Critadel is a futuristic platform/shooter/roguelike with three playable characters, hundreds of branching paths and over 100,000 unique weapon configurations!
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All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English, Korean, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Spanish - Spain
Sums Steam only; Nintendo, Epic publish no volume signal, so the true total is higher by an unknown amount.
Engagement
Reviews
Themes across 41 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
어떻게 운영하는지 몸으로 깨닫는데 10시간 정도 걸린듯. 근데 그 이후 되면 뭐가 효율좋은 무기인지 아닌지 알 수 있고, 그러면서 해금되는 템들로 어떻게 운용해야할 지 감을 잡을 수 있음.
Critadel is a fast-paced 2D action roguelike that leans heavily into classic arcade sensibilities while layering in modern procedural systems and an enormous emphasis on gear variety. Developed by Pixelian Studio and published by Nicalis, Inc., the game places players inside a futuristic reimagining of the Tower of Babel, a towering mechanical structure filled with hostile machines, shifting layouts, and escalating danger. From the outset, Critadel makes its intentions clear: this is a game about momentum, reflexes, and improvisation, where survival depends on reading chaotic battlefields and making the most of whatever tools you manage to scavenge during a run. At its core, the gameplay blends twin-stick shooting with light platforming, emphasizing constant movement and spatial awareness. Enemies attack from multiple directions, often filling the screen with projectiles, forcing players to weave, dodge-roll, and reposition continuously. The dodge mechanic, complete with brief invincibility frames, becomes essential rather than optional, and mastering its timing is key to surviving later floors. Level layouts are procedurally generated, offering branching paths that allow players to make risk-reward decisions about whether to chase better loot, safer routes, or potential upgrades. This structure gives each run a different rhythm, even if the core enemy types and environmental hazards become familiar over time. One of Critadel’s most distinctive features is its weapon system, which revolves around a staggering number of possible combinations. Weapons are generated with various traits, elemental effects, and modifiers that can interact in unexpected ways, forming powerful synergies when paired correctly. This system encourages experimentation, as a mediocre gun can suddenly become devastating when combined with the right artifacts or complementary weapon effects. Artifacts further deepen this layer by offering passive bonuses that alter how you approach combat, such as improving survivability, enhancing damage output, or modifying how weapons behave. In theory, this creates a nearly endless sandbox of builds, making each successful run feel like the result of clever adaptation rather than rigid planning. However, this same system can also feel restrictive in practice due to durability and ammo limitations. Weapons degrade quickly, which often discourages players from fully embracing newly found gear, especially when a reliable starter weapon feels safer in the long run. Instead of constantly rotating weapons, players may find themselves hoarding their best options for emergencies, which slightly undercuts the thrill of discovery that the game otherwise promotes. Resource management becomes a delicate balancing act, as players must decide when to spend currency on upgrades or shops and when to conserve it for future floors, knowing that a single mistake can end a long and carefully built run. Visually, Critadel adopts a sharp, retro-inspired pixel art style that recalls handheld and early console action games, but with smoother animations and more elaborate effects. Mechanical enemies explode into showers of pixels, weapons fire in colorful bursts, and environments pulse with neon-tinged sci-fi energy. The presentation may not be flashy by modern indie standards, but it is cohesive and functional, prioritizing readability during intense combat. Complementing the visuals is a driving electronic soundtrack that reinforces the game’s relentless pace, helping maintain tension as players climb higher into increasingly hostile territory. Despite its strengths, Critadel can feel uneven in its pacing and long-term progression. Runs tend to be lengthy, and repeated failures can be discouraging due to the relatively limited sense of meta-progression between attempts. While there are unlocks and new characters to access, the lack of substantial permanent upgrades means that improvement relies heavily on player skill and familiarity rather than a growing sense of power. For some, this purity is part of the appeal, but for others it may make the experience feel punishing or repetitive, especially when difficulty spikes arrive without clear warning or proportional rewards. Ultimately, Critadel is a game that thrives on intensity and player commitment. It rewards those willing to learn its systems, accept its harsh penalties, and experiment within its sprawling web of weapon synergies. Its blend of classic arcade action and modern roguelike design gives it a strong identity, even if certain mechanics feel under-refined or overly restrictive. For players who enjoy demanding action games with a retro soul and a heavy focus on moment-to-moment decision-making, Critadel offers a challenging and memorable climb, one that may frustrate at times but remains compelling through its sheer mechanical ambition and relentless energy. Rating: 7/10
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Matched by title — a reused name can pair the wrong games. * is a critic aggregate. Prices and positions are each store's United States storefront; Epic charts worldwide. Audience and Score too, except Steam's, which is worldwide.
Hours played at review time, across 41 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
yup
Twin-stick shooters are one of my favorite genres but for some reason Critadel doesn't click for me. It's not a bad game but just not fun enough to keep playing. Something about the feel of the controls and level design. I have a category for games like this named 'Meh'.
While all Rougelikes leave you at the mercy of RNG to some degree this one rivals some of the biggest casinos like Binding of Isaac for how much your success depends on getting lucky with gear. You do of course unlock better items into the pool as you progress and this does keep the game fresh enough. That's not to say it doesn't require skill, you definitely need a mix of good gear, situation awareness and constant repositioning plus some platforming skills to succeed on the latter half of the tower. Ultimately, I'm having fun and it was worth the purchase.
This is a good game
it's alright. buy it on sale if you like one-off roguelikes but a lot of factors prevent me from giving a positive long term reccomendation. i would say most of my 10 hour playtime is "one more time" frustration and not a legitimate drive to play more, and I could do a lot better than that with $20. the gamefeel isn't too bad (just don't use a controller) and the autochess synergies are neat in concept, but lots of small annoyances add up. 9 inventory slots for weapons seems like plenty but when the highest tiers of buffs require up to 7 slots of dedication it makes creative build-crafting really hard. some of the synergies are more minor or support effects (ice weapons give you econ, melee weapons give you damage resistance for example), but taking advantage of these without severely sacrificing damage is almost impossible unless you get very lucky with rare drops. lategame gets VERY tanky, and if you don't have any damage synergies you'll absolutely feel it. bosses felt incredibly off. they have very simple patterns but lategame start dealing extreme amounts of damage, which you COULD argue promotes mastery, but in most cases all it amounts to is whenever you bump into a new boss on a later floor you'll just get torn to pieces because you don't know the specific dodging rhythm yet. 30+ minutes all for nothing because you don't know the pattern of a boss you've never seen before. the floor skip function is not a meaningful solution because enemies are such bullet sponges on later floors that its debatable for you to even REACH the boss you want to practice without an entire run of farming. even though a lot of attacks require specific and intentional movement to dodge, the overly simple and very short attack rotations of almost every boss makes even harder fights feel boring. i've lost at least a good handful of runs to bleeding out too much health from effectively falling asleep at the wheel. there's not really any meta progression other than EXP grinding your characters for some perks and unlocking random starting items, and personally i feel like the "meta currency" you get is completely useless. the game asks you to spend about 3 or so per run to start with some extra items and there essentially is no reason not to. sometimes you'll find locked chests mid run that open for just 1 single piece. it's just an odd feeling system. you'll end up drowning in it and the only other thing to spend it on is cosmetic skins also, the "true final boss" path is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ asinine. it requires you to visit specific event rooms to recieve missions, but whether or not you can complete them is almost always up to chance. tasks like "kill 60 enemies" and "get 5 perfect clears" are all fine and good for incentivizing you to take combat rooms, but if RNG grants you almost an entire floor of safe rooms and the next mission room spawns early? congrats, the path is now completely locked. "upgrade 5 weapons" and its very well possible you simply will NOT run into an upgrade room, or that not enough currency dropped for you to affford that much. if don't care about getting the extra final boss then its not a big deal i guess, but personally it pissed me off during my entire playtime i don't think this is a bad game by any stretch, but do not expect to unravel more than what the game presents to you. there is little nuance to uncover and at the end of it all the game unceremoniously cuts to credits and provides 0 fanfare as the only remaining content is to keep grinding more runs (or boss rush, i guess) get it on sale if you like this brand of shooter and it seems up your alley, but the moment frustration starts to set in just shelve it, it doesn't get better.
Tried to play it on the Steam Deck, but the controls felt obnoxious and unnecessarily complicated. With so many similar games out there, I don't feel like fighting with the controls to play this one.
아니; 하드모드 단계가 안 올라가는데? 일반깨고, 하드깨고, 보스러쉬 깨도 안뜨길래 캐릭터별로 하드 연달아서 다 깨보고도.. 개 답답해서 인터넷 존나 뒤지다가 겨우 찾은 외국인이 올린 영어글 하나 나오길래 보니까 지금 버전에서 안되고 옛날 버전 받아서 어찌저찌 해야 할 수있다고?? 장난 똥때리나? 안고치나? 그냥 막아놓고 땡이가? 고치기가 싫으면 도전과제 목록에서라도 하드18단계 없애주야 될꺼 아이가? ! 아~ 도전과제 올 클리어 하고 다음 게임 해야 된다고!!!@@
뭔가 좀 조잡한 느낌이 남... 난이도도 너무 어렵고.
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