This was such a fun game. The premise is so simple but works so well. Staying ahead of the baddies is like an exciting puzzle. It was even better playing single screen multiplayer with a buddy.
Does anyone know of anything that scratches a similar itch?
Side Note: in searching around I found this modernized version of Lode Runner Online: The Mad Monks' Revenge. Should be a blast on the steam deck.
This looks like the version I reference in my post, Lode Runner: The Legend Returns.
Could be that it just looked different on pc. I was looking for that game a decade or so ago and only found references to the playstation version abd gave up at the time. That game stole many a day from my life, was even a map editor so making cusom levels was so fun.