Caves of Olympus is an illustrated adventure game. The player takes control of Anson Argyris, an egg-shaped 50 cm robot which can imitate a human being by using living cocoon masks. The game takes place on the planet Olympus and its caves which have been rebuilt into a system of deadly traps. The planet has been attacked by an alien race called Laren and the aim of the game is to find a way through the caves and join the rebel forces and counter the invaders. The game plays like any other text adventure with the player entering verb noun commands to interact with the world. By pressing the return key the player can toggle between a text screen and a graphical depiction of the scene.