The Mummy: Demastered is a video game adaptation of the not so recently rebooted Mummy series. Adapted into a pixel art Metroidvania with a “rogue-like” element, it is pretty decent adaptation that even with its minor flaws might be a hell of a lot better than the source.
As mentioned, gameplay consists of the usual Metroidvania affair, meaning you are tasked with exploring various areas to gather equipment that will allow you to progress, usually by backtracking through previously explored areas in order to open up new places or find upgrades to allow further progress or survival. The gameplay loop is simple & this game is no different, being even simpler than usual. Our unnamed soldier is not a super powered Bounty Hunter & as such his arsenal consists of conventional weaponry ranging from sub-machine guns, assault rifles, flamethrowers, etc. You will be able to find the occasional supernatural artifact which will enhance your ability to run, be able to hang from ceilings & jump slightly higher but unlike the aforementioned Bounty Hunter’s arsenal, The Mummy’s is somewhat grounded in reality.
The rogue-like aspect of the game, is pretty much unnecessary & inconsequential as a whole. The punishment for failure is losing your equipment & having to go back & kill your now zombiefied previous unnamed soldier, succeed & you get your stuff back. Outside of that there is nothing to it, foregoing that mechanic would have been a better thing to do in what is a rather challenging game & thus alleviating an annoyance. In any case, even if death is always near as enemies tend to hit like a truck & a pretty damned numerous, some careful play will make the whole mechanic moot… in theory. Normal enemies & bosses tend to be bullet sponges, bosses so much more so, to the point where running out of ammo in a boss fight is fairly common, forcing you to rely on your pea-shooter SMG. The devs clearly went a tad to hard in forcing the rogue-like thing & the game suffers from it.
The plot is serviceable, having not seen the movie, I really don’t know how well it follows it but considering you play as an unnamed soldier chasing the titular Mummy across various areas in London, maybe not much is missed. You chase a mummy, kill things, rinse & repeat. The art style is retro pixel art that has now become part & parcel to Metroidvanias, it looks ok but your mileage may vary. Some people have come to dislike it due to how prevalent it is now & I can respect that. Level design is also serviceable, the game will have you going to rather neat looking areas ranging from a forest to caves & even the London underground, nothing too out there. The bigger flaw comes with the map screen itself, as doors are not marked so it makes the necessary backtracking & secret finding a bit of a pain. Sound is on the weak side of things, weapons for example not sounding at all threatening. Music on the other hand is by far more enjoyable, the game might have its flaws & can be pretty basic but damn is the music enjoyable. 80’s synthwave as Somebody once told me… certainly an unexpected choice for the title but a welcomed one, a particular favorite track of mine being Necrogenic Bloom playing in the forest/cave area of the game.
All in all, The Mummy: Demastered is by not means a bad game though it does require some patience, much more coming from a movie tie-in. It is not groundbreaking in the least & at the discounted price of $12 for the Switch copy I paid for might be too much for a one & done game in my opinion it might be worth to keep an eye out for bundles or heavy discounts that feature the game. It has its flaws, namely in questionable difficulty & lackluster mapping, but the music is not one of them that’s for sure. This wraps up my review of The Mummy: Demastered.
- NISA To Raises Prices On Select PC Games Come July 19th. - July 1, 2021
- void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium review - July 30, 2020
- The Alliance Alive HD Remaster review - October 4, 2019