Dark Cavern

***Dark Cavern*** is the game accompanying CatGhost 6 Hole. In this game, the player controls a person going through a dark cave system or mine.

## Description

Throughout the cavern, the player will encounter multiple objects that can be interacted with. Interacting with these objects can trigger dialogue, similar to the interactions in *Happybirthday.*
There is no real objective in *Dark Cavern*, but certain unique objects deep inside the caverns will transport the player to a different room that they can't escape from, and give a poem depending on what object was interacted with.
It is important to note that only one of these endings can be achieved *per player*, as the player's IP address will be blocked upon interacting with one of the objects, locking them in the room forever, even after restarting or redownloading the game.

## Protagonist

The protagonist affected by the distortion of the game.

*Main article:* Digging Girl

The protagonist of the game has long dark hair and appears to be naked. It is possible that she is the girl from the short poem from the intro of CatGhost 6, about a girl who "loved to dig", and who was sent "in deep" and later died. This intro is also preceded by what appears to be a command prompt to run *Dark Cavern*.

## Generic Objects (Dialogue)

*Main article:* Dark Cavern/Objects

The objects that can be randomly encountered in the game are dead birds, buckets, rails, rope, cages, mountains of coal, rocks, a strange red substance, minecarts, puddles of green water and skeletons.

The player can interact with these objects by approaching them and pressing the down key, although they may only interact with each object once.

Through dialogue it is revealed that the protagonist cannot eat (when interacting with the red substance which may be meat), and is always thirsty (when interacting with buckets).

They also seem to be familiar with mines, referring to a minecart as an 'old friend' and mentioning that it is 'still heavy'.

The protagonist often alludes to being unhappy, saying that they 'want to die' when interacting with the red substance and that they 'carry the burden' when interacting with coal.

When interacting with rails they may say "Is this how it happened?" suggesting that an event (possibly being trapped in the mine) led to them feeling this way. They claim that they 'could fix their problems' with some rope, though the player cannot interact with the rope further than prompting the dialogue.

When encountering a skeleton the protagonist will wonder "Is it me?" This combined with the fact that skeleton sprite is called 'her' in the game files suggests that the protagonist is in fact female.

When interacting with a cage the protagonist may say "She could use this." This may be referring to Elon's attic (which is filled with similar cages), suggesting that the protagonist knows Elon somehow.

## Unique Objects (Endings)

*Main article:* Dark Cavern/Poems

There are also coloured rooms containing certain unique objects in the game that prompt the player to enter a keyword, which will transport the player to an inescapable room and display a poem on screen. Trivia - Gameplay

* There is an extra coloured room in which a random generic object will spawn rather than a unique object with a keyword. The meaning of this room is unknown.
* There will be "shadows" that might appear once a player enters a new area of the mine. These shadows will have player-like movements and are actually a "recording" of another player's movements. There is a 1/3 chance of the player's movements being recorded once they leave an area of the mine.

## Trivia - Meta

* Certain files in the game's files belong to a glitch shader by blokatt, including a picture of some houses. These images are not related to *Cat Ghost* beyond their usage as the shader's background.
* A mine is one of the structures featured in *Unholy Circle*; it is likely that this is the same mine that *Dark Cavern* takes place in*.*
* In the game files*,* a picture can be found with text saying "*Are you sure that shortcuts will lead you to your destination when I am always two steps ahead?"*. This is a message and warning to dataminers.
* In the game's Properties, the file name, product description and copyright all read 'darkcavern'.
* At the end of CatGhost 6, "Wheatley" was credited for additional game development.
* Despite the game being named *Dark Cavern*, the game's filename is named after CatGhost 6 Hole, the episode that came along with *Dark Cavern*.

* However, the filename was previously named darkcavern.exe after *Dark Cavern* instead of the episode. It is unknown when the filename's change happened.

### Gameplay

Standing in the cavern.The player encountering a dead bird.A skeleton.One of the usable ladders.One of the "shadows" that move around like the player.One of the statues that prompt the player to enter a keyword, leading to a dead-end room and a poem.One of the poems.The dead-end room full of skeletons that the player finds themself in after typing a keyword.The extra, unused coloured room, containing a bucket.
### Various

A map of the game.The message that greets dataminers.The image that leads to the game's download at the end of CatGhost 6.'Wheatley', credited at the end of CatGhost 6.The command prompt that appears before the poem in CatGhost 6.The mine in *Unholy Circle*.
## References

1. ↑ Key also mentions burdens in a Live Session.