Tomb Stalkers Review (PC, Linux, & macOS)

There’s been a flurry of arcade games with retro styling off late. So, gamers with an itch for nostalgic romps are sure to have a great time. The latest game you can add to your collection of trips down memory lane is Tomb Stalkers. Believe it or not, this game has been in the works for some ten years now, with breaks in between to strategize. In total, the game has taken three years to reach completion, which is unsurprising given it’s the product of a one-person indie studio. 

It’s quite impressive indeed that the developer has created something fun yet challenging to keep you engaged during the upcoming holiday season. And it has some great potential for replayability, too. So, you won’t be casting it aside anytime soon once you’ve put the controller down. If you’re considering playing the game but aren’t sure if it’ll be worth your time and money, we’ve compiled a Tomb Stalkers review down below to help you pick a side.

Treasure Hunt

Tomb Stalkers doesn’t quite have a story of any kind. All the information we have is that an ancient city called El Dorado has been discovered and you have been sent by the British Museum to investigate. Your mission is to uncover any lost treasure to bring back to the museum. At first, it seems like an easy enough mission.

However, tables soon turn when you discover that despite the city being century-old and thought to be desolate, there do, in fact, exist strange inhabitants. From mummies to the living and even gods, all categorized as sorcerers roam about the city. Even though they stand in your way, you swear to take them on and scoop as many lost treasures as you can. Besides the sorcerers, there are deadly traps to watch out for. Fortunately, you can evade the traps and even use them against your adversaries. 

More to Come

Worth mentioning that, apparently, Tomb Stalkers isn’t complete yet. The developers plan to launch more content updates, though, depending on how the game performs in the market. If it sells well, we may be getting a deeper story, perhaps a proper story-driven campaign. As such, it’s difficult to review the story as is. There’s the promise of unlockable characters, who will probably have unique backstories and skills. For now, though, what exists is barebones, and you might be better off waiting a little while longer if your goal is to play through a more profound story. 

Chased Down by a Mummy

Tomb Stalkers is a top-down puzzle action game. While it merges two major genres, the gameplay itself is a bit simplistic. If not for the overly fast-paced system, it would have been an easy peasy ride. Essentially, you control an explorer as they venture into El Dorado’s tombs. Stage by stage, you’ll be opening tombs as you run past them. Your goal is to find a key and relic hidden in some respective tomb that is your way out. However, you don’t really know where the key and relic are hidden. So, you may end up opening the first tomb and finding it or all of the tombs on the stage. It gets more frenetic when the living, mummies, and gods are unleashed on you, chasing you down. They are quite fast, just as your own character is, and so the gameplay can quickly turn chaotic. 

On paper, it sounds easy. Simply run hella fast. That’s it. However, speed is the catch that can sometimes catch you by surprise when you turn corners, particularly in situations when you need to stay one step ahead of your adversaries. Enemies are usually right behind you even as you turn corners and double back in a compact space. It goes without saying: the sooner you find the key and relic, the better. But wait, there’s more. The stages have other dangers to watch out for, including deadly traps. It can be easy to focus on running and run straight into a trap. However, if you’re strategic enough, you can lead adversaries right into a deadly trap they won’t see coming.

Trick Up the Sleeve

This is where the puzzle side of the game comes in. You can use the level design to your advantage, provided you anticipate the dangers and obstacles ahead, which, again, can be quite tricky when you’re always running at blistering speeds. The higher you go up the food chain, the trickier the levels become. While you start with one enemy chasing you, for instance, soon they’ll increase to hordes. This is also where boss fights come in, where several more powerful enemies are hot on your heels. 

There are gold and gems you can collect, too, that serve as upgrades to grant you power and special abilities. However, the gems can also make your playthrough more difficult. The purple gem, for instance, will summon a sorcerer who spawns right behind you and begins chasing you down. Furthermore, you’ll begin to unlock variations of stages you have played before. For example, you’ll play through a brightly lit stage and then transition to pitch black. With nothing but your footsteps guiding you on where to go, the difficulty truly starts to take its toll. You can unlock stages where poisonous gas is released into the air or where darts are shot at you. There’s always a trick or two up Tomb Stalkers’ sleeve that keeps your playthrough consistently surprising and unpredictable.

Jumping Back In

This is where the replay value comes in because you never experience the same stage twice. Enemies spawn at random locations, as do the keys, relics, treasures, traps, obstacles, and more. Better still, there are 25 levels to get through spread across five different scenarios. The scenarios are interesting, too. They can have a time limit in which to beat the stage or a specific number of enemies to defeat. Further, you can play through three game modes: arcade, original, and survival. 

Survival is the toughest, with just one life across all 25 levels. Tomb Stalkers does give you a reprieve, although it’s just a 1% chance of gaining an extra life, which you’ll likely cash in on instantly anyway. Plus, in the two-player co-op mode, the 1% chance really isn’t all too great a deal. However, that’s the sweet spot of Tomb Stalkers that keeps you coming back for more. The game truly masters the craft of challenging hoops to jump through. Oh, the developers have stashed away a secret ending, too, that can further ramp up your playtime, especially for completionists.

Sight for Sore Eyes

Meanwhile, on the graphics, they get the job done. You instantly spot the heavy lean-on retro styling. Given the game is tagged as an arcade, it’s unsurprising that the graphics look like the classics. You might even spot striking similarities to 1984’s Oh Mummy! The levels are made up of lots of tombs and stone pathways. For the most part, every stage in the levels has the same design, with little in the way of variety or detail. The color, too, is monochromatic, except for the stages that have a variation, say one filled with darkness or misty fog. Still, the animations run smoothly without a hitch. And so, I might say the overall presentation is average: not too bad but not too great either.

Hiccups

Perhaps the stand-out hiccup is that the tutorial pop-ups can sometimes interrupt gameplay in pretty dire situations. You might be running from mummies only to be interrupted and then return to the game with the mummies having caught up to you. Somehow, the controls are cut short when tutorial pop-ups cue in and only register when you jump back in, but it’s already too late. However, it’s alleviated by the generally responsive controls throughout the game. There are hardly moments when inputs fail to translate, which, based on the incredibly fast speeds, says a lot about Tomb Stalkers’ flawlessness. 

Exiting a stage can also destabilize the screen in ways that the mummies catch up to you. If it happens enough times, it can become pretty frustrating, especially since it’s hardly your fault. You could lose health, die, and even have to restart the stage only because of a glitch. Otherwise, the rest of the game seems to play smoothly and seamlessly. There are no bugs to speak of, and performance is almost always pitch-perfect.

Verdict

There are many more content updates Tomb Stalkers’ developer has in store. It’ll depend on how the game performs. However, as is, the game is fun. It’s challenging in a great way that may even entice you to return for multiple playthroughs. The gameplay’s collectibles and enemy placements are random. Meanwhile, you can play through several scenarios and game modes. Combined, they make your playthrough unpredictable and encourage returning for more. It may not be perfect. There are certainly better options out there. However, for $12.74, you may find what’s currently available well worth your time and money.