Cauldron is a two-dimensional (2D) shoot 'em up / platformer computer game developed and published by British developer Palace Software (Palace). Players navigate the witch protagonist through the 2D game world from a side-view perspective. Cauldron is divided into two modes of play: shooting while flying and jumping along platforms. Areas of the game world set on the surface feature the witch flying on a broom stick, while underground segments require the witch to run and jump in caverns. In the flying segments, players must search for four randomly scattered coloured keys to access underground areas that contain six ingredients. The objective is to collect the ingredients and return them to the witch's cottage to complete a spell that can defeat the Pumpking. While traversing the game world, the witch encounters Halloween-themed enemies such as pumpkins, ghosts, skulls, and bats, as well as other creatures like sharks and seagulls. A collision with an enemy causes the witch's magic meter (which is also used to fire offensive projectiles at enemies) to decrease. The character dies once the meter is depleted. After dying, the character reappears on the screen and the meter is refilled. Players are given limited opportunities for this to occur, and the game ends once the number of lives reaches zero