Caverns of Mars: Recharged

Genre: Arcade / Roguelike

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the physical-only Atari Recharged Collection 3, along with Yars: Recharged. It is also included in the physical-only Atari Recharged Collection 3 + 4 Dual Pack Edition bundle, along with Yars: Recharged, Gravitar: Recharged, and Missile Command: Recharged. It is also included in Atari Recharged: Volume Two, along with all of the above named games plus Berzerk: Recharged.)

Caverns of Mars: Recharged is an Arcade-style game with Roguelike elements released in 2023 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. This game is a bit of a departure from the other games in the “Recharged” line of games – it was developed by Sneakybox rather than Adamvision, the game it “recharges” is not an Atari Arcade classic but instead a game created for the Atari PC, and this game is far less faithful to the original, using that game as inspiration rather than a blueprint.

Much like the original game, Caverns of Mars: Recharged plays a bit like an upside-down Shmup, where you are descending down a vertical cave, shooting obstacles and enemies while being mindful of your dwindling fuel reserves. However, that’s about where the similarities end.

This game dispenses with the original title’s escape sequences, instead focusing only on the trip down. What’s more, players can slow their descent by firing their weapon, giving it a dual use, and it even gains an additional use in that your weapons can blast through the scenery, creating a path for you if the way is blocked or you’d rather not take the route that already exists. However, as doing so takes time that will see your fuel getting used up as you don’t pull in extra fuel canisters. It’s a fun risk-reward mechanic that works very well for this game.

What doesn’t work quite so well is the new Roguelike mechanic. The game’s caverns are not endless, but instead are set up as levels of sorts, and at the end of each one you’ll be given a choice of three “upgrades” to choose from for your ship. However, unlike most Roguelikes, these upgrades are pretty much always just as harmful as they are helpful, with each one of them depleting your fuel tank size, your maximum health, or making things difficult for you in some other way while upgrading a different part of your ship. As a result, these don’t seem like “power-ups”, but poison pills you’re forced to take that have a minor upside.

The presentation here is decent, using 3D visuals with terrain that’s silhouetted against the background, which not only looks striking, but the way the ground deforms when you shoot it looks great. This is backed by a frenetic synthesized soundtrack that works well enough for the game, though it isn’t all that memorable.

In the end, I like that Caverns of Mars: Recharged takes some big liberties with the formula of the original game, as most of those work beautifully. The problem is that one Roguelike mechanic that saps the fun out of the rest of the game. With this in place, this is still a fun Arcade-style game, but it definitely feels like it could have been a much better one.

tl;dr – Caverns of Mars: Recharged is an Arcade-style game with Roguelike elements inspired by the classic Atari PC game, though it takes multiple liberties with the gameplay in this successor. Many of these changes are great, and the risk-reward of trying to avoid taking damage while being mindful of dwindling fuel is excellent. It’s a shame that this strong gameplay is marred by a Roguelike mechanic that punishes you more than it helps you. As a result, this game is merely a decent game that seems like it could have been much better.

Grade: C+

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