Crimson Moon

Not ready for release. Give it another year

A friend and I got the game to play together, so my perspective is based on the coop gameplay. Firstly, I want to say that it is criminal that this game has mixed reviews, for $20 this is honestly a steal of a game, because lesser companies would absolutely charge for more. The game has good graphics, cool character and enemy design, and good combat. It feels good to play and looks good while you do it. The design of everything is very well done! The knights look like cool paladins, and as you get more gear you can diversify your look and build very quickly which has been great from the get go. They aren't stingy with gear either, so you very quickly get used to the idea of swapping out your gear as better stuff comes along. With the weapon set ups and abilities you get, there is plenty of variety in the game. The enemies also look very good, while some of them have similar styles, it's still easy to tell quickly what type of enemy it is so you know how to attack them. The world as a whole does a great job of capturing that dark fantasy vibe without either looking too bleak and gray or being too gory. Things are well designed so that dark vibe is captured but you don't feel like you are looking at a gray world the entire time like some other games do. Last thing about gameplay I'll cover is the combat system and style. While the game has a combat system similar to Soul-Like games, I would not call this a Souls-Like. The combat simply has a block, parry, and stamina system that have been consistent in my experience. While the similarity is there, it's not a copy and paste system at all. The gameplay loop, however, plays as a Rogue-Lite, where you get gear, upgrade it, and bring better and better gear to get better and better runs. The game follows a nice pattern of in the level, mini boss, back to the hub before continuing a run, so it doesn't feel like you're constantly under pressure to fight, you have time to breathe and upgrade before continuing. The combat and loop together feel very fitting and I personally have enjoyed the process as I've gone through the game. Now in a fair amount of the negative reviews people address two main things, camera control, and button mapping. For button mapping, it's soul-similar combat, just use a controller and all those issues disappear tbh. No need to map the buttons on controller since they're designed by people who have clearly played these games before. As for the camera, it's a little spastic I'll agree. On large enemies if you're close to a wall it can struggle a bit, but only if you're locked on. Just unlock and relock and it fixes. I've played so many games with a lock on mechanic by now that this should just be common knowledge. The people complaining about this are honestly being babies. The camera is functional enough and has no issues a majority of the time. For people complaining about this stuff in 2026, sure it's not what you're used to, but that doesn't make the game garbage like they claim it to be. Overall, I went into this with no expectations, and I was very happily pleased with what I received. While there are a couple things that could be cooked on (such as missions syncing up properly for the host and guest) overall the game has been a lot of fun to play. I highly recommend this if you're looking for a chill time with another person and you both like this style of game.

Alright, hear me out. First, thank you to the developers for listening to feedback. I previously gave feedback to another game, Abyss, and they actually responded and made changes. I respected that, so I want to do the same here because I genuinely want Crimson Moon to succeed. I've been playing PC games since around 2000, from The Sims and Half-Life to LAN games, MMOs, ARPGs, shooters, and Souls-like games. I think Crimson Moon has a lot of potential, but right now it still needs a lot of polish. [Not mentioning why I cant keep my OWN loot] ### UI / UX The UI looks great overall and is easy to understand. My main complaint is the amount of unnecessary eye movement when upgrading or comparing equipment. Sometimes the item is on one side while the important information is far on the other side. It sounds small, but after doing it repeatedly, it adds unnecessary visual scanning. I would also love better inventory tools: * Sorting * Filtering * Equipment-slot filters * Rarity filters * Keyword search * Better side-by-side comparisons You give us a lot of equipment, so please make it easier to understand what we already own. ### PERFORMANCE / STUTTERING This is probably my biggest complaint. The game stutters. Earlier I experienced very small micro-stutters. Now I sometimes get freezes lasting around one or two seconds, and sometimes the sound hitches with it. I'm also a music producer, so audio interruptions are very noticeable to me. In a combat game where dodging and parrying depend on timing, a one-second hitch is a huge problem. Please prioritize frame pacing and native performance, not just average FPS. Upscaling and frame generation are useful, but they should not replace proper optimization. ### COMBAT / INPUT BUFFERING The combat sometimes feels less responsive than it should. If I click attack multiple times, the game seems to remember those clicks for too long. Then I see an incoming attack, try to dodge or cast a skill, but my character is still processing the attacks I clicked earlier. That becomes very frustrating. Please look at the input-buffering system. Defensive actions like dodge, parry, or certain skills should probably be allowed to interrupt queued attacks within reasonable windows. I should be punished for making a bad combat decision. I should not be punished because the game remembered multiple mouse clicks I made earlier. ### PARRYING I'm normally someone who likes parrying, but in Crimson Moon I find myself dodging more often. The timing sometimes feels more predictive than reactive. A successful parry should feel like: "I timed that perfectly." Not: "Oh... so THAT was the timing." Performance problems make this worse. When the game is smooth, I'll gladly parry. When the game is hitching, I'm not trusting a tiny parry window. ### CONTROLS Thank you for starting to improve keyboard rebinding. Please keep going and allow as much control customization as possible. Controls are cultural. Developers test games for thousands of hours using certain layouts, so those controls eventually feel natural to them. That doesn't mean they feel natural to everyone else. For example, I personally hate using Z during fast combat. My hand naturally stays around WASD, Shift, Ctrl, Space, nearby keys, and mouse buttons because that is how I have played PC games for years. Other players will have completely different habits. Especially on PC, players should be allowed to customize their controls. ### CAMERA / LOCK-ON Please take another look at the lock-on camera. Sometimes target switching feels unpredictable, especially around large enemies or groups. In melee combat, the camera is basically part of the combat system. If I'm fighting the enemy and the camera at the same time, I'm fighting two bosses. Large enemies especially need smoother, more predictable camera behavior. ### CO-OP / PROGRESSION Co-op progression also needs clearer communication. Players should always understand: What am I keeping? What am I losing? What belongs to the host? What belongs to the guest? Has my progress been saved? Even if some problems are misunderstandings rather than bugs, that still means the game is not communicating the system clearly enough. A simple visual confirmation would help a lot. ### VISUAL IDENTITY / CINEMATICS This part is more personal opinion. The game is called Crimson Moon. Use that identity more. Moonlight, red illumination, shadows, silhouettes, fog, dramatic crimson lighting during major encounters. Players should be able to see a screenshot without the UI and immediately know: "That's Crimson Moon." You already have a strong visual identity. Push it further. ### FINAL THOUGHTS I actually really like this game. That's why I'm writing this. The art direction is good. The equipment is interesting. The combat has potential. The world has personality. But right now, I don't think the game needs more content as much as it needs polish. Performance. Responsiveness. Input handling. Camera behavior. Control customization. Inventory quality-of-life. Clearer co-op communication. You already built the house. Now stop adding furniture and level the floor. Best wishes to the developers. I genuinely hope Crimson Moon succeeds, and I'll keep checking the updates. Good luck. I'm rooting for you.

This game has a lot of potential, but needs more time luckily it was only 20$ not going to refund wanna see what happens with it. but honestly after you beat the game i don't see much to do after that. wait for it to go on sale at the moment its a one and done maybe 5-10hrs worth of content. boss fights are easier then normal mobs, i think so anyways just save all your angel power for them and use the environment to help block their attacks and you will have no issues. a lot of bugs, no explanation on what "marked" "enrage" or other statuses mean or what they do in game. Lore scrolls what's the point of these just to run around a map trying to find them, Bounties what's the point of these when you have to kill everything to move on to the next zone its not open world. Quests what's the point in doing them i have yet to feel like it was worth beating a mission. only thing that really matters is leveling up your char to unlock more life, mana ect. the music where the hell is the metal music?? currently id give the game a 6/10

Played with my friend high and he's drunk, pretty fun together and quite silly there are plenty of bugs, feels like an early access and if you come to it with that attitude then its pretty fun even with it's quircks. currently playing and having a blast atm

This game is feels archaic and not in a good way. No keybinding, no minimap. Poor UI and customisation. Honestly not what i've come to expect for a 20's era game. This game plays like a poor mans darksouls but even that was more polished.

I beat it with a friend on hard in 5.5 hours. It's surprisingly short and easy (granted we play souls like and rogue likes frequently) It was fun... i guess.

Il gioco è divertente, soprattutto in cooperativa. Non spicca per originalità ovviamente. Il gameplay generale è semplice ma coinvolgente e, personalmente, lo trovo più divertente di quello di diversi titoli tripla A o produzioni ben più costose. La componente roguelite contribuisce a rendere le run abbastanza dinamiche, anche se alcune delle meccaniche che ne derivano sembrano non essere state esplorate la meglio. Il combat system risulta un po' legnoso e poco reattivo ad eventuali cancellazioni di azioni. I problemi più evidenti, sono quelli tecnici. C'è ancora molto lavoro da fare tra bug e ottimizzazione, perché in determinate situazioni questi problemi possono compromettere la godibilità dell'esperienza. Anche la gestione della telecamera e del sistema di target è piuttosto discutibile. Non convince nemmeno la gestione dell'inventario, che praticamente non esiste, così come quella dell'equipaggiamento durante le missioni. Il sistema risulta poco intuitivo e spesso macchinoso, soprattutto quando si ha bisogno di gestire rapidamente ciò che si sta utilizzando sul campo. Per quanto riguarda la traduzione tramite AI, personalmente non la considero un problema così grave. Certo, non sarà perfetta e qualche errore può esserci, ma mi sembra una critica abbastanza marginale, soprattutto considerando quante volte ci si lamenta della mancanza totale della propria lingua in molti altri titoli. Tra avere una traduzione AI migliorabile e non avere proprio la lingua italiana, preferisco decisamente la prima. Questo non vieta di migliorarla grazie all'ausilio di un vero traduttore in futuro nel caso in cui il gioco vendesse bene da noi. In definitiva, il gioco ha bisogno di patch e aggiornamenti, soprattutto per quanto riguarda bug, ottimizzazione e alcuni sistemi di gioco che andrebbero rivisti. Però la base è buona, il gameplay funziona e c'è del bel potenziale. Considerando il prezzo di 20€, già adesso secondo me è sicuramente una buona proposta. Non è un gioco perfetto e presenta diversi problemi, ma se riuscirà a migliorare gli aspetti più critici potrebbe diventare un titolo davvero interessante.