Crimson Moon Throws You Straight Into The Demon Horde
Crimson Moon is a game that throws you right into the thick of the action; a roguelike developed by ProbablyMonsters Inc, Crimson Moon casts players in the role of a nephilim who must cleanse the demon infested streets of Gildenarch. After a brief intro scene, the game begins in earnest, immediately handing control to the player as the battle against the demon horde commences.
This almost instant introduction communicates a couple of things; firstly it makes abundantly clear that Crimson Moon is all about the gameplay. There is some story to be found here, we’ll touch more on that later, but there can be no doubt that the narrative takes a back seat to the hacking and slashing of the various monsters encountered in Gildenarch.
The other piece of information that can be gleaned from this introductory mission is arguably an even more important message that the developers have wanted to impart – get used to dying.
Die, Then Die Again And Again…
That’s right, Crimson Moon is one of those games. One in which you are supposed to fail, time and time again. Each run will garner both experience and cash, which can then be used to upgrade our hero so that he is better set for the next attempt. There is nothing new about this dynamic, it is something the gaming community is well accustomed to by this point, but the devs make effective use of it here and manage to elongate what would otherwise be a very short runtime.
Upon that first death, as well as those that come after, the NPCs that make up the game’s hubworld will offer words of encouragement, telling the hero to ready himself for the next run. In effect, this feels like the devs communicating the same words of encouragement to the player, assuring us that death is not failure but a necessary bump in the road to the endgame.
This is likely an attempt to combat a recurring issue that games of this nature face – a high rate of early drop-outs. Whilst I commend the attempt, I am not sure how successful it will be. If a player can not stand repeated failure or the monotony of having to redo the same levels repeatedly, then Crimson Moon is not the game for them.
What can make this particularly galling is the composition of the game’s progression. Crimson Moon is broken up into a handful of missions that are entered from the aforementioned hubworld. Upon completion of the mission we return to the hubworld before selecting the next mission and repeating the process. In the event of death, the player returns to the hub and has to begin from the first mission once again. This is a different process to a game like Dead Cells, in which players move seamlessly through its various areas until death forces them back to the beginning. In the case of Crimson Moon this repeated selection of levels feels rather more frustrating; it reminds a player that they have lost whatever progress they had made.
Progression can feel slow to begin with, the first level can take several attempts before a player is levelled up enough to make it all the way to its boss and finally move beyond. However, once this point is reached, it is full steam ahead. That’s not to say you will not encounter any more speed bumps ahead, but none of those difficult spots will force a player to grind to the same extent. Once the game really gets going it can be pretty addictive, there were plenty of times when I told myself that my next run would be my last, only to find myself going for one more after that, and then another after that.
So Many Skeletons
The levels, which are broken up into three sections followed by a boss fight, feel about the right size; neither too big nor too small. As you would imagine, each is packed with a number of enemies that must be vanquished before the hero can progress to the next section. Whilst there is a decent variety of foes scattered across the levels, it does not feel quite enough, specifically in regard to skeletons. These skeletal menaces are the Crimson Moon’s base foes, the first enemy a player will encounter and one they will likely grow sick of before long.
Gameplay wise, Crimson Moon is mostly a smooth experience. The battle system is simple, consisting of a strong and weak attack as well as separate inputs for defending and parrying. In addition, the various weapons that can be accrued throughout come with magical abilities that can be used at the cost of mana. Finally, there is a transformation which, for a limited time, imbues our protagonist with angelic might, an especially useful tool when outnumbered by monsters or in the midst of a boss battle. There are times when the controls can feel a bit sluggish, especially when combating some of the faster enemies in the game, but it is a minor quibble.
A Ghostly Glitch
There are a couple of technical glitches that one may encounter in Crimson Moon, and a particularly amusing episode left my hero in a state of undeath upon being killed. Even though the enemies acted as if I was not there, I was still able to traverse around the map and could even do damage with the hero’s magic powers, but was unable to use the standard attack buttons. Using magic alone, I was able to make it all the way to the boss fight and took the big monster down, all as an inadvertent spectre. Happily, these issues are few and far between, appearing more like the occasional hiccup than problems that are indicative of the overall experience.
So, what of that story I mentioned earlier? Well, it is a mixed bag. There is a story here and plenty of lore to be mined throughout, however, the narrative progression is largely contained to readable files that the protagonist finds on his excursions to the city. A game like Crimson Moon was never going to have the deep storytelling dynamics of a traditional role playing game, nor should it be expected to, but it is a shame that it doesn’t, because it has a world that is intriguing enough to deserve it. It feels churlish to ding Crimson Moon for being too interesting for its own good, but it truly is a game that deserves more story progression than it gets.
Looks Good, But Not Spectacular
Looks wise, Crimson Moon is decent. Perhaps that is damning with faint praise, but I think it is true to what you will see in the game. It is never so bad that you will recoil in horror, nor so awestriking that you will be blown away by its beauty, it is simply decent throughout. This is best exemplified by the city of Gildenarch, which looks pretty good from level to level but is also incredibly generic despite the compelling trappings of the narrative. In short, the game looks okay, but the setting lacks the imagination of the story.
In all, Crimson Moon is a well made game, featuring easy to learn and fast paced action within the backdrop of an intriguing world. Sadly, the story may be a little too interesting for its own good, as the lack of content in this regard is damaging to the narrative as the game wears on.
Important Links
Raise Hell In Crimson Moon – https://www.thexboxhub.com/raise-hell-in-crimson-moon/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/crimson-moon/9nmdsxmvqtn4
There’s a Deluxe Edition too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/crimson-moon-deluxe-edition/9p6rksp3mmcm
