Developer: Paul Hart, Lee Williams, Akupara Games
Publisher: Akupara Games
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Playable
Rrp: £19.79 (Epic) and £20.99 (Gog.com, Humble and Steam)
Released: 9th May 2024
Available on: Steam, Epic, Humble and Gog.com
Played Using: Keyboard
Approximate game length: 14+ hours
Back in my review of ‘The Textorcist’ I said I didn’t know why I found myself drawn to typing games. I’m still no closer to a specific answer but I do at least recognise it’s not all typing games that appeal, there has to be another element to it. In the case of Cryptmaster it appeals to another love I have, namely the dungeon crawler genre. Having briefly seen this game being played by Yahtzee Crowshaw (known for Fully Ramblomatic and Zero Punctuation) I felt I had to check it out for myself.
When you start the game you get to choose between turn based or real time, the game recommends playing in real time, this choice specifically relates to combat and will come up later in the review.
You play as four corpses that have been freshly risen by the Cryptmaster. Each of the corpses (which I will now refer to as characters) have a name which is shown next to their portrait, this name not only lets you know who they are but also represents their health. Each letter is effectively a hit point and when all the letters of a name are gone that character is dead… again. Not to worry though as they can be brought back by using altars that you can find on each floor of the dungeon.
Below each characters name is a space for a word that will be revealed as you gather letters (more on that later).
During the tutorial stage along with all the basic instructions for the game you’ll also gain an item called the ‘Soulstone’ which is used to store up ‘soul energy’. You gain this soul energy by many different means such as collecting bugs, fishing, defeating enemies, solving riddles and winning games of Whatever. This soul energy is used to perform actions in and out of combat as well as acting as a currency.
When you encounter an enemy you’re shown their name along with an hourglass. When the sand in the hourglass runs out they perform their attack. If you have chosen to play in real time this happens, unsurprisingly, in real time. However, if you choose to play in turn based the hourglass empties a bit for each letter you type.
Combat requires you to type which action you want your characters to perform. Once an action is performed that character won’t be able to do more until their cooldown timer is complete. However, there are synergies between the characters that can make these actions more potent, you just need to work out which words will work best. That being said, after a while the enemies will start to impose conditions such as not allowing you to type a specific letter or getting stronger if a letter is typed. Something to bear in mind though is that other than the initial moves you gained in the tutorial all the actions cost souls to perform. If you run out of souls and attempt to perform an action that requires them it will knock a letter off that character’s name.
Once you kill an enemy you get to select which three letters from their name to add to your character’s current words. Those three letters have to be next to each other though, if you wish to make the game a bit easier you can gain additional letters by increasing the number of ‘Loot Fingers’ you get.
The collection of letters has been mentioned a lot so far and is going to come up even more, so I feel now is the time to cover what those letters are for. The letters you gain give hints to what the word is that your characters have. The words associated with the characters either appear with a white background or a black one. If the background is white that means that once the word is complete (or you successfully guess what it is) it will unlock a new action that can be performed. If the background of the word is black then you unlock a memory relating to that character.
You gain letters in several ways, defeating enemies, successfully guessing the contents of chests, solving riddles and fishing.
You may be wondering how you’re supposed to remember all the words you’ll inevitably unlock as you play, especially for four characters. Fear not, this game comes with a handy list that pauses the game and allows you to (hopefully) make the best choice. You just need to press the number associated with that character on your keyboard and the word list will appear.
Unlike most dungeon crawlers you don’t gain experience by killing enemies or completing quests. Leveling up occurs only when you unlock a certain number of memories. Upon gaining a level you get to add another letter to that character’s name, thus increasing their health.
As you explore the dungeons you will occasionally find chests, upon finding one you have to type ‘chest’ (or some other version such as container or box) to open it. Once you do this the Cryptmaster appears and the box turns to face him. You can tell him how to interact with the object in order to gain clues as to what item is in there. The Cryptmaster can be told to; touch, look, taste, sniff, remember, use and wear the object and he will give you a description or a vague memory associated with it. For example, when told to look at the object he told me it was a ball with a frayed string attached and two circles at the end. When told to remember it, he said he remembered looking into many of these. I won’t give away what the answer was because there are only so many items in the game to find.
You get four questions to ask before he demands to know what your answer is and if you get it wrong then you’ve lost your chance. If you get it right the letters of the word you typed get added to your characters current words.
You’ll also sometimes find skulls on a pillar of rocks, these skulls will give you a riddle to solve. Solving riddles works similarly to chests, though instead of the Cryptmaster taking control a skull gives you a riddle and you must try and solve it. If you do so successfully the letters from the answer are added to your characters current words as well as netting you sixty souls.
There are places in the dungeon where you can fish. Fishing gives you a single letter that you choose from the name of the fish that you’re catching.
Within this game is also an optional card game called Whatever that involves filling out the letters of the cards you have in your hand from a line of letters. For each letter that appears in your card’s name that card will attack your opponent. If the name becomes completely filled the special ability listed on the card will activate. The first to hit zero life loses, it’s very simple and I will admit I spent far too long playing this.
I can’t talk about this game without mentioning the visual style of the game. There aren’t many games that can make pure monochrome work but this one definitely does it. The voice acting of the Cryptmaster is just so wonderfully rich and so full of life (ironically). Part of the reason I played for so long was just so I could keep hearing it.
Truly this game has so much to give and is far more than the sum of its parts. I absolutely implore you to give this game a go even if you struggle with typing games, I promise you won’t be disappointed with what you find.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Typing of the Dead: Overkill
The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibba
Legend of Grimrock 2
