Just like the original, Shrouded Moon puts you in the role of a tiny spider in a huge house. You explore one room at a time, and the core gameplay revolves around spinning webs to catch bugs. Eat enough bugs, and an exit will open letting you move on to the next stage, and you can earn high scores by eating bugs quickly and making better webs. The game manages to stay fresh with different types of insects and room layouts. At first glance, the Spider games look like fun, casual diversions not entirely unlike the glut of mobile games out there, but there’s more lurking beneath the surface.

"You get a sense of ownership that’s stronger."

One of my favorite things about the original game was its sense of mystery. There’s a story that unfolds, but it’s not told directly through cut scenes or dialogue. Instead, you piece it together yourself through careful observation. You may find a hidden drawer in a dresser, or stumble across a scene that tells its own tale: like a pile of bloodied, broken glass in a sink, or scattered toys abandoned in a farm. Exploring someone else’s house can be incredibly intimate, and when you’re the size of a spider, secrets you normally wouldn’t see become towering set pieces.

This was a relatively small part of the original game. It helped create a cool vibe, but unless you were really looking for it, you probably missed much of the story. But in Rite of the Shrouded Moon the narrative elements are much more pronounced. Finding clues and piecing them together will help you unlock new areas to explore, and the house itself just feels denser and more real, so you’ll regularly stumble across mysteries without even trying. As you play, you’ll uncover details of a secret society, but the mystery never interferes with the actual game: you don’t have to stop to read some text to learn what’s happening. You can play like a tiny detective, piecing together clues as you go. Or, you can just pass some time on the commute.

For Tiger Style’s Randy Smith, sticking with this kind of non-intrusive, environmental storytelling technique was a no-brainer. "If you’re someone who really likes playing detective in Spider, you can stop and examine all the clues carefully and take notes, but you don’t have to," he explains. "I think you get a sense of ownership that’s stronger, because instead of the story forcing itself down your throat, you have to go pull it out of the environment. It’s your responsibility."