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Five Games That Egypt Forgot

Egypt has a certain allure to it, wispy sand dunes, mysterious structures, exotic treasure; all adding to its mystery. So it should be no surprise that it’s been a backdrop to many experiences over the years. From the early 80s with the likes of Gem Software’s Oh Mummy! and the 1985 classic Entombed leading to the recent Assassin’s Creed Origins.

Outside of videogames Egypt has provided a strong theme for a variety of pinball tables such as Gottlieb’s Cleopatra and slot machines both off and online like 888casino’s Cleopatra slots; a wide gamut of experiences have taken advantage of the alluring setting.

Let’s take a look at a handful of games that took inspiration from the land of the Sphinx and escape from house flipping for a few minutes:

Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone (1990)

The Double Dragon series has never been one you’d associate with exotic locations, the first title never ventured far from the city streets. The second sequel however featured a globetrotting adventure where you punch and kick your way through an array of locations before ultimately culminating in you recovering the three Rosetta Stones and entering Cleopatra’s tomb in Egypt to solve the mystery.

Total Eclipse (1988)

The Freescape series of adventures were revolutionary when initially released at the latter end of the 80s, first person exploration games with simple (if mind-bogglingly lateral) puzzles that were unlike anything before them. Kicked off by the superb sci-fi title Driller that saw you having to drain gas from a moon to stop it exploding. it was followed soon after by this egyptian themed adventure as you attempted to stop Ra’s Curse from causing the moon to explode (I sense a theme here.) Total Eclipse saw you solving puzzles in and around a massive pyramid rather than on a mining platform on a moon.

Myth: History in the Making (1989)

System 3 had a reputation for making hard but enjoyable titles, games like the Last Ninja trilogy and this, Myth: History in the Making, all but cemented that legacy. Myth was a side scrolling platform game with a heavy puzzle-solving element and saw you adventure through Hades, Greece and Egypt as you hunted down the magic orbs to stop the Dark Angel of Time, Dameron.

Exhumed/Powerslave (1996)

Exhumed (Powerslave outside of Europe) was a fantastic first person shooter set in and around ancient Karnak. Historical accuracy isn’t its forté however as you fight an army of extraterrestrial insectoid beings, the Kilmaat. As well as the aliens you also take on mummies, scarabs, scorpions and other cliché enemy types. The game itself was originally a Build engine title, the engine the powered Duke Nukem 3D, but on console used Lobotomy’s proprietary engine, SlaveDriver.

Entombed (1985)

Created by Ultimate Play The Game, Rare before they were called Rare. This quirky adventure has you trying to escape an ancient egyptian tomb before you run out of oxygen. You did this by solving logic puzzles and figuring out the layout of the tomb. Sir Arthur Pendragon, whom you control, has a whip to attack enemies and a torch to light up dark rooms and not a lot else.

So that’s what I’ve got for you this time, a brief but hopefully interesting look at Egypt from five games that Egypt itself had forgotten about. Have I missed any of your favourites?