Dear Esther and the Mother of All Caves

I did end up back at the start of the game after my unfortunate drowning the first try.  I guess I didn’t drown, but I did get tossed back to shore and got stuck.

This time around I decided to take every path that I found.  Though I missed it the first time through the game,  I went through what looked like a cave, but was just an opening to another area of the beach.  I did get two new diary entries and an odd symbol on the beach to ponder.

I found in most circumstances then, as I explored, new diary entries would be heard, but you’d still be led back to a pre-determined path.

There was a moment when I approached this house on a hill that I thought the ever desirable lighthouse would be in sight soon.

 

I was led down a side winding path to the beach again instead, and found some ruined ships.  One had a cryptic message.  “And neither did he eat or drink.”   Somebody on the island had an awful lot of time and paint.

 

This area had several pathways, most serving to give you various views of the ships you can’t jump up on.  Hidden, almost, was the real path which again wound around to a new beach area.   Yet another innocuous cave entrance beckoned.

Note: in games caves drive me crazy, they’re mazes I have trouble navigating.  In real life, I love caves, and visit any I can while we’re traveling.

This seemingly innocuous cave is The Mother Of All Caves.  Spectacular sights, unexpected drops. Underwater areas.  No drowning this time.   I knew I was in for an unusual journey when the way forward was this deep deep hole.

There are seemingly endless fantastic cave rooms.  Paths going in circles. Paths going up, paths going down.

It went onward for a long time.  At one point I thought I saw daylight.

No!  Onward and onward.  I was really hoping to leave the caves because the up and down undulating movement was making me a bit queasy, but you can’t just stop where you wish to stop.  You’ve got to finish each chapter or start over.  No. No.

Finally the chapter changed, and it looks like a real cave exit.  Who is keeping all of those candles lit in the caves?  They’re everywhere throughout the caves.

Steam tells me I’m at 30%, so there’s lots more story.  Hopefully no caves for a bit!   I have to say, these caves were quite a surprise and revelation after all the waving grasses and wildflowers on the rest of the island.   I can’t imagine what’s ahead if they can create something like this cave system.  Pretty amazing.