story follows Lesath, a bookish dragon girl who has taken up the family business of treasure hunting to help reinvigorate her village, Radiant Ridge. As Lesath, you venture into the caves, looking for treasures while avoiding the natural environmental dangers. There are many secrets hidden in the caves and treasu…

Skip User Reviews

72%

Audience ScoreBased on 29 reviews

music4 positive mentions

gameplay5 negative mentions

Unique and charming exploration-focused gameplay with a peaceful treasure hunting theme and notable environmental hazards.
Compelling procedural cave generation with interesting challenges like cave-ins, poisonous gases, and navigation requiring player attention and strategy.
Atmospheric art style, relaxing music, and a cozy town upgrade system add to the immersive and laid-back adventure experience.

Gameplay loop is repetitive and can become tedious quickly, with sparse narrative and minimal character development or variety.
Technical issues include clunky movement, poor mouse sensitivity controls, forced third-person view, lack of proper mapping/navigation aids, and occasional bugs.
Overall low polish with dated and basic animations, inconsistent UI design, and limited content leading to feelings of an unfinished or amateur project.

gameplay
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
28%
45%
The gameplay is widely criticized for being tedious, simplistic, and poorly designed, with unpolished mechanics and frustrating roguelite elements. The digging and exploration mechanics are considered boring and unfairly punishing, while the forced third-person perspective and repetitive loop fail to engage players seeking depth or challenge. Overall, the gameplay is described as lacking satisfaction, polish, and meaningful progression.
- “The gameplay loop in Miasma Caves is simple but satisfying: venture into the cave, search for treasures, escape, and return to town to resupply and sell your finds.”
- “The gameplay of Miasma Caves is very simple: explore a cave, find treasure, escape alive to sell said treasure in town, repeat.”
- “If you’re looking for something with deep narrative or challenging gameplay, Miasma Caves might not satisfy you just yet.”
- “I think it's hard to overstate just how bad the game mechanics and polish in this game are. Because it's voxel based you can "dig", but if you think you're getting even close to something like Red Faction's awesome destructible levels, or Deep Rock Galactic's frenetic co-op gameplay, you're going to be sorely disappointed.”
- “The forced third-person perspective for most of the gameplay can be annoying, especially since there’s no clear reason not to allow first-person movement throughout the caves.”
- “The gameplay loop is as basic and boring as you can get.”
story
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
The story in the game is minimal and lacks depth, with limited character development and a somewhat hollow world, mainly focusing on the protagonist Lesath's mission to investigate the miasma. While there is a basic plot concept, many users feel the narrative is underwhelming and does not drive engagement. Overall, the story is not a strong or thrilling aspect of the game.
- “The game follows Lesath, a determined draconid, on her mission to uncover the secrets of the dangerous miasma affecting her village.”
- “Honestly, this gives me the feel of Minecraft way back when it was a web browser Java block simulator, but with story and attractive characters.”
- “Best would be a core game plot idea like finding out why the cave keeps rumbling and collapsing and maybe it's due to something deep underground.”
- “Your supposed plot progress is finding some static rooms with special textures and props and the main character making a text box out of it.”
- “Also, while the caves and environments are randomly generated, there’s a lack of an in-depth story or character development, which leaves the world feeling a bit hollow at times.”
- “If, however, you were hoping for character development, and/or story, you may feel a bit let down.”
music
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
29%
14%
The music in the game is highly praised for being captivating and enjoyable, with many players recommending the soundtrack even if they find the gameplay frustrating. It features charming and enchanting tunes that fans of Leila "Woofle" Wilson’s work will particularly appreciate. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a standout element that enhances the game’s colorful and peaceful atmosphere.
- “Tl;dr - get the soundtrack, skip the game because it is tedious and unfairly punishing any attempts at casual gameplay.”
graphics
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The graphics are generally considered poor and outdated, resembling PS2-era visuals without proper in-game configuration options, limited to a command line setting for quality. However, some users appreciate the 3D graphics and animations.
- “Nice 3D graphics and animations.”
- “It's barebones, it's ugly as hell (I think PS2-era graphics, but not great).”
- “Oh, and this game has no proper graphical configuration options in-game.”
- “It is one of those Unity games where you can only set the graphics quality on 'fastest' with a command line parameter.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game’s grinding is widely criticized for being tedious and overly punishing, especially for casual players, making progression frustrating and unenjoyable.
- “Tl;dr - get the soundtrack, skip the game because it is tedious and unfairly punishing any attempts at casual gameplay.”
- “Imagine losing most of your active items in a grindy game - not fun.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game lacks in-depth character development and story, resulting in a world that can feel somewhat hollow and unengaging for players seeking a richer narrative experience.
- “Also, while the caves and environments are randomly generated, there’s a lack of an in-depth story or character development, which leaves the world feeling a bit hollow at times.”
- “If, however, you were hoping for character development, and/or story, you may feel a bit let down.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's atmosphere is quiet and immersive, creating a relaxing environment that enhances the enjoyment of treasure hunting, town upgrading, and uncovering secrets.
- “But if you enjoy treasure hunting, upgrading your town, and uncovering secrets in a quiet, atmospheric environment, this game is definitely worth a look.”