Free puzzle game inspired by Minesweeper
Bonesweeper is a free Windows puzzle game based on the classic Minesweeper with a horror twist and Paleontology added. Cheeseness developed the game to allow you to visit various dig sites and excavate different animal bones. While digging, you can assemble the animal skeletons using the fossils you found in the dig sites.
Unlike Flux Caves, a 3D puzzle game, Bonesweeper is a 2D puzzle prototype with similar features to Minesweeper. However, Bonesweeper has some added features that make the game fun to play, much like Submachine Universe.
Cheeseness incorporates education into its game by introducing kids to a fun environment to learn about Paleontology. Paleontology is the study of prehistoric animals like dinosaurs and other extinct species. Your goal is to collect the bones and put them together to see which animal you found.
What is Paleontology?
Bonesweeper features and controls
You can play Bonesweeper in single-player or multiplayer mode and create multiple accounts for different users to keep track of their progress. There are five generations of Mesozoic creature skeletons to excavate and assemble. Once assembled, you can use ‘showcase mode’ to view all the skeletons and sorted miscellaneous fossils. The game is controlled with mouse-only, keyboard-only, or gamepad-only; the choice is yours.
Bonesweeper also supports partial text-to-speech (TTS), which you can enable when the game launches for the first time. You can do this by following the launch argument or through the ‘Accessibility’ settings menu. However, Bonesweeper does not fully support some of the skeleton assembly TTS uses on Windows, and the custom keyboard UI can be awkward to navigate when using TTS.
Minesweeper with a twist
Even though Bonesweeper is a prototype, it comes with some great features. It has a practice mode where you can play around. It has familiar and easy-to-grasp mechanics, especially if you are familiar with Minesweeper and loved building jigsaw puzzles as a kid, then you will love Bonesweeper. It is a twisted version of Minesweeper with horror and an educational theme. However, some of the levels can get tricky for younger players.
