To be honest, I came across a small game called "Maze War" in the past two days, and I felt a little confused while playing it. This game is very simple, just play the hero, fight monsters in the maze, and save the world of Middle-earth. The graphics can't be said to be exquisite, but the flavor is just too authentic - it reminded me of those games from the Symbian era that were only a few hundred KB in size but kept me through the entire summer vacation.
To be honest, today's mobile games only have a few Gs at every turn. The graphics are beautiful, but the gameplay is more and more like clocking in at work. Cleaning up my body every day, going about my daily routine, fighting guild battles, playing games is more tiring than going to work. Sometimes I wonder, where did the simple joy of those small games that I could clear in one afternoon go?
"Maze War" actually brought me back a little bit of the feeling I had back then. It doesn't force you to spend money, nor does it force you to go online. It just purely walks the maze, fights monsters, and uses strategies to pass levels. There are various forks and traps in the maze, so you have to watch your steps to avoid falling into the sea. The design of the time limit is also quite interesting. It forces you to make a decision without being hesitant - this kind of urgency is something I haven't experienced in a mobile game for a long time.
It feels a bit like playing Sokoban and Huarong Road in the past. It seems simple, but you still have to use your brain to get high scores. I've been playing for more than an hour, and I'm already stuck on the twelfth level. The monster's positioning is so tricky that I almost hate it 😂. But this is the best thing. Isn't it the feeling of stumbling and then suddenly succeeding when playing games?
The most precious thing is that this game is free and you don't have to watch advertisements. The developer Xiamen Weihu probably really makes games. It's really not easy to find such a refreshing little game now.
Forget it, let's not talk about it. I'm going to try a few more. I won't sleep until I turn this off tonight. Brothers, if you miss the excitement of playing games in the past, you can try this. It doesn't cost any money and you can always get back some of the feeling of the past.
So old, so old, a thirty-year-old man, still struggling with a pixel maze. But this is probably our generation. We say that today's games are not fun, but in fact, what we miss in our hearts is our carefree self.