Following along the same lines as its predecessor (Agricola), Caverna: Cave Farmers is a worker-placement game at heart, with a focus on farming. Players begin the game with a farmer and his spouse, and each member of the farming family represents an action that the player can take each turn. Players can also expand their family while running an ever-growing farm.

Caverna: Cave Farmers is a complete redesign of Agricola that substitutes the card decks from the former game with a set of buildings while adding the ability to purchase weapons and send your farmers on quests to gain further resources. Designer Uwe Rosenberg says that the game includes parts of Agricola, but also has new ideas, especially the cave part of your game board, where you can build mines and search for rubies. The game also includes two new animals: dogs and donkeys.