“That’s not a minotaur, that’s a stunt double for the child star from the classic ’90s Christmas movie,” I shout as I play Minos’ free holiday reskin, Minos: House of A-Labyrinth. The Artificer developers have temporarily transformed the demo version of their labyrinth. bagel – due out in full next year – into a legally excellent parody of the mugging antics of Home Alone that's free to play.
“Since the announcement of Minos, some players in our tests or playing the demo have joked that the game is reminiscent of a classic holiday theme with traps, where kids outsmart the bad guys,” Artificer wrote on his blog. Message on Steam announcing this is a holiday update. “So for the Christmas season, as a joke (and a very clever marketing ploy), we turned a portion of our own unreleased game into a festive, legal tribute to that vibe, and decided to release it for free today.”
Naturally, having I dug up a demo for the regular version Minos earlier this year, I dug in to give it a try.
As you'd expect, Home Alone Minos uses the same simple but effective Minotaur Minos structure. You play as a celestial deity helping the not-Kevin McCallister fight off hordes of nasty robbers who act just like the brave adventurers with different fighting styles who usually want to kill the minotaur. Your job is to rearrange walls and traps in the labyrinthine houses to ensure that each wave of Harry and Marv is broken or at least significantly damaged by the time they reach the child, minimizing the number of hits he has to make with his candy cane.
Just as the dungeon-like parts of the maze were transformed into houses filled with Christmas decorations, the Tom and Jerry-worthy traps were also redrawn accordingly. The ballista is now a shotgun, the decoy figurines are now TVs, and the fire traps look like flamethrowers stuck together. Instead of going from room to room through a maze, you go from house to house through a snowy area where different waves of enemies wait behind each door.
It's a cool holiday treat and an unexpected feature that makes gifting some Minos, which is currently available, worth giving it another try. Then if you like it you can wish list full version on Steam ahead of release in 2026.
