it feels like a mix between 2d Zelda and Metroidvania. I'm 6 hours in and really enjoying it. The atmosphere is nice and I love the art direction. I generally struggle maintaining intrested in games but this game has me locked in
I found this to be a charming top-down Metroidvania with smooth, responsive gameplay and adorable characters. It starts off strong with snappy controls and a solid foundation, but over time, the repetitive design and lack of variety in environments began to hold it back for me. That said, the Metroidvania elements are well-executed, and the game respects your time. While the level design and boss battles are above average, they didn’t quite suit my preferences. Despite its flaws, I think fans of the genre will enjoy it, as it’s one of the better top-down platformers out there.
Indy metroidvania, with lots of differents biomes. Wordbuilding is not bleak, lots of cute sides caracters : quite refreshing if you're bored of the usal "doom and gloom everywere" metroidvania tropes.
Appart for 1 or 2 bosses, you will not struggle to much.
No amount of money is wasted on this product. Incredibly charming, great gameplay, smart checkpoint placement, runs smooth as butter on a laptop with no dGPU. Peak fun. Buy now or forever banish.
Crypt Custodian is a Metroidvania in an afterlife fantasy setting and without being tied to a specific culture (i.e. Christianity-free). If it was not clear from the store page description, the game mentions wild and companion animals dying from predators, natural disasters, accidents, habitat destruction, and mindless savages who should not have access to cars. Although it is brief, it might be upsetting. Some sub-plots include workers' rights and plagiarism.
The protagonist, a regular cat ghost, transforms into an anthropomorphic cat ghost, and on a whim of a corrupt individual in a position of power is sentenced to clean the afterlife forever. As such, most of the opponents are various jars, blobs, flies (which are technically animals), and mystical entities. The main goal of the story, to gather 10 friendly ghosts, becomes clear shortly after defeating the first boss, though the post-game continuation was incredibly disappointing.
In terms of exploration and map design, Crypt Custodian opens up as you gain more traversal abilities. The save points double as fast travel points and are located at a reasonable distance from each other. They are also the only way to replenish health. The critical path provides a light challenge and frequently literally - there are a lot of arenas where all foes must be defeated before proceeding. The optional challenges, such as curses, can be more difficult and there are a few clever puzzles.
The bosses are both challenging and diverse, with some bullet-hell-like sequences. All of them are mandatory to defeat, though the order may vary. The bosses are connected to the locations in terms of story and the battles consist of 2 stages, with the difficulty usually increasing (it decreased in 2 due to the easier attack patterns).
The controls are very comfortable and rebindable. The game auto-saves on exit, though offers only one slot per playthrough and 3 in total. While there is a Boss Rush mode, an external file manager is necessary to replay the battles with the exact upgrades. There are difficulty options and accessibility settings (including the timed trials). There are 2 in-game options (paid markers and an ability) to have the missed collectibles revealed on the map. There is only one post-game timed challenge with unadjustable difficulty and relying on good reaction time.
The system requirements are reasonable and I have not encountered any bugs. My playthrough to 99% took about 15 hours.
The visual style is consistent and appealing, with the interactive objects and projectiles clearly visible. The audio design is generally good if unremarkable, though I did turn the music off for several boss battles.
Overall, it is a good-looking and accessible Metroidvania, despite also being generic and somewhat depressing.