Colossal Cave Adventure is, effectively, the first adventure game – at least, it’s the one that wound up in the hands of early game developers like Ken and Roberta Williams, serving as direct inspiration for countless adventure games, RPG games, and story games to follow. Now the Williams duo is taking that original game and remaking it for a new generation.
Announced at GDC today, Colossal Cave 3D Adventure is a first-person remake built in Unity for PC and VR. Featuring “over 143 locations”, it takes the text-based puzzles and exploration of the original (developed by William Crowther and expanded by Don Woods in the 70s) and brings them into a “fully immersive”, VR-friendly 3D space.
Colossal Cave 3D Adventure is due to launch this summer. Ken and Roberta Williams are best known as the founders of Sierra On-Line and the creators of King’s Quest, and have founded a company called Cygnus Entertainment – now made up of a dozen employees – to bring Colossal Cave 3D to market. “Time will tell” if Cygnus continues to produce further games, according to a blurb on the official site.
That official site also houses a teaser trailer, breaking down Ken and Roberta’s inspirations for remaking Colossal Cave 3D (it involves a lot of pandemic boredom) and some brief shots of the game in action.