#2-February 2025
Friends and fishes, love and laughter.
Good morning!
Month, and issue, 2 for the Spooky Tomb Of Videogames and it’s good to be back. Hope you’re all doing as well as can be given 2025 so far!
It’s been a tough choice narrowing things down this month, especially as I’m still getting settled so it’s incredibly tempting to keep adding things to the list because there’s just so many games I could pop in here and I’m very excitable in that way.
I eventually settled myself with a mix of very quick to play games that brightened my day a bit, some stuff I’ve been playing a lot, a mix of remakes and a couple of larger, more traditional games that have caught my interest in recent months. It’s a heavy time for a lot of people so I wanted to keep things a bit brisk and breezy. I can’t promise that will always be the case.
I‘m not aiming for this place to be a sort of “and here is a game release” news outlet in any way so I’m not really bothered if something is days, weeks, months or even years old. If I find it interesting, it’s in. Though, that said, I am trying to make sure I plop some stuff in here that most places would ignore because, I dunno, they’re lacking bells and whistles or something. It’s kinda important to me that folk can have somewhere that won’t entirely ignore this stuff.
That said, if you do want to get in touch for me to have a look over something, I can’t promise it’ll make it in but you can prod me on Bluesky or drop me a mail (robremakes at virginmedia dot com), whichever you prefer. I‘m super down with “this is my first go” or small twine/narrat/bitsy/downpour sort of things too!
Right, enough waffle and onwards
-The Gamekeeper
February’s Link Blast
Hamster Simulator! Loved this, takes a few seconds to play and brought a right smile to my face. (Downpour)
Dragonsweeper. Good chance you might have already been recommended this elsewhere but that’s not going to stop me! Minesweeper/Fantasy RPG mash up. (Itch)
Skullybones is described as “Twisted Bubble Bobble !!” so obviously it gets a mention, You may be asking yourself if “game but with skeletons” is an instant list in here and probably, yeah. I’m easy like that. (Itch)
Beyond The Scanlines takes a look at 5 mecha games. (YouTube)
Been a while since I’ve stumbled onto one of these. Perilous Prospector is a 3d tribute to Manic Miner. Contains seals so that’s always a good start. (Itch)
The Hunch is a megamix of Century’s Hunchback and variants. I confess, I love Hunchback and have done since first popping 10p into it and there’s surprisingly nowhere near as many remakes as you’d expect. (Itch)
Idly thinking about mazes, wondered if there were any recent versions of Cavelon around. Nicely, someone’s taken a punt at bringing Christian Urquhart’s Speccy version to the Gameboy/DS. (Itch)
Goblins, mushrooms and forests in Hulda’s Mushroom Hunt. A great way to spend five or so minutes. (Itch)
Cover Game: 3d Don’t Die, Mr Robot
From friends of the tomb Infinite States, 3d Don’t Die, Mr Robot is one of my most played games this year. Which given games last a few minutes most of the time, well… I’ve played it a fair bit, ok.
It’s the follow up to an old fave Vita (and elsewhere) game but mega-Minterfied. Think Minter style floating grids and Omega’s Every Extend but with fruit. Dodge nasties, chain explosions, fruit. It’s a very pure arcade experience so very, very my thing,
“We made it another year”. A beautiful bitsy game for you I stumbled upon after playing Hulda’s Mushroom Hunt (same author). First Sunrise. (Itch)
It’s never too late to play Star Of Providence. The only roguelike twin sticker that’s really done the trick for me. (Steam)
Not a videogame but It Eats Planets is off to a really strong start. Phenomenal art. (Website)
Petjac! It’s Jetpac! Jetpac is one of the best games ever. Second best game next to Space Giraffe, easily. (Itch)
You Are Jeff Bezos is still relevent (Who knew?) and still an essential play in 2025. (Itch)
My retro recommendation of the month is the oh so very Rob, Dan Dare. One of those licenses where each major format had its own completely different game. I know some folks are fond of the C64 one especially but the Speccy one is my own personal go to. (Spectrum Computing)
I never got along with Wilmot’s Warehouse because I’m weird but I found myself in love with the loose follow up, Wilmot Works It Out. It’s just a really satisfying way to do virtual jigsaws and comes complete with the usual Hollow Ponds cool art and whimsy. (Steam)
Another that’s been out a while now but have you seen Oddada? It’s a wonderful musical toy that’s built to delight and it works magic for me. Probably helps that it’s got a train in it. Choo choo, berks. (Steam)
Wrapping up this month with Chinny taking a look at a rejigged Saboteur. There’s been plenty of grand ninja games over the years and plenty of nob ones too (we don’t speak of the weeks long Ninja Golf addiction I had once), Saboteur is still the closest a game has got to a Cannon film, whether that’s a recommendation or not I shall leave to the audience. (YouTube)
