Video games have had many diverse settings in the industry’s long and expansive history. Forests, deserts, small towns, and great shining cities have all been exploited in the name of exploration. When the land has been exhausted, they’ve instead turned to the watery depths. Then, when even the oceans have run dry of content, video game developers have turned their gaze underground.
Caves, mines, and never-ending chasms have been unearthed within video games since the industry’s inception. Made famous by the iconic theme in Super Mario games, underground realms have held a spooky spotlight when it comes to delving into the darker side of gaming. These subterranean worlds offer a stark contrast to the bright lights above, and many strange creatures can be found lurking in the shadows.
12 Torchlight
Available on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Xbox 360, Torchlight is an action RPG with plenty of dungeon-crawling action. Players control their lone hero and guide them through a series of randomized subterranean dungeons in the caves outside the town of Torchlight.
As players progress in Torchlight, they will head deeper and deeper into this underground world in search of loot to sell back in the town above. However, the mysterious Ember, a kind of ore that runs through these caves, has a more dangerous tale to tell. More than just mines, players will discover that these caverns hide ruined civilizations in their depths.
11 Spelunky
Spelunky, available on Windows, ChromeOS, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, is an indie platformer that sees its players head into caves to collect treasure, save damsels in distress, and fight off countless enemies.
Named after the caving hobby, Spelunky features procedurally generated caves, making every experience unique. Players will face off against foes such as spiders, bats, yetis, and even ghosts. While plenty of gold and jewels can be found in the depths, other items such as weapons, climbing gear, and archeological artifacts can also be unearthed.
10 Fallen London
As a browser-based narrative, many players may be more familiar with Fallen London’s platform-based spinoffs Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies. The three inhabit the same gothic subterranean world in which an alternate version of Victorian London has sunk into the Neath.
This strange new world brings with it elements of the supernatural and blurs the line between life and death. Players must accumulate attributes in order to succeed in certain actions and explore all that Fallen London has to offer. Though the game cannot be won, it can be lost in spectacularly dark ways.
9 Cave Story
Cave Story is a Metroidvania-style game available on Windows, macOS, Linux, and the Nintendo Wii, DSi, 3DS, and Switch. In addition to being an incredibly popular 2D indie platformer, Cave Story has a wide cast of compelling characters and is considered one of the most influential indie games out there.
The game takes place inside the depths of a floating island that is inhabited by rabbit-like creatures called Mimiga. Players take control of the protagonist who has woken inside the island's caves with no memory of how he got there. Through exploration of these cavernous levels, players must unravel the many mysteries of the island.
8 Lord Of The Rings Online
As the Lord of the Rings franchise’s entry into the world of MMORPGs, Lord of the Rings Online has been around since the heyday of these kinds of games. Available on Windows and macOS, the game allows its players to create their own avatars and live within Tolkien’s narratively rich world of Middle-earth.
There are two Lord of the Rings Online expansions that add vast new underground realms. Fate of Gundabad, released in 2021, takes players through vast vertical caverns and crystal-encrusted caves. Mines of Moria, released in 2008 and widely considered to be the game’s best expansion, brings players to the famous Dwarven city of Moria as one continuous dungeon zone.
7 Terraria
Available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox, Terraria is another 2D-style game that tackles an expansive underground world. Terraria is primarily an action-adventure sandbox game that revolves around players exploring, crafting, building, mining, and surviving tough enemies.
Though there are many layers to Terraria’s world, its system of caves is where many key resources can be found. Players will need to mine these resources while guarding themselves against enemies or attacking bosses to progress further.
6 Hollow Knight
Another indie underground game in the Metroidvania genre is Hollow Knight, which is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Hollow Knight takes its players to the subterranean and insectoid world of Hollownest.
Controlling the silent protagonist, Knight, players are tasked with navigating the network of tunnels and caves that make up this strangely beautiful world. The art style of the game is particularly striking, as its dimly lit and hand-drawn aesthetic is breathtakingly unique.
5 Minecraft
Of course, nearly any game with the word mine in the title is fair game. But, it would be especially remiss to forget the king of mining games itself. Minecraft is still an incredibly popular sandbox game over a decade after its release and is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Though there are many other locales in the world of Minecraft to explore, cave systems are a resource-rich environment that can be found across the procedurally generated terrain. Many ore types can be found within the murky depths of these caverns, but so, too, can hostile mobs of enemies.
4 Stardew Valley
Many gamers know Stardew Valley as being a front-runner in the farming simulator genre, but it also features an expansive underground realm in the form of the Mines. Available primarily on Windows but with plenty of ports to other platforms, Stardew Valley is another of the most influential indie games of all time.
In both the Mines and the unlockable Skull Cavern levels, players can venture underground in search of treasure in the form of gold or rare items. But monsters also lurk in the deep, and players will need to fight them off to avoid being defeated. Keeping well-fed is essential to finding success in Stardew Valley’s Mines.
3 Super Metroid
The long-running Metroid franchise has also been incredibly influential in the gaming industry, with many of its earliest games reaching critical acclaim. Super Metroid, published on the SNES in 1994, is perhaps one of the best stories in this series, even with its mostly wordless narrative.
The setting of Super Metroid takes players to the planet Zebes, where they must explore alien structures which are mostly underground. Controlling Samus on her mission to hunt down the last Metroid that has been stolen by Space Pirates, players will traverse this underground alien landscape and collect several power-ups and abilities along the way.
2 The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
Only just recently released for Nintendo Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom serves as a sequel to the immensely popular Breath of the Wild. Using the same map as the previous game, Tears of the Kingdom adds some verticality to keep things interesting. One key inclusion has been the Depths.
The Depths are a sprawling system of caverns that lie directly beneath the kingdom of Hyrule and can be accessed by traveling down Chasms on the world’s surface. Strange new flora and fauna can be found in the Depths as well as the oozing Gloom that plagues the land. Players will need to use resources and crafts to help light their way through these dark caves.
1 Undertale
No underground realm can ever match the wry magic found in the monstrous world of Undertale. Available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, Undertale is another indie game that reached critical acclaim for its creativity, storytelling, music, and character design.
The game is set in a subterranean world called the Underground, which sealed itself away from humanity on the surface. Players take control of a human child who has fallen into this monstrous realm and who must find their way back to the surface. During their long journey, the protagonist meets many of the monsters who inhabit this murky world and will slowly unravel the Underground’s dark history.