♦ Livestream Contents
(2:44) “Caves of ZZT” by Tim Sweeney (1992) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/zzt/]
The second in our return to the original four ZZT worlds for its 35th anniversary on January 15th!
Caves is the oft-forgotten game of the series. Thanks to its opening sequence of a lot of dark boards, it's a lot harder for strong memories of its screens to form, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have any good ones.
Things start off well, aside from the cacophony of noise from the ersatz health pick ups that use a lengthy jingle from Town that gets quite obnoxious. When not being blasted by noise, Caves quickly makes it known that this is a tougher world for those who have thoroughly explored, and ideally conquered Town before it. Expect a lot more tigers, more ambushes where enemies spawn in, and having to keep an eye on your torches lest you wander the maze-like central cave system for too long without finding an exit that will lead to one of four purple keys.
Keys that unlock the Castle of *@#%&!!, that is. (This year's G-rated interpretation is the Castle of Lots n' Lots of Punctuation).
When Caves hits, it hits hard. There's some iconic dialog in the last chance hot dogs before Hell board. The Incredible ZZT Sucker puzzle won't be forgotten by anyone with a dirty mind. And the battle with the devil himself are all wonderful moments.
It's matched at times in the gameplay as well! The River Styx sees stars repurposed as a dangerous tool to clear breakable walls. The northern forest contains a really high quality action sequence that sees players darting back and forth between two halves of the screen to collect alternating keys. Even the hall of mirrors successfully plays on players not being able to tell when they're in danger or not as a creature filled room is full of pathways that are blocked by cyan walls that appear when the player bumps into them.
Puzzles are noticeably easier than Town, but the world isn't entirely defanged. "Oh No, Another Weird Puzzle" tests your patience and counting skills as you unlock plenty of doors to gain more keys to open more doors. The final "Engineer Required" shows how even action-oriented boards can still force players to stop and think, with just enough boulders to block off some highly-aggressive spinning guns.
But that great material comes at a it of a cost as the caves themselves need to be traversed in darkness repeatedly, offering no new enemies to fight after the first pass. Backtracking is extensive and at one point breaks into the double digits after a series of strange walkways takes you to a purple key far away from everything else. Even something as exciting as the gates to hell can come off a bit bland. Sometimes you're fighting invisible enemies while the Halloween theme plays, but other times you just need to grab a key in an empty room with a cluster of centipede heads that spread out over time.
It's sometimes the best, and sometimes the worst, that the original worlds have to offer. Still plenty to enjoy, with its flaws ultimately boiling down to getting a bit tedious when players have nothing to keep them engaged, which doesn't spoil the good parts. Personally, I'd say it's the weakest of the originals, yet even at its worst, Caves is still a classic purple key collecting adventure.
♦ Play this world in your browser
https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/zzt/
♦ Streamed Jan 11th, 2026
