Single-player games like Cave Story+
Below are 17 single-player Steam games similar to Cave Story+, ranked by player overlap. Every pick carries Steam's Single-player category, so multiplayer-only titles or always-online games don't sneak in. imho.run pulls the category data from Steam directly — Single-player here matches what the store labels.
Want the full alternatives list (paid + free + Steam Deck + cheaper picks)? See the parent games like Cave Story+ page.
Ranked picks
- 1
Castle In The Darkness
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
Castle In The Darkness is a fun and challenging shout out to the early days of video games! It's an action exploration platformer with some RPG elements, much like games from the Castlevania or Metroid series. It's super fast-paced, challenging, and full of secrets!
- 2
La-Mulana
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
LA-MULANA is an “Archaeological Ruin Exploration Action Game,” bringing the classic appeal of adventure with the punishing difficulty of retro-inspired gaming. Search inside ancient ruins, seeking out the “Secret Treasure of Life” – which sleeps in the sprawling ruins of “LA-MULANA” and is said to be the beginning of all civilization.
- 3
1001 Spikes
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
Discover the lost treasures of Ukampa in South America as Aban Hawkins searches for his estranged father, world-famous archeaologist, Jim Hawkins. Aban Hawkins races into the frozen tundra of the antarctic, undiscovered temple ruins and the vast caverns of South America in search of his father and the legendary treasure rumored to lie...
- 4
Odallus: The Dark Call
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
The old gods have forgotten this land. No one could save our people when darkness started spreading and collecting human souls for its army. Odallus is a classic exploration/action game, inspired by Ghosts’n Goblins, Demon’s Crest and Castlevania.
- 5
Aggelos
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
Critically-acclaimed action-RPG that takes the template laid down by classics like Wonder Boy, nails the 16-Bit aesthetics for nostalgia fans, but updates the mechanics to feel fresh and modern. Explore a beautiful open world and plunder dungeons, caves and forests to help take down epic bosses!
- 6
VVVVVV
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
VVVVVV is a platform game all about exploring one simple mechanical idea - what if you reversed gravity instead of jumping?
- 7
Axiom Verge
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
Explore and uncover the mystery of a surreal alien world by blasting aliens and glitching your environment in this intense retro side-scrolling action/adventure.
- 8
Horace
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
"The best platformer of 2019."Horace is a huge platforming adventure which pushes the boundaries of the genre with a profound story of a small robot learning of life, the universe and Douglas Adams. Made by videogame lovers for videogame lovers!
- 9
Momodora III
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
Momodora III is a classic action platform game with a variety of items and secrets. It's the third installment of the Momodora series, although playing the previous titles is not necessary to enjoy the game!
- 10
Hollow Knight
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
Forge your own path in Hollow Knight! An epic action adventure through a vast ruined kingdom of insects and heroes. Explore twisting caverns, battle tainted creatures and befriend bizarre bugs, all in a classic, hand-drawn 2D style.
- 11
Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight is the fourth installment in the beloved Momodora series of 2D platformers. Unleash ravaging combos against a variety of formidable monsters and deftly dodge your way through a cursed land to seek audience with the Queen and dispel the evil that threatens all life.
- 12
Metroidvania Maker
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
Create, play, and share custom Metroidvania worlds with a built-in world editor, co-op play, and player-made adventures.
- 13
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action with Cave Story+.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is a randomly generated action RPG shooter with heavy Rogue-like elements. Following Isaac on his journey players will find bizarre treasures that change Isaac’s form giving him super human abilities and enabling him to fight off droves of mysterious creatures, discover secrets and fight his way to safety.
- 14
NightSky
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Indie with Cave Story+.
Nominated as a IGF Seamus McNally Finalist, NightSky is an ambient action-puzzle game that offers a gameplay experience unlike any other—cerebral challenges fill uniquely designed picturesque worlds. The player must maneuver a sphere by using realistic physics to advance; each of these worlds is broken into different areas.
- 15
Crystal Crisis
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action with Cave Story+.
An all-star cast of heroes has gathered to test their mettle in this cute and chaotic new color-matching ONLINE combat game! Crystal Crisis is presented like a fighting game, but players attack by arranging falling crystals and clearing them from the screen. It’s the ultimate Online puzzle battle throwdown!
- 16
Save me Mr Tako: Tasukete Tako-San
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Action and Indie with Cave Story+.
A Blast From the Portable-Gaming Past! Mr Tako will solve puzzles, explore mysterious dungeons and fight tenacious bosses on his mission to end the war between the octopus kingdom and the human world. Will you help this brave octopus to spread his message of tolerance and unity?
- 17
Cave Story's Secret Santa
Single-player alternative to Cave Story+ — playable solo, no multiplayer required. Shares Adventure with Cave Story+.
After Balrog recovers the Christmas presents that were stolen by Chaba, the cowardly Mimiga named Santa must sneak into every house and return the missing packages. Be the Mimiga Who Saves Christmas!