Crimson Capes

Legitness

Crimson Capes takes the familiar foundations of dark fantasy and reshapes them into a focused 2D action adventure built around dangerous sword fights, supernatural abilities, exploration, and character progression. Developed and published by Poor Locke, it places players in the kingdom of Amvros, where members of the Crimson Capes serve as specialized witch-hunters working for the crown. Their assignments lead beyond ordinary political problems and into conflicts involving witches, sorcerers, monsters, mysterious artifacts, and darker forces hiding throughout the kingdom. The combat system is easily one of its most distinctive features. Instead of relying entirely on rapid button combinations, battles reward timing, positioning, defense, and carefully reading an opponent. Players can guard, thrust, slash, feint, evade, and perform specialized attacks while searching for openings in enemy defenses. This creates fights that feel more like compact duels than simple encounters against disposable enemies. Poorly timed aggression can quickly become costly, while successfully predicting an opponent produces satisfying opportunities for counterattacks. Finishing moves add considerable brutality, with bloody executions and dismemberment emphasizing the game's mature dark-fantasy atmosphere. Players uncomfortable with the heavier gore can disable it. Magic prevents the sword fighting from becoming too restrictive. Playable heroes possess different supernatural powers alongside their individual weapon techniques. Abilities involving wind, lightning, fire, and darkness expand the tactical possibilities considerably, especially once players begin developing their preferred character. Individual skill trees allow heroes to become more capable over time, providing meaningful progression while encouraging experimentation with different combinations of physical and magical abilities. Switching between heroes is particularly useful because each character offers a different interpretation of the game's core combat mechanics rather than functioning as a simple cosmetic alternative. Exploration plays another significant role. Amvros contains forests, ruins, caves, towers, underground areas, and other hostile locations that can be investigated while pursuing the larger witch-hunting campaign. The adventure provides freedom to explore different places and approach parts of the journey in varying orders instead of constantly pushing the player through a completely fixed sequence. Magical artifacts scattered throughout the world provide additional incentives to investigate optional areas. The relatively open structure suits the mysterious tone, making each new location feel like another dangerous expedition into territory where something supernatural could be waiting. The visual presentation supports this atmosphere effectively. Detailed pixel art gives environments and characters a distinctly old-school identity, but combat animations, magical effects, monsters, blood, and executions make the action feel considerably more energetic than the retro appearance might imply. Its darker environments and mature themes reinforce the grim sword-and-sorcery setting. The game contains graphic violence alongside other adult material, so its colorful pixel graphics should not be mistaken for a family-friendly presentation. Online functionality adds another dimension through cooperative and competitive elements. Players can join forces with other Crimson Capes during hunts, allowing different character abilities to work together. More unusually, another player can invade as a Deathblade, transforming an adventure encounter into an unpredictable confrontation against a human opponent. This asymmetric concept fits the dangerous atmosphere nicely because another player's arrival can dramatically alter the rhythm of a hunt. Multiplayer should be considered an enhancement rather than the sole attraction, however, since the availability of online opponents or partners naturally depends on the active player population. Steam Deck compatibility is officially categorized as Playable rather than fully Verified. Performance with the default graphics configuration is considered suitable, and the game can run successfully on SteamOS. However, handheld players should expect compromises. Some functionality is not fully accessible through the default controller configuration, touchscreen interaction or a community controller layout may occasionally be useful, and text entry can require manually opening the virtual keyboard. Some interface text may also appear small, while certain prompts can display keyboard, mouse, or non-Steam Deck controller icons. It is therefore functional on the Deck, but the experience is less seamless than a fully optimized handheld release. Crimson Capes ultimately stands out through the contrast between its traditional pixel-art appearance and its surprisingly involved approach to combat. Sword techniques, defensive play, magical abilities, multiple heroes, skill development, nonlinear exploration, artifacts, cooperative hunts, and invasions create more depth than its straightforward presentation initially suggests. Some players may find its deliberate combat demanding, and its graphic content will not appeal to everyone, but those interested in grim fantasy and skill-focused melee combat have plenty to explore. It feels less like a conventional hack-and-slash adventure and more like a dark fantasy journey where understanding the mechanics of a duel can be just as important as improving a character. Rating: 8/10

I haven't finished the game yet, but I loooooove the map. Idk what it is, but it looks amazing.

Kind of like Sifu in that deliberate button presses are needed to win - just set in a 2D semi-metroidvania medieval game. Excellent combat with swords having actual weight and momentum to each hit, and the 4 heroes allow you to play how you want. Pixel art is good, though I wouldn't call it great. I honestly wish it was longer and I hope they follow up on this story/combat. Highly recommend.

Man verpasst was, Metroit mit Montante

Multiple bugs with co-op. Falling through map when trying to connect or disconnecting, invisible wall in boss room when joining a hunt, need to constantly completely exit out of the game to resolve these issues. Blur effect from fish boss lasting after boss is dead, again need to exit and re-enter game to fix this. In all had to exit game 6x in the hour played. The game is beautiful, the story and concept are amazing and I was having fun playing but these bugs were extremely frustrating when I was looking forward to playing co-op. I hope these issues can be resolved in the future because I would love to give it another try.