History VideoGame / TheCave

* AnAesop: You can't always get what you want. Sometimes you just shouldn't, because the cost is too high.

* StoryBreadcrumbs: The cave paintings.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The game shares and updates many gameplay concepts from Gilbert's ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion''.
** The Time Traveler's section feels very reminiscent of ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'', the sequel to ''Maniac Mansion''.

** Envy: [[spoiler:The Time Traveler, who's so jealous co-worker got the "greatest employee of all time" honor instead of her that she's willing to try erasing ''his entire family line from existence'' by killing his ancient ancestor.]]

** The Time Traveller's FlashStep and Monk's [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] are oh so abusable. For instance, if you take [[spoiler:the Time Traveller]] to the [[spoiler:Knight]]'s level, you can [[spoiler:just FlashStep to the dragon lair's key]], skipping a portion that would otherwise require all three characters, and if done wrong would have you do it all over again as [[spoiler:the enemy knight]] kills you.

* SoftWater: Anytime you reach a point where you're not supposed to be able to backtrack, it involves what would otherwise be a lethal fall into a pool of water. Taken UpToEleven when you first enter the cave.

* AdultFear: The Twins section. The Cave even warns, "Watch... but don't be afraid to avert your eyes. Especially if you... yourself... are a parent, and you enjoy making soup."

* AllThatGlitters: [[spoiler: Each time a player character decides to keep what they want, it almost always ends in tragedy.]]

* AlreadyDoneForYou: [[spoiler: In the return to the gift shop. As you go back and again get three trinkets, you won't have to solve the original puzzles again. If you look closely, it seems the puzzles and spike traps are in the process of being dismantled. The Gift Shop Clerk does mention that the Cave is closing soon and that the protagonists have taken so long they had been presumed lost.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: The game shares and updates many gameplay concepts from Gilbert's ''Videogame/ManiacMansion''.

** "The lives of 100 million people are trivial compared to the ability to spelunk a little further."
** "Her companions are in a rather tight spot. Does she know? Perhaps a better question is: Does she care?"

* AlienGeometries: [[spoiler:Despite continually descending deeper into The Cave, ''you still return to the gift shop for the ending.'']]

* AChatWithSatan: [[spoiler:The player's last conversation with the gift shop owner turns out to be this, as he tries to dissuade you from giving up the gift. However, it's also possible to interpret him as just testing the player.]]
* AdultFear: The Twins section. The Cave even warns, "Watch... but don't be afraid to avert your eyes. Especially if you... yourself... are a parent, and you enjoy making soup."

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:The Greatest Employee of All Time]]. While he certainly [[DisproportionateRetribution doesn't deserve what he gets]], just about all of his dialogue involves rubbing his title in your face. [[spoiler:Of course, what we see may be less how he is and more how the Time Traveler perceives him.]]
** The Hermit. After you arrive at the island, he doesn't lift a finger to help his potential rescuers while they work their asses off to get the boat to the other side, and once they do, he immediately jumps in and cheerfully declares that one of them will have to stay behind for his sake. When the characters trick him away by reminding him that his dog is still left, he declares that the ''dog'' should get his own seat as well, leaving behind two people. Also, unlike most of the people the characters screw over throughout the game, he really isn't any worse off when they leave.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Motivation for some of the player characters.

** Also UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and president [[UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt Franklin D.]] Music/BonJovi.
* GratuitousLatin: The Cave's main theme features a Latin chant of ''Damus te:'' "We give you." Fitting for the cave's theme of "giving people what they want."

* HighlyVisiblePassword: Appears in the scientist level with a slight twist. Passwords are dependent on what day it is and you have the passwords for every single day (apart from Sunday) and you of course don't know what day it is...at first. Passwords are randomized and will get reset after each failed attempt, meaning you can't use all the passwords on the sheets and gain access. Oddly, the passwords on the post-it-notes change automatically.

* IfICantHaveYou: [[spoiler:The bad ending for the Hillbilly: rather than accept his rejection, he burns down the whole carnival.]]

** [[spoiler:To say nothing of the stories behind the Miner, the Huntress, and the Hermit, who, by their positions in the endgame, are also implied to be Cave sojourners.]]
** A minor one occurs during the Twins' run. The Cave says he wants to make a Mary Poppins reference, but he doesn't want to get sued....again.

* RedemptionEarnsLife: [[spoiler:If you give up what you desire most and refuse to screw someone over yet again, you're allowed to leave the cave. If you don't, you're found dead later on.]]

* SevenDeadlySins: Each character represents at least one of these in one way or another. For example:
** Envy: [[spoiler:The Time Traveler, who is jealous her co-worker got the "greatest employee of all time" honor instead of her.]]

** Greed: [[spoiler:The Scientist, who was driven to use her intellect for destructive purposes by the promise of money. Also the adventurer, who murdered her partners for the loot as much as the fame.]]
** Lust: [[spoiler:The Hillbilly, whose obsession with his "one true love" caused him to hurt others and eventually burn down a carnival in a fit of jealousy.]]

** Wrath: [[spoiler:The Twins, who violently rebel against their uptight parents with {{Deadly Prank}}s. The Monk may also count for this, as his murder is fueled in part by his frustration and rage over his failures.]]

** The Scientist's level features a pool with a reactor in it identical to that from VideoGame/ManiacMansion.

* TestYourStrengthGame: The Hillbilly's level takes place in a carnival where you need to get 6 tickets to win a giant pink stuffed bear so that the Hillbilly can impress The Amazing Two-Legged Lady, and one of the tickets comes from winning this kind of game. The puzzle here is that the wimpy hammer that comes with the game can't win the game; you need to find a sledgehammer to do that.

* UndergroundLevel: Though some of the areas don't feel like they're underground.

* FunnyTerrainCrossSection: all sorts of weird things buried in the surrounding cave walls, usually based on the theme of the current cave section.

* SweetAndSourGrapes: [[spoiler:If you make the characters give up that which they desire most, they invariably get a happier ending and little rewards for doing the right thing (particularly in the case of the hillbilly, who finds love with a nice girl).]]

* EveryoneHasASpecialMove: Each character is capable of one special move that allows them to get into their level (among other things), whereas if they aren't in your party, you leave it behind. The Knight doesn't take fall damage, the Hillbilly can swim forever without drowning, the time traveler has levitation and minor teleportation, the scientist can hack machines, the adventurer can swing from certain fixtures, the twins can create copies of themselves, and the monk has telekinesis.

* AntiHero: The Hillbilly. He's got the most sympathetic goal of all the characters (looking for love) and yet [[spoiler:is violently bad with rejection.]]

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:The Greatest Employee of All Time]]. While he certainly [[DisproportionateRetribution doesn't deserve what he gets]], just about all of his dialogue involves rubbing his title in your face. [[spoiler: Of course, what we see may be less how he is and more how the Time Traveler perceives him.]]
** The Hermit. After you arrive at the island, he doesn't lift a finger to help his potential rescuers while they work their asses off to get the boat to the other side, and once they do he immediately jumps in and cheerfully declares that one of them will have to stay behind for his sake. When the characters trick him away by reminding him that his dog is still left, he declares that the ''dog'' should get his own seat as well, leaving behind two people. Also, unlike most of the people the characters screw over throughout the game, he really isn't any worse off when they leave.
* BeneathTheEarth: The cave itself just gets deeper and more complex as you go--even discounting the areas specific to your party members, there are entire ''zoos'' and oceans with ''tropical islands'' in them.
* BlackComedy: The game is filled with it. In particular the Cave likes to make jokes and snarky comments about the player characters' actions, which typically involve [[spoiler:killing people or, at least, screwing them over.]]

* BuffySpeak: In the Knight's level every torch on the wall has a different description starting with 'flame', 'flaming torch', etc. It soon falls into this calling one a '[[TimeyWimeyBall flamey-wamey]] [[Series/DoctorWho thing]]' and another a 'ouchy-hot-burny thing'.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the zany adventure game Trickster hero. While silly, the generally selfish actions of the protagonists get a lot of people hurt or killed outright [[spoiler: including, in many endings, the protagonists themselves]].

* EveryoneHasASpecialMove: Each character is capable of one special move that allows them to get into their level (among other things), whereas if they aren't in your party you leave it behind. The Knight doesn't take fall damage, the Hillbilly can swim forever without drowning, the time traveler has levitation and minor teleportation, the scientist can hack machines, the adventurer can swing from certain fixtures, the twins can create copies of themselves, and the monk has telekinesis.

* FutureImperfect: When you travel to the future (possibly 1 million years from now but the Cave has problems with periods of time, so who knows?) the museum has exhibitions on "ancient man" which includes;
** The combustion engine; ancient man would use such devices to power toasters, toothbrushes and even ''elevators''. However man's love of toast and dental hygiene meant that they used up the fuel which ultimately lead to the development of hover-boots.

* HighlyVisiblePassword: Appears in the scientist level with a slight twist. Passwords are dependent on what day it is and you have the passwords for every single day (apart from Sunday) and you of course don't know what day it is...at first. Passwords are randomized and will get reset after each failed attempt meaning you can't use all the passwords on the sheets and gain access. Oddly the passwords on the post-it-notes change automatically.

* HollywoodHacking: The scientist can hack any terminal as her special ability [[spoiler: including a vending machine.]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:The Scientist, Monk and Adventurer are actually rewarded for their misdeeds if you take the dark path with them. The Hillbilly also doesn't get any punishment, though he's not exactly happy either.]]

* KlingonPromotion: [[spoiler:The Monk's path involves killing off the current Master, leaving the Monk as next in like of succession.]]
* LeetLingo: The Scientist must have l33t hacking skills according to the Cave.

* MindScrew: And how. It's very debatable just how much actually happens in the Cave and how much is just illusion, not to mention if the events in the character areas are things that have happened, things that will happen, things that are currently happening or just tests of character.
* MultipleEndings: [[spoiler:At the end of the game the shop owner gives each character what what they came for, but if you talk to him several times you can give it back, getting a different ending for each. After deciding for all three, the Cave will comment differently depending on how many took each one.]]

* NoodleIncident: While exploring the cave, you find out about previous adventurers, such as a pirate, a robot, a clown, and Isaac Newton, and never hear about them again. It's implied that the trinkets you can give to the gift shop--the Cursed Guitar, the Jeweled Skull, and the Thespian Award Statue--were their objects of desire.

* RedemptionEarnsLife: [[spoiler:If you up what you desire most and refuse to screw someone over yet again, you're allowed to leave the cave. If you don't, you're found dead later on.]]

* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: In the zoo area [[spoiler:the lead character almost immediately gets chomped down on by a crystal cave monster and gets carried off. The character select icons in the display list the character as "Dead". Once you find the monster, however, you'll find the character was just stashed alive in the monster's lair, and you'll be able to control that character again.]]

** 'Remorse', which requires you to [[spoiler: take the postcard from the Cave's Gift Shop and keep it with you for the entire game.]] Either you keep it with one of your characters at all times, preventing them from using any other items, or else drop it somewhere and risk forgetting about it and [[PointOfNoReturn leaving it behind forever]].

* SequenceBreaking: [[spoiler:If you get another hot dog at the beginning, manage to get it all the way to the zoo and make sure the character that "dies" isn't holding it, you can skip most of that level.]]

* ShoutOut: Including several to past Double Fine / Ron Gilbert projects:
** The cave paintings bear a bit of a resemblance in art style to ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' Memory Vaults. [[spoiler: The subjects of those don't get nearly as dark as some of these, though...]]

** The narration drops more than a few hints that the Cave is actually the one from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave Plato's allegory of the cave]], especially with [[spoiler: what you do to get the best ending.]]

* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler: The Knight's level; unlike the other playable characters, the Knight screws over everyone in his story by accident (you're forced to leave the dragon's cage unlocked.)]]
* SweetAndSourGrapes: [[spoiler:If you make the characters give up that which they desire most, they invariably get a happier ending and little rewards for doing the right thing (particularly in the case of the hillbilly, who finds love with a nice girl.]]

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: At the end of the game, you can [[spoiler:trade the objects that other people desire most in exchange for your own most treasured object. You don't ''have'' to in order to complete the game, but you can.]]

* RuleOfThree: Choose three characters to enter the cave. Find three trinkets and give them to the store-clerk. Each character has their own section ([[CaptainObvious so three then]]) while there are an additional three sections where you meet up with three different characters. Then at the end you have to find another three objects to replace the three objects that you need.

* AltumVidetur: The Cave's main theme features a latin chant of ''Damus te:'' "We give you." Fitting for the cave's theme of "giving people what they want."