Cave Expedition: real Swedish cavers make their own video game!

A studio of cavers turning their own underground expeditions into a video game isn't something you see every day. Moonmilk Games, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, has just announced Cave Expedition, an exploration game playable solo or in co-op with up to 4 players, and the selling point boils down to one sentence: it was designed by real cave explorers.

The studio, founded by Martin Calander, makes no secret of its method. Ropes, narrow crawlspaces, flooded galleries: everything is modeled on their own underground trips. They even claim to have recorded sounds and textures directly in real caves to feed into the game's environments. For now, there's no precise release date or confirmed platforms beyond the Steam page, which has just gone live. No pricing at this stage either.

The niche of caving in video games is virtually untouched, which explains the attention this announcement is drawing despite the studio being unknown to the general public. It's hard to talk about pre-existing community hype since Cave Expedition literally came out of nowhere before this announcement: no rumors, no leaks, just a direct email to the media. The curiosity mainly stems from the concept itself, vertical exploration, gear management, four-player cooperation in a confined and hostile environment. It remains to be seen whether the final result will live up to the trailer's promise.