Fiery Catacombs

In Brief

Fiery Catacombs is an adventure puzzle platformer.

Introduction:

Fiery Catacombs is a platformer and adventure in which the main character fell into the ancient catacombs and now he needs to find a way out of them. To stay alive, the player will need to avoid numerous traps and solve difficult puzzles in ancient catacombs. On the way, you can grab various treasures of an ancient tribe, but this is not necessary. To find a way out of the catacombs, the player will need logic, reaction and a good memory. You do not know what the next step will bring you, each next step may be a surprise !! There are blocks in the catacombs, if you step on them, a secret will open or a trap will work. It’s better not to step on blocks with traps, remember them and in the next attempt to jump over this block. Various mechanical guards guard treasures, a meeting with them is undesirable. Some of them can be jumped over, some can be blocked using a block. Be alert, then you will reach the exit !!

Reference accessed HERE. 8th October 2019

The Game:

When you encounter a block with eyes that glow, walking through it will throw up information that you'll need to play the game effectively and successfully; for example, the first one you'll encounter is right at the beginning of level 1. Where you are shown the control keys for the game. You'll encounter several of these as you progress through the levels. I've included screen captures of some of them below.

Jump = left control
Movement = ↑, ↓, ← & →
Destroy Block = Left Alt
Restart Level = Tab
Exit to the sub menu = Esc
Choice Speed game = Home/End
Music Volume = Insert/delete
Sound Volume = PgUp/PgDown
Exit the Game = Alt + F4

To move over obstacle you must first stop then jump. To open doors you have to light all of the fires in the bowls (see the third image below for details). Just walk up to a bowl for it to light up. There are also dangerous traps that are turned on by walking over secret blocks. Other secret blocks will open secret passage's, stairs and other treasures. You can tell when you are near one of these positive secret blocks as there will be symbols with stylized star burst symbols nearby. Those secret blocks that turn on traps do not have any indicators, so beware.

There are also block keys where you push yellow blocks into pits to turn off the pillars of fire that block your way. While exploring a level you can pick up various treasures such as precious stones, though these are not compulsory for finishing a level. You'll also find treasures in jugs. Just use the 'Left Alt' key to swing your hammer to break them open to claim your treasure.

To pass over fire pits walk or jump onto hand holds to allow you to swing across. If you get caught by one of the traps you will die inws. to restart the level press Tab and it will take you to the beginning of the level you died on. When restarting the game you can replay any level that has been unlocked. There are twenty levels to explore. Along the top of the level field you can find your score, the number of treasures to find; these count down as you discover them. Also shown are the number of fires you need to light to open the exit door and the level number.

Conclusion:

Fiery Catacombs is a reasonably well made puzzle platformer, with easy to medium hard levels to work through. The only negative for me was the controls, some are not the usual keys used for the commands they have been linked to; for example, left control for jumping. This game would be improved somewhat if you could edit the key bindings. Overall I'd give this a 7 out of 10 for game play, average puzzles and reasonably graphics. If you found Fiery Catacombs too easy check out over 500 freeware platform games over on Caimans HERE

The game can be found on Steam and you can see a few in game videos of Fiery Catacombs HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

Today is the last full day you can get this weeks free game Minit from Epic Games. From tomorrow afternoon 'Surviving Mars' a city building survival strategy game will be available for free until next Thursday 17th Oct HERE. There has also been a couple of new games added to the Indie Gala freebie section. Some of the Indie Gala games are not appropriate for children as they include Japanese Hentai inspired games. Also free at the moment via uPlay is Rabbids Coding HERE a n educational gaming software that shows you how to make simple games. You do require a free uPlay account before you can get the program.