Ever since I first laid my eyes onto this title and ever since I first got a glimpse into it at last year’s GamesCom, I’ve been eagerly awaiting Cryptmaster‘s release… and now, I wanted to share my thoughts on it and tell you why exactly it is that I’ve enjoyed Cryptmaster as much as I did.
For anyone not in the know, Cryptmaster is a bizarre little gem of a First-Person Dungeon Crawler with typing-based real-time combat, a lot of lore and a great many more riddles! (As a side note, the game also supports turn-based combat and/or microphone inputs if that’s more up your alley!)
Developer: Paul Hart, Lee Williams, Akupara Games
Publisher: Akupara Games
Genre: Indie, First-Person 3D Dungeon Crawler, Adventure, Typing
Release Date: May 9th, 2024
Reviewed on: PC
Available on: PC
Copy was provided by the publisher.
Resurrected from your ancient sleep, you stumble through a dungeon, picking up your old companions and trying to find a way out. Faced with the consequences of rotting away in a crypt, you have to steadily “remember” your attacks and actions by solving riddles… and eventually, you encounter the titular Cryptmaster who asks you to help him get to the surface, a meeting which marks the start of a bizarre journey.
Cryptmaster is typing-based, so you type out the names of attacks or the answers to various riddles and then perform actions based on those. After opening a chest, for instance, you’ll have to guess what is inside. Faced with limited guesses, you can ask the Cryptmaster to feel, taste, wear, remember or whatever else comes to mind, and he’ll give you cryptic clues as to what qualities the object in question has.
Once you successfully guess what’s inside the box, you’ll be awarded letters. You also receive letters after combat or by fishing or for solving more classical riddles… and those letters might result in you figuring out what sort of attacks your different party members might remember next – which then, in turn, can be used in combat.
Your party consists of four former heroes, now undead, who fill out a variety of classes. Joro, the warrior, functions as both a tank and melee damage dealer. Syn, the assassin, is not someone you want to mess with. Maz, the bard, is always there to motivate and heal your party whereas Nyx, the sea witch, can dish out some great damage. It’s a well-rounded party and the way they work together creates some interesting opportunities.
Personally, I had a blast utilizing Maz’s abilities to buff up Syn’s “murder” skill while Joro would taunt the enemies and while Syn kept summoning crabs and other sea critters to dish out some damage… but it’s not always that straightforward either.
Enemies at times might block certain letters altogether, might steal letters from your party members or might even get stronger if you use certain letters. Hence, combat feels much closer to a puzzle than an action sequence, which fits rather well with the other mechanics in the game.
Speaking of which, I just love how letters are the bread and butter of the game’s design… in German, you’d say that it’s the “A & O” but sadly that’d get lost in translation here even if it was very fitting.
Your characters’ names represent their hit points, fishing allows you to collect some extra letters, and you can always try and guess the names of the attacks even without any letter hints. There are a lot of different quests in the game that require you to type in one thing or another. There is, for instance, the rat king who will ask you to find rhymes for his epic rap battle with the sea queen or the frog monarch who wants to find a marriage partner.
There are a plethora of ways to interact with the in-game characters and the world in general and it just feels very creative overall… and when you type words out randomly, the Cryptmaster himself also has nearly always something to say about it. When I typed “uwu”, I was asked to stop the cutesy stuff, for instance. The developers painstakingly added so many voice lines for all sorts of responses to the game… which I just find impressive. Some real dedication right there!
More than anything, though, the game is just incredibly charming. The world’s lore and the origin stories of the different heroes are absolutely fun to explore, the environments (while heavily stylized) look awe-inspiring, and I just loved the sense of humour the developers went for, even when some of the jokes hit me harder than others. Cryptmaster is just dripping with charm!
Something I disliked, however, was the camera movement. I love first-person dungeon crawlers and I love the grid-based movement in titles such as Wizardry and Might & Magic, for instance. Games like Cryptmaster fill me with great nostalgia… but something about the way the camera turns when you look around makes my eyes hurt. It’s a bit too quick, I think, or perhaps not quick enough. I tried messing with the settings but I found them to be a bit lacking in that regard which hampered my enjoyment at times.
Aside from that, I also was a little annoyed by some of the dialogue playing out in full every single time and would have loved to see a “skip seen text” option, here and there, I would have wished that exploring a suspicious corner of the map wouldn’t be met with a snarky remark by the Crytpmaster. There often is a chest or something to check out but the ‘Lurking in the corner?’ “jokes” get old eventually.
All that said, I didn’t really have any other issues with the game itself. I’ve gotten used to the camera movement eventually but it took me a while, and I don’t mind hearing the great voice acting again and again, it’s just a little time-consuming at times. I also unlearned my “search for everything” habits since the game places chests in more obvious spots typically.
Cryptmaster is honestly just fantastic – the fact that I can only find minor nitpicks to critique anything should perhaps show that. It is a pretty memorable experience, in my opinion, with a lot of lore, a bunch of humour and just a ton of style. It also does not overstay its welcome and can be completed in a few play sessions which is much appreciated.
Knowing when to end is pretty important for games, in my opinion, and Cryptmaster finds a great balance between a lot of content and a long enough storyline. Well done there, devs!
If you, like me, love to try out all facets of the game, though, you can easily sink in countless more hours in the game, trying to collect all the TCG cards, fishing a bunch, brewing potions, perfecting the rap battle songs, and exploring the map. I’ve really enjoyed that about this game.
If you’re into dungeon crawlers or if you’re into funny games full of riddles… look no further since this game is probably just right for you! And if you’re still on the fence about Cryptmaster, why not try it a little yourself? The demo is still up on Steam, even after its release, and it’s worth a shot!
This post was originally written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.
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