Pity Pit

Long before the arcades were crowded with one-on-one fighters, race car cabinets and rows of VR helmets, they were populated by simple games where the goal was to earn a bunch of points. The arcades may be gone (or temporarily closed due to the virus), but at least the spirit of those classic games lives on in Pity Pit, a brand-new game from Panda Indie Studio that can best be described as a Dig Dug rogue-like. It's a lot of fun and easy to recommend, but don't get too excited, because even though this is a game about digging down a giant well, Pity Pit isn't very deep.

When the evil Devil Johnson kidnaps Oratio's wife, Gwendoline, he jumps into a giant mine in order to get her back. This sends him through five procedurally-constructed levels in an effort to mine materials, craft tools and dig his way to his loved one. This involves a fair amount of platforming and dealing with enemies, who are shooting at you and digging tunnels of their own. The trick is to stay alive long enough to save Gwen and earn a high score.

Like I said at the top, this is a simple game, but it's not without a few tricks up its sleeve. You'll often locate randomly placed power-ups, bombs and more destructive digging tools. Oratio will be able to bounce on enemies from above or use his shovel and pickaxe to push them back. Every level is filled with both hidden and obvious coins to pick up, all of which you can use to buy new equipment and extra lives. But don't think you can just plow through this game with brute force, because Pity Pit is surprisingly tough and requires the player to devise a strategy for every bad guy.

Even with the added complexity of crafting and collecting, Pity Pit gets old quickly. The five-dollar asking price is about right for something like this, since you'll tire of its repetition quickly and only check back in at short bursts. That said, the retro look and soundtrack is great and I can see this fitting in perfectly next to Pac-Man, Lode Runner and Dig Dug. If you love 2D platformers, vertical scrolling and rescuing women in peril, then you're going to dig Pity Pit.