In the small city of Mayfeather, there lives Cally, a talented 7-year-old girl with loving parents and a knack for adventure. Unfortunately, it's just that she was unlucky enough to witness her parents kidnapped by Herbert, a mad scientist/psychic hell-bent on conquering the world with his insurmountable army of monsters and robots hidden the city's vast and varied underground caves, ready to be unleashed.
Bad news? The caves itself is a very hostile place, where danger is at every corner, and everything is out for her blood.
Good news? She is just as crazy prepared to venture into said caves to save her parents and the world, trusty sword and gun in hand...
Cally's Caves is a series of side-scrolling Run-and-Gun Metroidvania games developed by VDO Games, originally as an Android-exclusive mobile game. Players take control of Cally as she navigates through the Caves and its various biomes, using a variety of firearms to blast away at a lot of enemies, as well as her sword for cut down foes and deflecting enemy projectiles. One of its most well-known features in Cally's Caves is that, from Cally's Cave 2 onwards, every gun in Cally's arsenal can be evolved into its ever-stranger upgrades usually by killing enemies with that gun, with the fourth game adding the ability to customize its properties.
Cally's Caves 2
and its Roguelike spin-off Cally's Trials, Cally's Caves 3 and Cally's Caves IV would later getting ports on PC through Steam, now including widescreen resolution and Steam Achievements integration. A sports spin-off, Skater Cally, was released exclusively on Steam on September 25, 2018.
YOU HAVE FOUND THE TROPES!
- Action Girl: Cally, very obviously. Her sister Robin also qualifies.
- In Cally's Caves IV, Kana after her Heel–Face Turn.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Certain sections of the game from Cally's Caves 3 onwards have players control Bera, Cally's pet bear, known for its insta-kill swipes.
- Bears Are Bad News: Bera, as well as various evil bears scattered in later locations.
- BFG: All of Cally's max-level weapons fall into this category, very befitting of just how powerful it was.
- Big Bad: Herbert for the first three games. Ivan Magnus in IV.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Pretty much every enemy is this, with some exceptions.
- Defeat Equals Friendship: Basically the result of Cally's battles with some of the most formidable opponents, such as Herbert and Kana.
- Design-It-Yourself Equipment: Cally's Caves IV adds an extra customization for all of Cally's guns by infusing it with one or two "Weapon Mods" at the Workshop in Avalon.
- Kid Hero: Cally. Who else do you expect?
- Small Girl, Big Gun: Well, Cally certainly qualifies, being a young female protagonist who wields numerous weapons, some of which are a lot bigger than her.
