Tomb Heroes is an arcade like action game with a simple premise. You’re trapped in a tomb with monsters, raiders, and traps. I wouldn’t call it an endless runner, but more an endless survivor game. It’s not like this is a first in a new genre, but you get the point.
Tapping right or left will shoot in that direction. The recoil causes that character to jump in the opposite direction so it’s not only a matter of killing enemies, there’s a slight bit of strategy to everything. You can jump on foes though some have spiked helmets. There are also enemy shots and traps like blades to be mindful of as well. Thankfully there are also power-ups to help our treasure hunters out, though not every one will assist players. Sometimes they will actually be traps.
Stylistically it’s reminiscent of Tomb Raider. In fact the beginner character’s name is Laura, has two guns, wears brown shorts, has a bluish green top, and has her hair in a braid. Also, characters and enemies are blocky in the style of Minecraft. Laura isn’t the only hero with nods to other series. Brave is basically Iron Man and the other characters could be categorized as archetypes in other genres. Most of them are mere pallet swaps and don’t play very differently.
On that note there is one currency in the game: diamonds. You can earn these gems by shooting random thieves that appear during a run, or you can watch an ad for a game. It’s nice to have some kind of objective while playing Tomb Heroes other than a high score, but since most of those heroes aren’t anything special, it diminishes the value of diamonds.
Tomb Heroes is a basic arcade game, but it’s pretty fun regardless. Although it had typical free to play trappings, there was never a forced ad. Everything was optional, which is my favorite kind of iOS experience. It made me feel immersed as simple as it was because I wasn’t interrupted on a constant level. Point is it’s not going to stick with you forever, but Tomb Heroes is worth a shot.
