Crimson Moon

I don't think I need to get past the first two major bosses to know where this is going. Crimson Moon is incredibly unfinished. Two weapon types, janky animations, terrible camera, boring mechanics, and some frustrating decisions. Every level is generally the same layout between runs. Every weapon you find in each run is more about the stats and passive upgrade because there is only sword and shield or pole arm. The perks you get between stages are all just minor stat buffs or adding small effects to your hits. This game could have been so good, but it needs so much more time! Two weapon types is a crime when it comes to this genre. Roguelites AND Soulslikes require variety. This just isn't it man. Give it time maybe, but don't bother right now. It feels like playing a super long demo with how small the variety is.

**Recommended? Not yet. Maybe after a few months of patches.** This game has a genuinely interesting pitch: Soulslike combat and roguelike progression. On paper, that is an interesting idea. The aesthetic and overall theme are strong, the voice acting is better than expected, and the production values are decent for a $20 title. The problem is that the game feels like it was pushed out before it was ready. It has very strong Early Access vibes, but it is being sold as a 1.0 release, and that sets a different expectation. **Pros** - Cool overall aesthetic and theme. - Interesting blend of Soulslike, roguelike, looter mechanics. - Decent voice acting and production values for the price. - There is a good game buried in here if the developers tighten it up. **Cons** - The game lacks polish across the board. - Combat feedback feels inconsistent, especially with enemy attack animations, parry timing, and dodge windows. - Elite enemies often feel harder and less readable than actual bosses. - The camera can get absolutely wild, especially when locked onto elites or bosses while using your ultimate. - The boon system feels poorly explained and underdeveloped. - Gear looting and purification are contrived and barely explained. - It is unclear whether duplicate boons stack. - Some boon effects are vague, confusing, or don't work at all. - You can get party-support boons even when playing solo. - Damage calculation is unclear, and spells do not give useful tooltip information. - Gear upgrading has confusing limits that are not communicated well. - The UI has a lot of small but irritating friction. - Upgrading gear at the blacksmith is unnecessarily annoying because the cursor resets to the first item every single time. - There are too many little bits of jank that make the game feel unfinished. For former Bungie developers, I guess the lack of polish is not completely shocking after years of living through Destiny 2 bugs and jank, but it is still disappointing. Dropping the price to $20 does not fully make up for the rough edges. Honestly, if they had spent a few more months polishing the game and charged $25-30, I think the reception would probably be better. The gear system is one of the clearest examples of how underexplained the whole game feels. At first, I assumed the loot worked like an extraction mechanic: if I escaped a mission with a rare axe that had two perks, I figured that rare axe would now be in my inventory going forward. Instead, you bring the item back, “purify” it, and what you actually unlock is basically the common version of that item, usually with no perks or maybe one innate perk. Then you have to level it up separately so future drops of that specific item have a higher floor. That is not necessarily a terrible system, but the game makes zero effort explaining anything about it. It feels contrived because the expectation of extraction loot is very different from what the game is actually doing. Even the upgrade path is confusing. Items seem to cap at rare, with the game saying they are already maxed out, but the preview window still shows that they can potentially reach epic rarity. Maybe there is some kind of gating mechanic involved, but if there is, it is not explained clearly anywhere. A simple message saying what unlocks the next rarity tier would have solved a lot of confusion. That is the broader issue with the game: it constantly feels like basic clarity and polish were left until the end, and then they ran out of time. The result is a game with good ideas, a cool style, and some real potential, but also a lot of unnecessary friction. The frustrating part is that there is a solid concept here. The game has style, some budget behind it, and a good foundation. But right now it feels like it is halfway through an Early Access cycle, not a finished 1.0 release. I would not write it off forever, but in its current state, I would wait for patches.

Muy entretenido y con mecanicas interesante, espero en el futuro le agregue un poco mas de contenido

Normally, minor things like a finicky camera would be nothing more than an annoyance, immersion breaking at best. In an extremely punishing and ridiculously frustrating genre like souls-like, where the game demands that you execute moves with extreme precision, it completely ruins the game. I've had runs that were completely ruined by the broken camera. Inexcusable. Which is unfortunate, because this is clearly a game that's had a lot of work put into it, and could otherwise be a great budget souls-like. Considering the developer has already released a statement that they're working on added rebindable controls (which is crucially needed, since with the current controls you can't sprint and look around at the same time without claw-gripping your controller) I'm hopeful that with some patches this will be a title well worth the price in time. But for now, just wait for patches.

While the game is fun it need some serious help and attention. I have attempted the FIRST level 4 times and every time i make it to the boss and get the cut scene and boom game crashes. play co-op with friends? random disconnects in the middle of the game and crashes left and right. will change to positive review when issues get fixed.

6/10. Where is my greatsword?!

For a lower priced INDIE game, its pretty fun. The devs even say to PLAY WITH CONTROLLER. So I don't know why so many people are complaining about the way M&K are. The camera? Completely fine, even M&K runs normal. Yes would I want to change 2 keys to something easier? Yes I would, but I plugged my controller in and played how to the devs said to and it is overall a really fun game! 7.5/10. Watch my YouTube stream of it, I had zero issues. Father_Timothy