Scarab Tales from Playito is a casual puzzle game that stands out from the crowd with it reliance on its Egyptian theme. I play a lot of games for this site/magazine and am always looking to mix things up, so when a puzzle game falls into my lap I go into it with some excitement. Scarab Tales can be summed up as a lot of fun, but a game that may be a bit repetitive to connect with many people. The thing we have to understand though, is that these kind of puzzle games can’t be treated like other indie or AAA releases. Scarab Tales isn’t really meant to be played for hours at a time, instead it’s the kind of game one loads up in between heavy gaming sessions to give your brain a little workout.
Scarab Tales is set to a large grid and your goal is to guide a number of colored scarabs to the finish. It’s a simple enough concept, but the game adds a bit of challenge as the levels progress. The game was clearly designed for mobile platforms, so you shouldn’t come into this expecting to do a lot. If you can click a mouse button then you pretty much can handle anything this game throws your way. You click on a scarab and it will continue to move until it reaches the goal. The challenge comes into play with how you help it along each stage.
Levels will add blocks that you will have to interact with in order to get your little bug to the end. Certain blocks can be clicked on to active them, causing them to rise and fall creating obstacles for your scarabs. Since your scarabs never stop moving (unless clicked on again) these blocks serve to create new paths along the games grid. These are essential to beat each stage, and with lots of blocks and paths, you’ll find a few different ways of getting to the end. There are a number of blocks and elements like balls to push into place and other tiles that affect your scarab along their path.
There are also rotating blocks that contain paths for your scarabs to pass through. You’ll have to rotate these to move your bugs across areas and to send them to the correct finish.. Sometimes levels will task you with getting multiple scarabs to the finish, and this is where your brain will begin to burn. These scarabs are all color-coded and each will turn in only a certain direction depending on that color while some may move freely or have limitations. With multiple scarabs in play you’ll really have to plan out moves well in advance so as not to fall into an endless loop that will require a restart. For those that love racking up points you’ll be graded with how many clicks you use to get you scarabs to their finish. It’s a nice incentive to going back and tackling some of the harder levels, especially since the game offers up a nice number of in-game achievements.
It’s a good bit of fun in short bursts, but nothing that will send anyone running to the Steam store. Still, the game does do something that is pretty cool and may get you coming back if you really enjoy puzzle games. If you get tired running through the games 100 levels, you can take a break and jump into the creation mode that Scarab Tales offers. Here you’ll be able to design your own levels and make them as devilishly difficult as possible. It’s a lot of fun building your own stages, but you can even share these levels with others and download those that others have made. Sure, a lot of this will depend on how many people pick up the game, but there are already a few level up for download.
Scarab Tales is a nice little puzzle title that is sure to please fans of the genre. The developers are quite active in the Steam forum for the game which is really nice to see. It’s a small group of players right now, but the community is really friendly and one hopes to see it grow. The game will cost you $6.99 which is not bad for the 100 levels and the content creator, but if you pick it up now you can snag it for $3.14 while on sale. At that price Scarab Tales earns an easy recommendation for puzzle fans and those looking for a little change in pace.
*A copy of the game was provided for this review*
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