Crimson Capes is a pixel-art 2.5 D roguelike / roguelite developed and published by Poor Locke. The game is set in a dark-fantasy medieval Europe, where you can switch between four characters of the witch-hunting Crimson Capes guild.
Retro Bloody Retro
In recent years, the indie game industry has been flooded with roguelites, roguelikes, and metroidvania style games. Crimson Capes enters this crowded landscape with a realistic swordcombat “flow” that may be challenging at first but is highly satisfactory once mastered. This combat system relies strongly on the well-known formula of souls and soulslike games, patience, dodging, and precise timing.
The story is centered around the adventures of Milon, also known as the Tempest, who has been ordered by the king to take down a conspiracy of wizards. While this premise provides a functional setting for the action, it leans heavily on narrative tropes that have become deeply ingrained in the genre. Royal decrees, shadowy conspiracies, and evil wizards give the game a steady narrative that we’ve all seen before: The Witcher, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Dragon Age, and many more.
While Crimson Capes introduces some interesting combat mechanics, its narrative framework feels far more familiar, a little too familiar. The game relies on themes and story beats that have become staples of the genre, making its world and conflicts feel somewhat predictable.
Gameplay
The game’s combat is fun, though a little frustrating at first. Crimson Capes strangely feels too slow, and yet too fast at the same time. I was effortlessly hacking my way through all these bandits and zombies, learning the basics of combat, but nothing of significance was happening to push the plot further along. That is, until I fought the Deadtree Giant. The game does a poor job of adequately preparing you for the first boss fight.
While fighting the first boss, I died a couple of times. Okay, fine, I died more than just a couple of times. Each time I came back to the same nearby bed of blue roses, but without my used-up resources from my last fight. Which brings me to my next point, Crimson Capes suffers from an identity crisis. It brands itself as a soulslike on its Steam store page, but has elements of soulslite. On one hand, the game offers frequent and forgiving checkpoints that let you respawn at full health, but at the same time, you forever lose your throwing knives, blue healing flowers, and smoke bombs that you may have used during your last run. Developer Poor Locke seems to borrow from both genres while not fully committing to either.
Graphics & Audio
As mentioned above, Crimson Capes is a 2.5D pixel art game that combines side-scrolling gameplay with fully 3D character models and environments. While structurally it’s more of a 2D metroidvania, Crimson Capes is rendered with 3D assets, giving it a rather unique 2.5D visual identity. The swinging of the giant two-handed sword is immensely fun, delivering an unexpected but captivating “flow” during combat.
The sharp metallic sound of swords clashing may be one of the most satisfying things about this game, along with the comically crunchy noise whenever you behead an enemy. However, Crimson Capes takes an oddly restrained approach to its soundtrack, often leaving exploration of its world in absolute silence. I’m uncertain whether this sort of minimalism in the soundtrack is intended to reinforce immersion. Still, the lack of any musical complement during the game occasionally makes exploration feel slightly disjointed.
Longevity
Crimson Capes can surely give about 20 hours of gameplay. It really depends on your patience and love for the game. Are you the kind of player who wants to uncover every dark corner of a game, or are you the kind of player who just wants to get straight to the point and finish the main storyline? Its Metroidvania-style of mapping makes backtracking and discovery a little tedious when you’re moving at the speed of a 2-D printed snail.
Final Thoughts
The combat system is where the game really shines, with its mesmerizing 2.5D sword fights. However, there is a stark contrast in difficulty between fighting regular bad guys and giant monsters. The boss fights certainly challenge you to lock in and give your A-game of dodging, blocking, and countering. But the massive imbalance in difficulty between effortless bandit beheadings and punishing boss fights can feel a bit jarring.
Crimson Capes delivers an enjoyable experience for all devotees of the roguelite / roguelike / metroidvania genre. If Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, Dead Cells, and the like are among your most-played games, then Crimson Capes will surely scratch that itch to try out something new. Just don’t expect anything groundbreaking in terms of story and theme.
I hereby bestow upon Crimson Capes the Thumb Culture Silver Award!
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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