Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon

I'm going to level with you: Spiders are terrifying. I'm not saying I stay up at night worrying about little house spiders, but anything big and hairy enough to carry a mouse up a wall needs to stay the hell away from me. Video game developers share our fears, often using the little critters in the creepiest ways possible. But not Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon, the brand new game from Tiger Style. This unique little puzzler attempts to give us a better understanding of the life and times of a web-spinning insect.

As it turns out, you have good reason to be freaked out by your eight-legged houseguests. These little spiders have an insatiable appetite -- but only for other insects. The goal is to systematically move from one room to the next laying strategically placed webs and chowing down on all of the bugs you catch. It's kind of a gruesome premise, but it does weave a compelling adventure where we see the world from a slightly different perspective.

Our agile little spider is stuck exploring all the nooks and crannies of the Blackbird Estate, a sprawling piece of land that houses an old mansion, windmill, tower and multiple guest houses. It's so big that it even has its own graveyard. Each area of the estate comes with a few different stages to complete, each with new insects to collect and obstacles to overcome.

In order to catch the prey, you're going to need to construct a sturdy web. You do this by connecting at least three different sides, forming a large trap that will catch anything that goes near it. Although a little tricky at first, I found the web-making mechanics to be the most rewarding part of the game. The way you create the web and add to it reminded me of the old arcade game Qix, only this time with spiders and innocent insects getting slaughtered by the dozens.

While not a traditional action game where everything is after you, Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon does have its fair share of obstacles. For one thing, you'll quickly realize that our little spider only has so much webbing to weave. This means that you'll need to strategically plan your attacks, that way you can stay well-fed and never run out of silk.

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This is made especially tricky as you are forced to put up with a wide variety of fussy insects. The game starts with simple gnats and fireflies hanging around, but it won't take long until you're corralling crickets and grasshoppers into the webs. My favorite insect was the large junebug, which requires our spider to jump on the oversized critter until it lands in the trap. And don't go around thinking that these insects are harmless, because you'll run into a number of bugs with their stingers out and ready to strike.

This is a simple concept that works for a couple key reasons. For starters, the basic mechanics are so much fun that there's no reason to keep adding to it as the lengthy campaign unfolds. It also helps that Blackbird Estate has a lot of diverse locations, keeping the game from being too repetitive. And did I mention that there's a mystery to solve? It's true, and our tiny spider can locate all of the clues by investigating all of the out-of-the-way spots in each level.

You would think that this would be enough, but Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon goes one step further and adds weather conditions based on what's happening outside your window. By using your IP address to read your hometown forecast, and then try to match the time of day and rain patterns. If you're playing during the day, the game will look brighter and more inviting. On the flip side, playing during a storm will give you a much soggier experience. This is a cool idea, but I wonder how practical it will be. I played through most of the game in one sitting, so the time of day and weather conditions didn't change much throughout my adventure. The good news is that you can manually change the conditions, so you're never stuck with one time of day.

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Aside from the weather synching feeling like a gimmick, my only real complaint involves the sometimes sluggish gameplay. While the spider is easy to control on the ground, it can get easily snagged in the webbing. This can be a real problem late in the game, when you're dealing with insects that can destroy your web if not tended to quickly. There definitely needs to be a less finicky way to dismount from the web.

Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon is a slight game that executes its simple premise to near perfection. The game itself is a bit ghoulish and some may grow tired of weaving webs, but I found the gameplay to be addictive and even enjoyed going for the high scores in each stage. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but maybe the world needs more games starring spiders.