Digging deeper: a week of fossil fun!
Unearthing a few fossil-themed gems for you. You're welcome.
And we’re BACK after a short break. Hope you didn’t get too comfortable without Rambling Reviews dumping some games in your inbox, because it’s time to dust off your brushes, put on your best khaki or otherwise well-camouflaged outfits and start digging. That’s right, folks, this week, we’re unearthing some absolute gaming gems - or worthless dusty fossils, who will tell? Certainly not me. Or wait, this just in - that IS my job. Right.
If you read that in the voice of Nigel Bickleworth, you, too, have been playing too much Two Point Museum lately, and I can only applaud that. Well done.
A hundred hours of curating musea has put me in the mood for more fossil fun, so I’ve taken to some fossil-related games this week.
Are you ready to dig deep your libraries, looking to unearth some hidden gems? Then grab your trowels, and get ready for a blog post that will make it into the history books. Not sure yet which one, though.
Fossil Corner
Fossil Corner is a surprisingly addictive puzzle game with a rather unique concept. The premise is simple: you receive boxes of fossils and have to piece together their evolutionary relationships, their “family tree”. As a reward, you keep one fossil to display in your collection - or to sell, or to give away.
The loop is simple but effective: solve puzzles, receive emails with storyline quests, unlock furniture for your growing collection, and complete challenges (find 4 red fossils, find 3 spiral fossils, etc.)
It’s a chill yet engaging experience that kept me hooked way longer than I expected! You should definitely check it out, let out your inner archeologist and start hoarding some shells.
👍 Ultra-recommended!
Fossil Hunters
Fossil Hunters is an action-puzzle game where you explore underground levels with your trusty pickaxe at the ready to clear away sand and dirt, hopefully unearthing fossil pieces which you can then assemble into complete skeletons.
By dragging the fossil pieces around and aligning them to a grid, you unlock the elevator to the next level - and any extra completed fossils mean kaching kaching for you! The game has a lighthearted adventure feel, with hidden secrets, environmental hazards, and no pressure from enemies or timers -just very cosy, satisfying exploration and the freedom to make a looooooooooooong fossil if you want to. And I did.
I usually play with keyboard and mouse, and I have to honestly say that the controls are quite hard to grasp when playing that way. The game is developed with a gamepad in mind, and since you can't remap controls, the game is genuinely unplayable without a controller. X and Z aren't the best buttons to hard-map primary and secondary actions to, especially if you have to hold X and then use WASD to move around dragging items.
So I dusted off my golden PS4 controller, took an embarrassingly long time to get my game sound to come through my headset instead of my controller's speaker, and got to playing. And boy, am I glad I did! There’s something addictive about running around, dusting off pieces of dead dinosaur and puzzling them together into their true shape or some other monstrocity. Is it respectful to the dinosaur? Probably not, but what is it going to do about it?
I’ve encountered a few weird quirks and bugs in my short time playing, such as - I must have mispressed something and suddenly there was a player two! Only that was me… using my keyboard. Another time, a sound effect got stuck, looping through a clicking sound indefinitely, which was fixed with a reload, so nothing game breaking, just annoying.
All in all, I had a lot of fun digging around and dragging about some fossils!
👍 Recommended!
Fossil Finder
Fossil Finder is an arcade game with RPG elements, where you excavate layers of dirt, sand, and rock in search of treasure while managing pickaxe durability, your character’s HP, and a bit of luck. It sounded promising, but I’m thoroughly disappointed to report that it just falls flat.
The mechanics have so much potential. Digging through layers, uncovering treasure, and managing stamina should make for an engaging loop. But the game simply does not deliver.
I had so many ideas and expectations for it, too. The deeper you dig, the better the treasure? No, all loot is the same. Breaking rocks rewards you with stat boosts? Also no, you gain no strength or experience that allows you to dig faster, in fewer clicks or whatever. No progress there at all. Putting pieces of fossils together to create decoration items? Not that, either. A collection system to track your finds or assemble fossils? Nope, it’s a collecting game without a collection mechanic, apparently.
Instead, the gameplay boils down to an endless cycle of digging, earning money, upgrading your pickaxe, HP or luck stat, which realistically only buys you more time the next loop, allowing you to collect more money in one round, but… nothing much else. Just repeating the process with no real sense of progress or reward.
I really wanted to love this one, but in the end, I refunded it. Maybe someone else will dig it, but for me, this fossil was not worth unearthing. It had all the potential to be a hidden gem, but instead, it’s a game best left buried.
👎 Not recommended.
Seashell
Seashell is FANTASTIC.
Fossil Corner had me in a seashell mood, and I’m so grateful for that fixation leading me to discover this gem.
It’s a relaxing collection-based game where you stand on the shore and pick up shells as they wash up with the tide. Each new find is added to a beautifully illustrated journal filled with real-world marine biology facts, making it both a cosy and educational experience. The gentle sound of waves and soft music set the perfect mood for a slow, satisfying seashell hunt.
For anyone with a collector’s soul, this is an absolute delight. It’s rewarding, relaxing, and the journal is a joy to fill out. Plus, I’m actually learning something! Who knew my endless need to pick things up and hoard them could be educational?
👍 Absolutely recommended!
That’s about all the fossil games I could dig up.
Some of them dug deep and unearthed true gems, while others… well, let’s just say they’re best left buried.
Fossil Corner was definitely the 🔥 Most Addictive 🔥 game I played this time around, keeping me hooked with always just one more puzzle to solve, one more pair of fossils to breed, one more star to earn. It was heaps of fun 100%ing this game in about twenty hours, and I’m confident I’ll pump out a few more in the future.
⚙️ Best Mechanics ⚙️ is awarded to Fossil Hunters, where the act of digging and assembling fossils is truly satisfying.
🌍 Most Immersive 🌍 goes to Seashell, offering a wonderfully tranquil beachcombing experience.
Got a favourite fossil game I missed? Let me know!
I’m always up for some more digital archaeology. Unless I seriously hyperfixate on my newest library addition, Croakoloco. Then it might be a week of frog games next.
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