Tomb of the Mask

Ruined by ads/pay2play This game had so much going for it. a nice visual design. addictive intuitive gameplay. a certain arcade-y addictiveness. But on every turn it seems to throw an ad my way. It's either that or pay a subscription to have them removed. This made me stop caring about a game that felt like it would dominate over most other games. Devs, you flew too close to the sun. got too greedy.

Devs, you needn't do this. This game is great. Just the mechanics, artstyle, level design. all great. But WHY would you ruin such a game, by making it freemium, IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE? I thought "Finally, a game that is actually worth playing". But the ads, the skinner box systems, money abstraction, wait walls, lootboxes... It is so disappointing. You made a gem of a game, and you chose to crush it to pieces. This really makes my heart sink, you know? Why would you?

Another great game held back by serious capitalism: Tomb of the mask is extremely charming, the art style is awesome, the music and the sound design is very pleasing to the ears and the level design as well as endless mode always keeps me coming back. But it's 2 stars because of the nonsense it bombards you with, forced ads, cluttered UI that tempts into micro-transactions, as well as dumb customisable and battle passes and packs. This is horrendous, even ignoring all that it's ridiculous.