The Mummy Demastered (PS4)

Only a few months after Universal’s critically-panned 2017 take on The Mummy, which also failed spectacularly at kickstarting yet another cinematic universe, WayForward Technologies released a retro-styled video game tie-in, The Mummy Demastered. Unlike many other movie tie-in games, this one released to critical praise, with fans and critics considering it a major improvement over the actual movie. Though I haven’t seen The Mummy (2017) myself, I did hear all the praise and eventually got a physical copy through Limited Run when I had the chance. As I’ve grown more familiar with WayForward’s library, and found an opportunity to play the game myself, it definitely lives up to the hype.

In The Mummy Demastered, the player plays a soldier working for Prodigium, an organization chasing after Ahmanet, a resurrected Egyptian princess out to take over the world with her supernatural abilities. While the storytelling is minimal, presented through short transmissions from an unnamed Dr. Henry Jekyll, it’s pretty straightforward and provides a complete experience. In fact, despite its status as a tie-in, it feels like a standalone story that you could enjoy separately from the film.

Prodigium’s quest for Ahmanet is presented as a retro-style Metroidvania, a genre that developer WayForward generally excels at. There’s plenty to uncover within the game world, including weapons, Scrolls, Trinkets and Relics, but the interconnected map has a generally manageable size and difficulty, with each new area more or less scaling in difficulty alongside your growing skillset. Though helicopters on the surface act as the only means of fast travel, some parts of the map are structured as a straight line for easy access so they hardly feel too far away. The only real downside to the map, however, is that it doesn’t distinguish secret passages you’ve come across so you know where to go if you circle back for more map coverage.

Helicopters act as a form of fast travel.

Each area of the map features enemies with unique abilities and attack patterns while feeling visually distinct. I appreciated that the rules for each enemy are consistent and that their placement never felt too out of place (ex. Crows are always above ground). Some enemies, like piranhas and bouncing brains, are harder to hit than others, but there’s usually a consistent strategy for dealing with them. However, some parts of the map can get a little crowded, which, when combined with the knockback you initially take from each hit, can make some platforming sections more frustrating. Frustration from knockback is only alleviated once you find the Crown of Apis, which negates it completely.

This segues well into the collectable items, which help Prodigium’s soldiers in their fight against Ahmanet and her creatures. A few different guns and grenades help with fighting off enemies and opening secret passages. Since each weapon comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, and you can only have two additional guns with the starter weapon and one grenade type, players can easily experiment and find their own loadout that works well for them. As the game went on, however, I found that certain setups were strictly better than others, especially against the final boss, and there was absolutely no reason not to unequip the C4 once unlocked. You can also gain new abilities from hidden and setting-appropriate Scrolls and Trinkets, including lack of knockback, swimming underwater or running faster. Like in some Shantae Games, you can toggle these abilities on or off, but I saw no reason why you’d turn any of them off except to challenge yourself. 50 Relics are scattered across the world and hidden in some otherwise innocuous places, but there’s really no benefit in collecting them aside from getting 100% completion.

One interesting addition to the formula is that when the soldier dies, Ahmanet’s magic will spawn an Undead Soldier in their place that has all of the player’s weapons and gear up to that point. This leaves the player with just the starting weapon and default health, which they must use to kill the Undead Soldier and regain everything they’ve lost. Fortunately, the Undead Soldier isn’t too big a deal to kill and I liked that the developers had the foresight to make it so that if the player dies against a boss, the Undead Soldier spawns in the screen before the boss room, making preparation much easier.

Speaking of the bosses, aside from having distinct designs, they all have their own unique strategies and can easily kill underprepared players. If you consistently have any trouble against them, then it’s worth taking the time to go back through the map and locate hidden Health Packs and Bandoleers, which can easily make a significant difference in how long you can grind through the boss’ attacks.

An early boss in the game.

As befitting the title, the game has a strong retro style to it, both in its graphics and soundtrack. Compared to the Shantae games, however, I appreciated that the bosses actually have some indication of their health based on how their sprite color gradually changes to purple as opposed to just guessing how much health is left. You can also see the likenesses of Russel Crowe and Sofia Boutella, with no Tom Cruise in sight, but they only serve as a connection to the related film and the actors don’t otherwise factor in to the game. Much like the visuals, I also liked the soundtrack composed by Gavin Allen, which fits in with the style and is better than it has any right to be for a licensed game.

Perhaps due to its nature as a licensed game, The Mummy Demastered is pretty short, clocking in at around five or six hours if you really take your time exploring the map to uncover most, if not all, of its secrets. Worth noting is that there are multiple endings that rely on your performance, mainly whether or not you successfully escape after defeating the final boss, with another variation if you managed to beat the game without dying once (you can cheese this if you quit before any killing blows). While this isn’t normally anything to complain about, you’ll have to keep in mind that if you get the bad ending and want to try again for the good ending, you’ll have to replay the two-stage final boss fight all over again. Due to some of the platforming during the escape sequence, I ended up repeating the final boss fight enough times that I got pretty efficient at dodging and dealing damage.

Despite its rather short length, The Mummy Demastered has a lot to offer, both to Metroidvania fans and those who felt disappointed by The Mummy (2017). If $20 seems like a lot, then you can try waiting for a potential sale. Otherwise, I’d say it’s worth every penny.