Cave Crave (2025) developer 3R Games is bringing Thailand’s Tham Luang cave system to VR, the very same that gained global recognition in 2018 after a local junior football team became trapped inside due to sudden flooding.
The new addition is slated to arrive sometime next month following the 2025 release of the game’s Nutty Putty Cave update, promising to bring another real underground environment as a part of the studio’s expanding ‘Real Caves in VR’ initiative.
Having prompted a large international rescue effort in 2018, which tragically ended the lives of two cave divers attempting to rescue the 12 boys and their coach, the VR recreation of the Tham Luang system is focusing on the cave’s real structure and conditions rather than reinterpreting the event.
“Our goal remains the same,” said 3R Games CEO Piotr Surmacz, “we want to let players experience the scale, atmosphere, and complexity of iconic underground spaces from the inside.”
Surmacz says the team is “working to make the experience as authentic as possible,” while avoiding turning real events into traditional game mechanics; the Tham Luang update will arrive in Cave Crave’s ‘Tourist Mode’, which is designed for exploration rather than objectives or scoring.
The studio says it worked with specialists, including cave diver Vern Unsworth and 3D scanning expert Roo Walters, to bring the project to life, noting that the actual cave was captured using LiDAR-based scanning to capture geometry and spatial detail—something the team says will help preserve the cave’s “vastness, darkness, and unique underground character.”
The update will also offer the chance for players to swim in the game for the first time, as it will feature flooded corridors where limited visibility and restricted oxygen will create a “tense and challenging experience,” the studio says.
The update title is slated to arrive on all supported platforms next month, including Quest, SteamVR, and PSVR 2, with a non-VR version planned for Steam.
