Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy

Yes, I'm one of the few people who's played this game both on P.C. and on PlayStation, because I absolutely love it.

It's a good RPG of old times mixed with puzzles and jump & run that I would recommend picking up on a sale without hesitation! The Soundtrack is also super awesome!! The rough playtime you'll get out of this game is about 25-30 hours so you *should* try this one out :-)

This game switches back and forth between two characters, the Sphinx and the Mummy. The Mummy's sections are fun and creative puzzle platforming, and the Sphinx is more action platforming. The Mummy's gameplay is great, but the Sphinx's gameplay is just okay. If you're just judging the quality of the port itself, it's a pretty good port IMO, and includes nice stuff like a manual and a level editor. What I loved about the Mummy's gameplay is its main gimmick: the mummy is already dead, so he can't die. You use this immortality to solve puzzles by intentionally falling into traps. Catch on fire so you can light a torch, get crushed to become thin enough to fit through a barred gate, things like that. It's naturally light-hearted and humorous, and the mummy has a lot of personality shown in how he responds to all these traps. Unlike the Mummy, Sphinx has combat, using a sword and shield. The sword combat was unimpressive, and, except for a few enemies, the strategy is basically to just run up to an enemy and hit them with a 3-hit combo before they hit you. Sphinx gameplay does have some cool ideas, but they're not implemented well. One of the things Sphinx can do is capture monsters, and then summon them to help. That's really cool, right? Except, out of all the monsters, only two can actually be used: an exploding monster and a fire monster. These monsters die right after they're used, so you're basically forced to grind capturing monsters. And you need to capture [i]a lot[/i] of these things throughout the game, and they're usually not near places where they're useful, so you're going to be running back and forth to catch more to progress. For a platformer, the movement felt pretty awkward. I was struggling to understand why, until I realized that [i]you slow [b]down[/b] when you jump.[/i] I've never played a platformer that does that. So I'd get nervous approaching jumps that [i]should[/i] be easy, just because of how unnatural it felt to lose speed when you jump. Also, a lot of the "main" story progression felt more like doing a side quest. Like I think it's easy to get stuck if you're [i]not[/i] a completionist. For example, near the beginning, you encounter a museum that has had all of its exhibits stolen. You're given the option to donate monsters to rebuild the exhibits. Now, at this point, you do [i]not[/i] have the power to capture monsters, and you can only get one by buying it. I think it's pretty normal to just assume that this is nothing more than an optional side quest, one you're not even supposed to do yet since you can't capture monsters. But you actually [i]need[/i] to buy and donate a monster, because the first donation gets rewarded with a Zip Line Handle, which you need. There were a few times where I got surprised like that, saying to myself "that was a [i]requirement?[/i]" I feel like there's a decent chance to get stuck and not know what to do next, especially for children playing this game. One more complaint, and a word of advice, is that the currency in this game is scarab beetles, meaning money drops are [i]alive[/i] and will crawl around. It's a little bit annoying when your money crawls off a ledge and falls into the void. But what's really annoying is that [b]Onyx Scarabs[/b] are a special currency with a limited supply. I ended up getting locked out of 100% completion because one of these scarabs crawled into a trap and I could not pick it up. So it's really easy to get locked out of 100% completion unless you're aware of this in advance. In short, I think it's worth it for the Mummy gameplay, and the Sphinx gameplay is just something to get through. I wish there was more Mummy gameplay and less Sphinx gameplay. This game has fun ideas, but some annoying implementations.

Its a wonderful detailed 3d adcenture puzzle action platformer. The character design and mechanics are truly wonderful and cute. Its biggest issue is that the beginning is really hard to get into. YOu have very little help telling you what to do and many will put it down quickly out of borefom but once you learn the ropes of the commands and get past the beginning it really opens up and is really really fun.

It was fun but sad it will never get a sequel.

My childhood! Super underrated!

Because I can't put in my actual amount of time ~ which at this point would be over 20,000 Hours or more. THIS. IS. THE. BEST. GAME. EVER!!!!!!!

A fantastic hidden gem from my childhood that holds up insanely well. I want to thank the PC team for showing so much love to it and making it better then i remember, thank you guys!

[b]Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy[/b] is like a whole-ass [i]Zelda game[/i], if not even better. It holds up way better than you could ever imagine. [hr][/hr] So, [b]Sphinx[/b] has a lot in common with 3D–platformers of its era, but also something like [i]Ocarina of Time[/i] or even [i]Powerslave[/i]. It could be simple with some of its puzzles, platforming and fighting, but there are always catches—it doesn't dumb anything down, but teaches you just the most essential skills and then expects you to figure the rest out. The level design is also giving you enough freedom and choice, but always, very carefully, moves you towards the actual objective, without spelling anything out. Where [b]Sphinx[/b] fully differs is in the way it's structured. It's very open ended, with certain areas locked down until you get a key item or a new power. Nothing unusual, but you'd be surprised how much of it doesn't seem like you're on railroads. Even when you complete a side objective, it ends up being important or even critical to your quest. Sometimes, your reward ends up sending you to the [i]Castle of Uruk[/i], where you get to play as the [i]Cursed Mummy[/i], and those sections are, essentially, small [i]Zelda[/i] dungeons, with a big central puzzle to complete. They manage to break up monotony and let you play as a character that feels completely different, which is just really cool. Graphics are on the simpler side, but, and I swear to god, [b]Sphinx[/b] has the perfect use of its limitations. The entire game is flat-shaded and uses vertex lighting, and thanks to that it could probably run on a toaster and still look like a million bucks. It's amazing! The soundtrack is also some of the best of its time—with great orchestral pieces, nice dynamic music and great variety. The whole thing is just very well polished, and I don't really know how much of it is thanks to the fantastic PC port. The Windows and Linux ports are identical, work quite well and without issues. On top of that, the PC port also introduces a lot of HD–textures that were lifted from the archives of the game, just so they could fit like a glove. Recently, there was a lighting overhaul that gave the game an even better look. [hr][/hr] Overall, give [b]Sphinx[/b] a shot if you liked playing ol' [i]Zelda[/i] games or just want a cool, unique 3D–platformer from its era that doesn't completely suck to play. It's gonna be worth it!

this game was a big part of my childhood and seeing that the devs still check back in with this game really means a lot to me personally. as a game, it has basically everything i enjoyed in those ps2 era action/adventure games along with the nice ancient egyptian themes. its very fun, pls support this game