The Cave walkthrough
A complete walkthrough for The Cave, to guide you through every part of Ron Gilbert's classic puzzle-platform adventure
The Monk's Temple
From the start, you won't be able to access the gate to your right or the bridge to your left. Instead, start jumping your way up the mountain to the left of the bridge.
Jump your way to this rock and use the Monk's telekinesis to level it. Continue up the slope.
Eventually, you'll reach the peak of the mountain where the master resides. Use telekinesis on the wind chimes to get his attention. After a short conversation, use telekinesis on the feather that's floating around to get it into your possession.
Return to the red bridge from earlier with feather in hand. Stand all three characters on the bridge, and jump with the Monk. The extra feather weight will bust you through the bridge.
Move through the passage. You can ignore the statue head - it's there in case you need to leave the way you came.
When you climb up to the second trial, use telekinesis to grab the blossoms. As you walk down the hall, move slowly. When you see the chimes start to move in the breeze, immediately stop and turn your back to shield the blossoms from the imminent wind gust. Be patient: both moving too fast or getting caught in the wind will cause the blossoms to blow away.
Move toward the end of the hallway, and use telekinesis on the window when you're close enough. Place the blossoms on the pedestal to lower a ladder.
The next trial requires you to make six gallons of water from a four- and seven-gallon jug. Here's the formula:
1. Fill the seven-gallon jug.
2. Pour the seven gallon jug into the four-gallon jug.
3. Empty the four-gallon jug.
4. Pour the rest of the water in the seven-gallon jug into the four-gallon jug.
5. Fill the seven-gallon jug.
6. Pour the seven-gallon jug into the four-gallon jug (which currently contains three gallons). This leaves you with six gallons of water.
Place the six gallons of water on the pedestal, and take the lift up.
Place a character on each pad to make them start moving up. Ignore the "objects of desire" on the way up.
You can leap to this rope to reach another Cave Painting. Be warned - if you don't have the feather with you, you won't be able to break the red bridge and fall safely into water. You'll have to force a respawn.
In any case, ride the pads all the way to the top, and a rope will appear. Climb it to safety.
Climb the left side to reach a meditation statue. Activate it to make the camera zoom out. Look left to see a support bolt. Use telekinesis a few times to pull the bolt out, and then look right. Use telekinesis on the support beam to drop a movable rock.
Descend a little, push the block, and climb out of the temple to find yourself near the summit. Grab the can't-miss Cave Painting too!
Return to the master and use telekinesis on the wind chimes. His platform will fall, and so will he, turning the Monk into the new master.
With this new power, return to the gate all the way back at the starting pool. Use telekinesis to open the way to the next level.
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Tony lives in Maryland, where he writes about those good old-fashioned video games for GamesRadar+. His words have also appeared on GameSpot and G4, but he currently works for Framework Video, and runs Dungeons and Dragons streams.
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