I found playing as Tutenkhamen much more enjoyable, as his brain-teasing puzzle segments are often where the game’s creativity really shines. About a third of the way into the game, Sphinx gets some more useful abilities like a somersault, a ground pound, and more gear than you have buttons for, though they’re mostly used contextually and don’t make traversal itself any less of a chore.
Combat is relatively simple hack and slash action, and after a while, you get a shield of very little practical use aside from deflecting beams of light from an “enemy” called the Eye of Ra, which sends you back to the nearest save point (physically, it doesn’t destroy your progress) every time it hits you.
The segments where you play as Sphinx prove that the real antagonist is the game’s controls, which often feel sticky and rigid in trying to navigate the world, especially when jumping between surfaces. It’s a nice dynamic and the game is paced well enough that it switches over to one as you’re getting sick of the other. Throughout the game, you go back and forth between playing as Sphinx, whose sections are more combat and platforming oriented, and Tutenkhamen, who also gets in on the platforming action, but mostly focuses on solving puzzles. The game often does a great job of stopping everything to explain a control scheme to you but leaves most goals vague and often irritating to figure out. That’s not to say the gameplay is outright bad – it’s not, but it’s also not particularly good. One Does Not Run to Reach Success, One Does Not Move to Spoil It The story is definitely the most interesting aspect of the game, as the gameplay itself is where things start to decay.
The world itself is interesting as it’s obviously set in and inspired by Egyptian Mythology, with characters who resemble visual representations of the ancient written language regularly reference Gods and their actions, some of whom you get to interact with as you make your way through the game. It seems simple at first but quickly evolves into a relatively ambitious story that respects the audience’s intelligence, even though the stakes aren’t always entirely clear and the characters are somewhat one-dimensional. Meanwhile, Prince Tutenkhamen is preparing to celebrate his birthday before his jerk brother Akhenaten curses him, turning him into a mummy.
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy starts with a cutscene that feels like its first half is missing as Master Imhotep bestows his disciples Sphinx and Horus with the task of finding the Blade of Osiris, because the darkness prophesied will soon descend upon them, and they need to be prepared, which they accomplish with great ease, save for the part where Horus rides off of a lavafall on a floating rock.
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