Play Cavewars Online

I first played Cavewars back in the late 90s, after picking it up from a bargain bin. It was a 1996 MS-DOS release from The Avalon Hill Game Company, a publisher better known for board games than digital ones. At the time, it felt like a natural extension of the turn-based strategy games I was already into, but with a distinctly subterranean twist that set it apart from other fantasy titles on the platform.

You control a team of dwarves, elves, and other fantasy creatures, each with unique abilities, as you dig through a multi-level cave system. The main objective is to capture your opponent's flag while defending your own, all while managing limited resources like gold and magic. Signature mechanics include digging new tunnels to expand your territory or collapse enemy routes, and engaging in tactical, turn-based combat whenever units meet. The pacing is deliberate, almost chess-like, but the difficulty can spike sharply if you don't plan several moves ahead. It feels like a tense, methodical battle of wits where every decision echoes through the dark.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".