Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Joe Gunn starts with a simple promise: enter an unknown pyramid and find out whether it is the Crocodile King’s lost tomb. In practice, the first hour is about learning to slow down. Each flip-screen room asks you to read the surroundings, search for useful objects, and make enough sense of the space to continue. That focus gives the game more of a methodical puzzle rhythm than a straightforward run-and-jump pace.

(HEY! We try not to run ads. So this is a very expensive hobby. Please consider signing up for updates, visiting our forums, or just commenting on something you think is cool.👍)

Joe can walk and jump in either direction, but movement is only part of the job. Scarabs, books, and amulets are found in the tomb and used at particular points to trigger the events that open the way forward. The core pleasure comes from connecting an object to a place and seeing the route deeper into the pyramid finally reveal itself. If you like platform games where paying attention matters as much as reflexes, that loop has real pull.

The controls ask for deliberate inputs: jumping involves holding a button while directing the stick, examining involves holding it while moving downward, and using an object means moving upward. That can make the game feel fussy when danger is nearby. Bats, snakes, mummies, rolling boulders, and floor spikes ensure that casual experimentation carries a cost. Still, the friction suits a game about careful exploration, provided you can accept that caution is the point.

Graphics

The fixed, screen-by-screen structure gives the tomb a clear arcade-platforming identity. Rather than presenting one continuous journey, Joe Gunn turns progress into a chain of enclosed spaces to decipher. That framing supports the archaeology theme well: every new screen feels like another chamber whose purpose you need to understand.

The important visual job here is readability. You need to notice environmental details, identify collectible objects, and keep track of threats that can interrupt a solution attempt. Because the game puts so much weight on examining rooms, visual clarity matters more than spectacle, and the design’s room-by-room format keeps your attention on immediate problems.

It is also a setting that naturally benefits from restraint. An Egyptian pyramid full of hazards and mysterious objects does not need a great deal of narrative decoration to create tension; the room itself can be the puzzle. Joe Gunn’s visual identity is therefore closely tied to its practical design: see the chamber, assess the risks, and look for the next useful clue.

Story

Joseph J. Gunn is a passionate archaeologist who discovers an unknown pyramid in the Egyptian desert. The question of whether it contains the lost tomb of the Crocodile King gives the expedition a clean, pulpy hook. It is a premise made for getting you underground quickly, not for lengthy setup.

The story stays closely attached to the act of exploration. You advance by uncovering the tomb’s secrets and finding a route through its chambers, while the need to escape alive keeps the stakes immediate. That is enough context for the puzzles: every object and obstacle feels like part of a place that does not want to give up its answers easily.

Do not come expecting a heavily elaborated adventure narrative. The stronger storytelling comes from your own progress through the pyramid—being blocked, noticing a possible use for something you found, and pushing farther into an ancient, hostile space. The Crocodile King mystery supplies the destination; the puzzles create the journey.

Overall Experience

Joe Gunn is for the gamer who enjoys a platformer that asks for thought before motion. Its hazards make the tomb feel dangerous, but the main challenge is not simply avoiding enemies. You are expected to inspect, interpret, and use what you discover, so success feels earned through attention rather than momentum alone.

That makes it an easy game to recommend with one caveat: the control scheme and stop-start pacing will test your patience if you want immediate, fluid action. You may hit frustration when a carefully considered attempt is interrupted by a hazard, especially while you are still learning how to examine and use objects. Give it time, though, and those same demands reinforce the feeling of making your way through a genuinely tricky tomb.

The golden-mask collection adds another reason to search thoroughly, with nine masks in the download version and ten in the tape version. More importantly, the game has a coherent identity from beginning to end: an Egyptian puzzle-platformer built around cautious exploration. It will not suit every action fan, but anyone who enjoys untangling compact rooms under pressure should give Joe Gunn a chance.

Retro Replay Score

7.4/10