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Think I'll post ending screenshots from now on. Why the hell not.

They keep winking repeatedly, hence the derpy eyes. And the text is a big fat lie. There never was a sequel.

Tombs & Treasure is yet another Falcom game. It's also a sequel. The predecessor, Asteka, was released on various Japanese home computers. T&T (Asteka II) was initially available on computers before receiving eventual ports to the NES and Saturn. "Asteka", as you may have deduced, is the Japanese word for Aztec.

The player takes control of two characters - one boy and one girl - who are tasked with exploring some Mexican ruins to discover the fate of a missing archaeologist. Shorty after the game beings they are joined by José, a guide, who accompanies them through the bulk of the adventure. The boy and girl can be named by the player - I chose Dave and Iris, naturally. What's curious is that the game uses passwords to log progress and, since these don't save the characters' names, they must be renamed every time a game is continued.

Though Tombs & Treasure is sometimes referred to as an "RPG" in reality it's a point-and-click adventure game in the vein of Uninvited, Shadowgate, and Déjà Vu. The vast majority of the game is displayed in a first-person view with the "action" displayed on the right, commands on the left, and character status on the bottom. There's also a top-down overworld used solely to walk from one nondescript temple to the next. The interiors of the tombs themselves are surprisingly small - each contains only a few rooms - and the game is most focused on item acquisition and manipulation. The sheer amount of commands is a bit excessive: the duo can push, pull, break, look at, take, use, join (combine), and wash (seriously) items. Most of the puzzles simply involve placing items in the correct locations or using them when necessary. The game is surprisingly straightforward in this regard and drops many hints. For instance, when the characters are lost in a maze the girl suggests using a compass. When they can't reach a key stuck in a tiny crack she mentions that a magnet would come in handy.

That isn't to say there aren't any head-scratchers. Some puzzles rely on "waiting" until a specific time of day. There are also a few areas where special orbs must be aligned properly to intercept the sunlight, which will then reveal further clues. Additionally, some puzzles must be solved by certain characters who can be swapped with the "Change" command. This provides a bit of humor, as the girl tends to tell the boy he's terrible at whatever he had been attempting. For first time players I recommend having a walkthrough handy.

Oh yeah, and there's combat in the game! Extremely rudimentary, somewhat JRPG-ish combat. Only the boy fights: there's one single "fight" command and he can flee. The battles only exist to provide some sense of linearity. Enemies guard the entrance of most temples and they must be fought in order as each one gives XP needed to fight the subsequent guardian. It all feels a bit silly, and supposedly this combat was only added to the NES port.

I'd recommend Tombs & Treasure to fans of the classic ICOM PC games. It's easier than the lot of those, and has quite an interesting setting. The game can be finished in an afternoon and lacks replay value, though it's certainly an enjoyable one-off experience. Check it out.