Cave Crawler
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Category | Scavengers & Parasites |
| Tab | Fauna |
| Attitude | Aggressive (Passive in Primary Containment Facility Aquarium) |
| Health | 50 |
| Damage | Bite: 5 |
| Active During | Cathemeral (Day and Night) |
| Debug Spawn | cavecrawler |
The Cave Crawler is an aggressive fauna species that can be found on the Aurora, in the Underwater Islands, on the Mountain Island, in the Dunes, and on the Floating Island. It typically forms groups and may catch an unaware player by surprise.
Appearance
The Cave Crawler resembles an arthropod. It has a large, glowing blue structure covering most of the top of its body which, due to the presence of a smaller dark circle in the centre superficially resembles a large eye; however, it is stated to be part of the respiratory system by the PDA. With no other eye-like structures visible, it is probable that the Cave Crawler is blind.
It has four light tan-colored segmented legs, along with the underside of its body. The Cave Crawler has two mandibles on its head, which are presumably used for feeding.
Behavior
Cave Crawlers will crawl along the terrain or sea floor and are hostile towards the player and shark-classified fauna. They attack by jumping towards their prey to deal a small amount of damage. They will not take damage from the fires found inside the Aurora.
Spoiler Alert: The following section contains story-related material.
The Cave Crawlers inside the Primary Containment Facility's Aquarium are not hostile to the player and are thus not a threat.
Data Bank Entry
Agile, territorial carrion-feeder. Well-adapted to both land and sea.
- Gas Exchange Membrane: Absorbs essential gases from the air or water for basic bodily regulation.
- Mandibles: This species seeks out corpses in packs, before defending its claim while the corpse is devoured.
Assessment: Necessary waste recycler - Avoid or incapacitate
Source: Scan Cave Crawler
Gallery
Cave Crawlers on the Aurora
Cave Crawlers in the Dunes
A Cave Crawler in the Dunes Caves
A Cave Crawler on the Floating Island
Ditto, at night
A Cave Crawler on the Mountain Island
Cave Crawlers in the Underwater Islands Caves
Blood Crawler Concept art, featuring a Cave Crawler
Model from Sketchfab
Old model from Sketchfab
Trivia
- These creatures bear a great resemblance to the spider creatures from the movie Lost in Space: They have disc-like bodies, they're hostile towards the player, and they roam around a derelict terraforming ship; much as the creatures from the movie roam the Proteus, another derelict ship that appears to have items on board for colonizing a new planet.
- They may also be a nod to Headcrabs, from the Half-Life series.
- Despite its name, most of the Cave Crawler's habitats aren't actually caves.
- In earlier development, Cave Crawlers had a more blueish hue to their skin; this was to make them fit in with the Aurora, which was the only place they spawned at the time. They were reskinned after they were added to the Underwater Islands.
- The PDA says that some of the Aurora crew's remains were found in digestive tracts of creatures, possibly Cave Crawlers.
- If spawned via debug commands, they will show their old blue texture.
- The reflection mesh used for their eyes appears to be the interior of a warehouse.
- During an interview between "The Last Bacon" and "Obraxis", a developer from Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Obraxis said that when they were thinking of ideas for the ending, he pitched an idea where after Ryley would pass through the space tunnel after orbiting Planet 4546B, he would look up and see an infected Cave Crawler on the ceiling inside of the Neptune Escape Rocket, implying that he had just brought one out of Planet 4546B with him.