Originally released in 1983, Montezuma’s Revenge provided a solid platforming challenge that likely frustrated and entertained in equal measure. There have been rereleases since, but this 40th Anniversary edition rebuilds the game in a more modern 2.5D format. It also comes with a fascinating director’s cut DLC that provides an expanded version of the original game, complete with all its original graphics. This is a pricey package, but there is plenty of game here if you enjoy a game that sticks closely to its nostalgic roots.
Montezuma’s Revenge is a traditional labyrinth puzzle platformer. You start at the top of a giant tomb made up of up to 100 individual rooms. You can run, jump and climb, but you can’t attack anything unless you have a sword pick up. This means you’ll need to dodge enemies rather than battle them as sword pick ups are rare. Your goal is to make it to the bottom of the tomb, without a map, to battle Montezuma and grab his treasure. If you manage it, you’ll reset back to the top of the tomb again for the next difficulty level. This means that you’ll need to deal with extra enemies, traps, and rooms as the route and maze to reach Montezuma gets longer and more complicated. There is a delicate balance between familiarity and spotting that things have changed and replaying levels helps you understand the tomb layout.
This game comes from the same school of design as Spelunker. Movement is rigid and jumps will always be a certain trajectory and length. If you fall further than your body length, you’ll die and this makes you incredibly vulnerable. You’ll forget and jump down two steps only to fall over and die. Every trap kills you too and many are designed to catch you out by taking advantage of your rigid jump. On small ledge jumps, it pays to move as far back as possible so as not to jump too far. It is unforgiving and often jumps are timed to avoid electrical wires, spike traps, giant ceiling slicers or burning ropes. The sole quality of life improvement is the ability to extend the game with continues, costing you part of your total score.
The main game is huge and you’ll need to mentally map out where you are in the tomb. This becomes a bigger problem if you pick up the excellent Director’s Cut DLC. This provides an expanded version of the original 1983 game and makes it four times bigger than the original. The original and 2.5D 40th Anniversary start out the same but as the expanded original progresses, it starts to diverge and do its own thing. Perhaps it is the retro pixel graphics, or maybe it is the different trap layouts it uses, but it also plays slightly better too. The rigid controls and jump mechanics seem to match up better with the flow of some of the bonus rooms. It is really quite charming to play, although as a 40-year-old myself, I am nostalgic for this era of gaming. At least both versions of the game autosave upon entry of each room. The games have separate boss battles though, with one requiring you to just collect gems in a room and the DLC needing you to collect an axe and land on the boss’s head.
I have just a few minor quibbles. Firstly, there seem to be some rooms where it feels like you have to die strategically to remove an enemy trap. When an enemy kills you, it dies too and is removed from the room and a few rooms give you no chance to avoid them. This feels a bit naughty. Also a bit naughty is the price point, with the excellent Director’s Cut being an additional DLC. If it was all bundled together at the main game pricing level, I wouldn’t question the cost. Having the big selling point for retro fans as an additional purchase makes it less of an automatic buy and more of a “for the fans” recommendation. From a gameplay perspective, the only thing I found slightly fiddly was my inventory. You are only given five slots for keys and weapons and since the entire game is built like a maze, you’ll run into doors where you can’t unlock the door because you’ve picked up too many other coloured keys. I spent a lot more time finding other doors to unlock to then get back to unlocking the door I wanted to just because of the inventory limit and it slowed down the game’s pacing a bit too much.
For the fans feels like an apt closer to this review. Everything here is lovingly rebuilt or expanded. Montezuma’s Revenge keeps the original gameplay intact for better and worse. If you appreciate the rigidity of an 80’s platformer, you’ll be heaven here. If you are hoping for more quality-of-life improvements beyond autosaving and endless continues – you may want to hold off for a bit. There is plenty of game here if this scratches your retro platformer itch though and its fiendishly difficult the further you progress.
Review copy provided by the publisher. Out now on PC.
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