Image credit: Playgendary Limited
The original Tomb of the Mask is a piece of iOS history, yet its adaption to Apple Arcade has left the game in a bit of an awkward state. Free-to-play games need certain mechanics to make them profitable and when you take those away, the rest of the game can feel a bit hollow – especially if nothing is there to replace it.
If you have somehow never played the original game, a game that has 1.3 million ratings on the App Store, Tomb of the Mask is a puzzler that takes from PacMan, VVVVV, and Super Hexagon while providing enough of its own character to stand out. Playing a small yellow character, you fling it from side to side with your finger and have to collect coins and make your way around traps while getting to a finish line at the end. The screen scrolls as you move so you are incentivized to learn maps and trap behaviors as you go along.