Luxor Quest For The Afterlife

As games get progressively more complex, sometimes, all you want is a casual game to kick back and unwind for a bit. For those players looking for a relaxed experience that's light on the complications of modern gaming, Luxor: Quest For The Afterlife proves to be a solid entry in the casual games market.

Following the same formula as its predecessors, Luxor: Quest For The Afterlife does the bare minimum to be considered a sequel. This is one of those games where "once you've played one, you've played them all," so why not play the most complete and feature-rich version yet? Because that's what this game represents for the series.

Connect and Pop

Much like the iconic Zuma Deluxe, your objective in Luxor: Quest For The Afterlife is to match marbles of the same color to make them disappear. Simple as that. When a formula has already been perfected dozens of times before, what good could come from altering the basics?

This game delivers exactly what fans of the series are expecting, and that's not as bad as it sounds. At its core, Luxor: Quest For The Afterlife is a puzzle game, and there's always some extra space for new puzzles for fans of the same tried-and-true gameplay formula.

Still, I think a minor reinvigoration of the game's basics could be in order. Something like Tetris Effect, for example.

A Bit of Story

Surprisingly enough, Luxor: Quest For The Afterlife includes a single-player campaign mode. Based on myths and legends of Egypt, the campaign spices things up a bit, breaking away from the monotony of just playing level after level without a clear goal in mind.

While the story is nothing to marvel at, the implementation of the campaign is something that could have been a bit better planned. Though the concept itself is admirable, some parts of the single-player experience become boringly repetitive with alarming speed.

I know I mentioned earlier that I would like to see the series branching off a bit from its usual gameplay loop, but I think it could do so in a way that doesn't feel as forced as this game's single-player campaign. Perhaps the worst part is hearing tutorial after tutorial about how to deal with the mode's rules when all you want to do is just play a relaxing round of Luxor.

Egyptian Vibes

Perhaps because of its status as a super casual franchise, the Luxor games have never been visually demanding titles. Luxor: Quest For The Afterlife retains this crucial element of the game's design, but it also delivers one of the most visually-impressive iterations of the series to date.

From gorgeous backgrounds to detailed menus, Luxor: Quest For The Afterlife is wonderful to look at. It might lack 3D elements and some of the fancy new tech that some fans might be looking for, but that was never a selling point of the Luxor franchise.

All in all, Luxor: Quest For The Afterlife might be the best starting point for anyone looking for a good starting point to get into the franchise – even if the campaign could use a bit more work.

Pros

• Same addictive Luxor gameplay
• Easy to pick up and play
• Campaign mode with voice acting

Cons

• Lacks some innovation
• Campaign mode could have been better designed