GuardGrave

GuardGrave is a faithful representation of retro arcade games, with a nostalgic feeling and a heavy nod towards Burger Time, which I loved playing in the arcades. The formula is slightly different. Instead of building burgers, Deek and Cecil, the local graveyard keepers, are trying to close coffins and stop monsters from emerging. Armed with their trusty hammer, Donkey Kong style, they can stun creatures and hammer the coffin lids down levels until they reach the coffin. The game play is ladder based and has a clock ticking down for bonus points. They must fit all the coffin lids whilst avoiding monsters to move on to the next level. There are seven worlds, with a few levels in each one, and a boss fight at the end of each world. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3104184360 [h1]🤔Overall Impressions🤔[/h1] I enjoyed GuardGrave but it is fiendishly difficult even on the kids difficulty. I could only manage getting to the fourth world where things start to get very hectic. I didn't get the opportunity to play co-op so perhaps that is a bit easier. Regular mode requires you to go find the hammer as it randomly appears, and hard difficulty is the same but with more enemies. As you progress, your escape paths get blocked and there are more choke points, so it is harder to escape. In kids mode you have the hammer constantly, so you can bash enemies when they are near, but it is still easy to get killed with enemies rushing you and having ranged attacks, along with environmental hazards like spikes and shooting arrows. Escaping is made more difficult, especially in later levels, because you cannot escape one side of the screen and re-appear on the other side. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3104183935 Ladder game play was a little odd as it is easy to fall off the ladders when travelling up and down them, and this can be both a blessing and an annoyance. It is a quick way of travelling downwards, and potentially escaping fast approaching creatures, but it also can feel a little loose, and although it is easier to get on the ladders, which can be a fault with these games, you can also fall off unexpectedly. There is a lot of content here, with 37 stages spread over 7 worlds, with nice themes and lots of different kinds of enemies which compliment the stages. The music unfortunately does not have any sliders and I found the effects sound to be particularly high. There is also no pause button which is scandalous, and bizarrely no way to exit the game apart from pressing the Windows key and quitting. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3104184054 Longevity is going to depend on whether you like chasing scores or not. There is only ten places on the leader board and even spot ten has a very high score. There are no friends leader boards or even a board to display your own high score. The game is quite addictive however and trying to aim for the achievements kept me plugging away, but I would have appreciated a continue option just so I could experience the later levels. [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/] Follow [b]IndieGems[/b] [/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41039956/][b]Indie Blast![/b] [/url] for more reviews like this one. [/quote]

This fits in perfectly with the recent wave of neo arcade successors that have been popping up on Steam lately. LocoMalito (who is more or less a veteran at making these kinds of games for those who don't know) had some input on this game according to the credits, and the end result is a very strong first impression from this new developer. The normal mode provides a tough but fair challenge as it demands a 1CC but you'll get plenty of extends via scoring. The soundtrack is also great, with the world 3 theme in particular being incredibly catchy. The game even does something that Donut Dodo (as much as I love it) didn't do- looping after finishing the final stage. If there's anything I could nitpick, it's that the game has a significantly longer runtime than an actual arcade game. Whereas most take 20 to 30 minutes to finish one loop of, this one took me a little under an hour for my first clear and that was with a bit of rushing to get some of the tougher boards over asap. Totally fine if you intend to just beat the game, but I imagine it would make for a serious time commitment for anyone who plans on score chasing in the future. On a personal note, I am going through a very rough time in terms of my overall health. I'd like to personally thank all parties involved in creating this game for putting a smile on my face in these trying times. Here's to hoping GuardGrave can smash its way onto the Switch- it would definitely do well there. :D For those interested in seeing a loop from start to finish, here was my first time beating the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0PwxJ-CsYA (can't seem to use Steam's video sharing component and I'm also thinking this could be the first longplay online? I've looked and couldn't find any others.)

Charming arcade platformer similar to Burger Time or '90s Taito arcades. A bit on the slow side for the genre, but recommended for fans nonetheless. Excellent presentation and everything feels tight.

Short but sweet little tribute to some arcade classic goodness! Lots of fun & replayability to be found in this title! Solid controls and good level of challenge!

Excellent arcade style game that calls back to classics like Burger Time, but with its own identity and mechanics. It takes a little bit of time to get used to, but it is a lot of fun once you get the hang of things. The visuals are a great throwback to an older era, and the screen filter options and TATE mode option is a great touch. The different game modes are nice for those who want a bit less of a challenge, or an even harder game. There is something so addictive about this, and with all the fun to be had, the price is almost criminally low due to the quality of care put into the game.

Big thanks to my Steam friends, otherwise I wouldn’t find this interesting game. Never heard of BurgerTime so I started fresh. I thought this game was hilarious because I thought you use a hammer to hit a trash can lid, making it drop to the lower floor and the goal is to make all lids fall. If any miserable monsters happen to walk underneath, the falling lid will crush them - it sounds terrifying but the actual gameplay is made funny, and it reminds me of a minigame in Super 56 where you control a seagull pooping on the heads of the people below. Later, I found out it’s not a trash can lid but a coffin lid, and you’re a graveyard keeper. Well, it became less funny yet still fun to play. The mechanics are simple, but completing all levels isn’t easy. For each area, you need to clear 3–4 regular maps before facing a boss. I was able to complete the game in kid mode, which offers a lot more lives than the regular mode. Generally speaking, earlier areas tend to have harder boss fights, while later areas have tougher monsters in regular maps. For example, the Octopus and Viking King near the end are easy to defeat, I can handle them without losing a life, but that vampire boss in the early stage was hard. Overall, GuardGrave is not a hard game, but it requires carefulness and patience. When you see a monster stop some distance away from you or do anything suspicious, stop hitting the lid, walk away, watch the attack pattern and return later. This is my secret to completing the game in 1.5 hours in the child mode. But if you challenge yourself in regular mode, the gameplay time will easily double. The only downside is that my hand hurts after playing. No wonder, since I was hitting the keys so fast to strike the lids as well as smash treasure chests for higher scores and extra lives. It would be great if child mode added a “One Hit” feature to make the lids fall easy. I recommend this game. A great arcade game and so much fun to play. [u] [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43342176-Why-Not-Games/#browse] My curator page[/url][/u]

Fantastic game with seriously solid controls! Plays like a perfect mix of classic Taito arcade games like Bubble Bobble, Don Doko Don and Data Easts Burger Time! It's a very creative mash up taking advantage of the best traits of all the mentioned games and truly coming up with something new! Plays great on the steam deck! The music is super catchy! Well done all around. A hit indeed!

I need this on a full size arcade cab - but in the meantime GuardGrave plays like a dream on the Steam Deck! Monster Bath has nailed the assignment here, creating a game that evokes classics like Burger Time but brings a unique style, look and feel - it plays like you remember those classics playing but is much more compelling. Exquisite pixel art and character design to boot!

First, the game works perfectly on the SteamDeck without any adjustments. As for the game itself, it captures perfectly the arcade feel of BurgerTime, though it feels more fluid. The animations are great, the music is great and it is fun. Worth it for 5 bucks. There is just one request I have, which is to be able to start from any stage I have already completed, to be able to practice how to beat it faster and not have to start from scratch all the time, even if there is a score penalty from doing this.

Sometimes the best or funnest games I end up finding are by complete chance or by a fluke. And this is one of those times. This is quite a hidden gem, and I really hope as we go into 2025 us gamers see more games like this on both steam and consoles. Ya gotta love when modern retro is done right As expected, one might ask, what is GuardGrave? In my opinion, it's an amalgmation of the following games, and it does so in a GREAT way Burgertime-Like Burgertime, the main objective is to take a "piece" of your objective, and drag it down floors by interacting with it/moving over it. You do this while climbing ladders and avoiding baddies. However, instead of avoiding the likes of Mr Hotdog, Mr Egg, and Mr Pickle, you instead have to avoid ghouls and ghosts (yes that was a reference on purpose) like zombies, ghouls, skeletons, bats and ghosts as you bring casket lids down floor by floor and, just like Burger Time, you can drop enemies with these lids to make them fall further towards the objective or drop the lids on bad guys Castlevania-This has a very supernatural/occult theme to it without going into anything extremely grim, but the main gist of this game is you are on a timer and play as two people who are graveyard managers. Suddenly at night, monsters like zombies, ghosts, bats, skeletons and the like start coming out of the caskets, it's up to you use a hammer power up to frantically avoid monsters and seal their caskets back. (FYI, I am aware I mentioned this earlier, but that's more froma gameplay standpoint where this is more the basic story standpoint) . Essentially this is like you took the concept of Castlevania and made it a LOT more cutsey and campy. It doesn't help that there ARE religious style refrences such as crosses in later levels and a holy bible is a powerup to clear the screen. But like Castlevania, you also fight the likes of Dracula, The Grim Reaper, and many other big time supernatural villians in boss battles, again, just more campy and cute. Ghouls and Ghosts-The Music and Pixel Art is like a fusion of Burger Time (main characters are Burger Time esque) but the music, monsters, and visuals of each stage is very reminscent of the cartoony approach to how Ghouls and Ghosts designed it's pixel art, I would specifically say it leans more twoards the SNES versions of the games from that series. Lastly, I would say this game has a small influence on the whole "high score risk" type of game like, maybe a type of maze game, not necessarily Pac Man, but a maze game as a whole, it could also be the likes of mouse trap, ladybug and the like, but if I were to pinpoint a game that had a big risk factor like that, I would compare it to Lock n Chase I mention that because maze games from the arcade era often had a high focus on risk versus reward, you often would get "tempted" by a LOT of bonus items in these games, they would distract you from your main objective and take away precious time from your main objective timer, but you'd in turn get big bonus points, additional time, and character power ups. The big key in games like that was a mix of timing, pattern recognition, and a bit of luck. In this game, you have everything from bonus jewels for extra points to the hammer powerup that is actually vital to complete the main game and objective (the hammer is the only way to seal the caskets and every lid takes 3 hits to knock down a floor) to hourglasses which extend the duration of a hammer power up, to speed shoes with wings that obviously increase speed, to Holy Bibles that nuke every monster on screen. Last but not least is a star that actually falls onto the screen at an arc/ at an angle like a shooting star, which can extend the timer on the current stage. All of these items are also worth points and you CAN choose to farm points if you are good enough, but even though this game is a score attack game, you have to constantly play tug of war with "risk vs reward" on "Do I want to survvie and get as far as I can this run? Or do I want to get as high a score as I can? Or something in the middle? All these are great and can build up your score, but you obviously have to be mindful to not run out of time, and where both you and the enemies are positioned The modern quality of life choices come in the form of modes like easy, normal/arcade mode, and hard mode, you can choose if you want an easy run to see other boards in the game, hard mode for a challenge, or just standard Local co op is also a damn good touch, and even remote play together is an option for this title Put this all into a complete package with fun and energetic/engaging music as the sprinkles on this cake, and I GUARANTEE you, if this was a real arcade game back in the day, this would be a GREAT arcade game and would've made a LOT of money. Hell, if this got a real arcade cabinet I guarentee some arcades out there would want one, especially since arcades are making a resurgence (♥♥♥♥ yeah). To put it figuratively and humorously, this is like if Burger Time, Ghouls and Ghosts, and Castlevania had a quote on quote "cousin" that they don't see often, but when they do, they have great times every visit GET THIS GAME IF YOU LIKE MODERN RETRO AND FRANTIC, ADDICTIVE AND CHALLENGING ARCADE GAMES 5 bucks is nothing for a hidden gem like this. The ONLY downsides is no online leader-boards and no OST available! This last tidbit is neither good nor bad, just a suggestion as an indie developer myself One small suggestion to the developers, the high score screen does have strong language and sexual innuendo as some of the leaderboard names, I'm not saying get rid of these or censor/remove them, but essentially, to expand your audience, I would say give an option toggle (much like how some arcade games and pinball machines had "kid friendly" modes, even if they intially had mature and or adult themes) and just give an option in the options menu to turn the obscene high score names on or off This is purely because I could see kids and or their parents and people of all ages LOVING a game like this, and I would imagine this game would otherwise be rated E10+ if it ever graces consoles (Which I ABSOLUTELY hope it does) Bigger audience just means more money, exposure, and relevance. I wouldn't mention this if this I didn;t see this game as appealing to kids or if it was more M rated esque, such as Splatterhouse or House of the Dead, but that's obviosuly not the case here