Welcome back to another roundup of MMOs and MMO-adjacent multiplayer games you’ve never heard of! We’ll pull off the plaster from the start and point out that this particular grouping is all small-scale multiplayer games. Just getting that out there before some people get hyper-mad. Also one of them is an extraction title. We’re sorry.
Cave Crave
Since we’re touching on this one for the first time here on MOP, allow us to introduce Cave Crave, a virtual reality game that simulates spelunking in various fictional and real-world locations. We’re throwing a spotlight on this one because it introduced a multiplayer feature this past April for players on Quest VR headsets, with plans to expand the feature to other caves and other platforms soon. And for those who don’t own a headset, there are also later plans for a standalone PC version. At the top of June, it also got a painting update.
Frostrail
Up next is Frostrail from developer FakeFish, which some readers may know as the studio behind the co-op submarine-based horror title Barotrauma. This co-op survivalbox sees players working together to move through a post-apocalyptic wasteland of frosty environments and eldrith monsters, all while maintaining a train as a base. The game held a playtest this past April that brought plenty of insight and updates, while early access is planned for sometime in the fourth quarter of this year.
Nightholme
Finally on the list is Nightholme, an in-development multiplayer PvPvE extraction title with a decidedly more horrific twist to it. Each match sees players select a character that can transform into a variety of modifiable and upgradeable shadowy beasties, all in an effort to find four gloomhearts, use them to summon a boss, and escape with a terror seed, though transformation also carries the risk of losing sanity and defeating the boss alerts every player on the map. A playtest is planned for sometime this summer, which can be signed up for via providing an email on the game’s site or clicking the appropriate green button on Steam.
