Earlier this week, we reported on Dead Tomb, an upcoming new NES game, and now, as promised, here’s our Dead Tomb Switch review.
With Dead Tomb, 8-Bit Legit have taken inspiration from a curio from the annals of video game history, as while Dead Tomb itself is a new “neo-retro” game, it’s actually based on an earlier game from the late 1980s called ‘Temporel Inc,’ which was available via a cable TV system.
So, Dead Tomb’s roots lie deep in the history of video games, but how does this new NES point and click game play by modern 2024 standards? Very well indeed is the answer.
A good story is an essential component of any point and click game worth its salt, and happily, Dead Tomb delivers on this front. I don’t want to go into too much detail, as part of the fun is uncovering the story for yourself, but I will say that Dead Tomb deftly weaves together sci-fi and archaeological exploration into a satisfying and captivating retro-styled adventure.
The graphics are strictly 8-bit as the game was built for the NES, but nonetheless, the graphics do an excellent job of creating an atmosphere of adventure and intrigue, and the chiptune soundtrack is appropriate and enjoyable.
Dead Tomb’s controls differ slightly from your standard point and click game, insofar as you move your character with the D-pad or thumbstick rather than by pointing and clicking, which is a sensible design choice for the game’s format of the NES, and the interface for interacting with the world is the verb-based interface of the type that anyone who’s played a point and click game will be familiar.
The puzzles in Dead Tomb are also a satisfying mix of the logical and abstract (the latter of which will almost certainly involve a degree of trial and error).
In Dead Tomb, 8-Bit Legit have, once again, created a piece of genuine retro gaming treasure.
Dead Tomb is available from Friday 26th January 2024 on Switch (version reviewed), Xbox, and on limited edition (300 copies) NES cartridge (pre-orders now open).
To answer the question posed earlier, Dead Tomb is dead good, as hopefully, you’ve already gathered from reading our Dead Tomb Switch review!
Related Articles
