Cave Noire is one of those weird little Game Boy gems that never left Japan—until now, thanks to this English translation. It’s a rogue-lite before rogue-lites were a thing: you dive into randomly generated dungeons, grab treasure, and try not to get wrecked by monsters. The twist? You don’t level up—just get better at reading the dungeon’s tricks.

The first time I played, I got too greedy going for gold and got cornered by a swarm of bats. Lesson learned. The pixel art’s simple but full of personality, and the turn-based movement keeps things tense—every step counts when you’re low on health and the exit’s still three floors down. If you’re into bite-sized dungeon crawls with actual stakes, this one’s a blast.

Fair warning: it’s brutal in that classic Game Boy way. You’ll restart a lot. But when you finally clear a dungeon by the skin of your teeth? Pure satisfaction.