I always enjoy the chance to explore a dungeon in a videogame. You can never be quite sure what lies around the next corner: it could be a side quest, a new weapon, or a piece of emergent narrative that you might remember for years to come. Crimson Keep, recently released on Xbox One, attempts to boil this excitement of anticipated discovery down to its purest form by asking you to explore procedurally generated dungeons, battling enemies and finding treasure as you do so.
There’s a speedy start to Crimson Keep, as you select one of three classes (Berserker, Witch or Drifter) and then quickly get thrust into the tutorial section of the game, which introduces combat basics and the perk system. You’ll become intimately familiar with this area, as you need to play through it each time you restart the game, and unfortunately, this is one of the milder frustrations that you’ll experience within Crimson Keep. You’ll die often, and you’ll see the same early areas many times, even if they are slightly varied from one iteration to the next.
There isn’t much of a sense of direction within the game, aside from forward, and there isn’t a great deal of narrative drive to encourage you to push forward when the going gets tough, which happens early and often. I’m used to roguelike games being tough going when you first start them up, but by gradually chipping away at the game you earn enough persistent upgrades to make each restart a little easier than the one before. Crimson Keep doesn’t do any of this: each restart is as if you’re starting the game afresh, with any progress you made in a previous life wiped out entirely. This makes for a demoralizing experience, as there’s a constant sense of futility to anything that you do, and little chance to measure your progress through the game.
Some games can redeem themselves by their gameplay mechanics, but in Crimson Keep combat is uninspired and shallow, with minimal input options and a distinct lack of any heft to blows or any option to add strategy to your approach. It’s essentially a case of swinging your weapon and occasionally using any abilities that you have, with whichever participant that deals the most damage coming out on top. Unfortunately, the majority of the time your foes will do more damage than you do, and even if you manage to defeat one, the lack of healing options available in the game means that whichever enemy is waiting round the corner will likely finish you off. It’s not often that a game feels unfairly punishing, but Crimson Keep fits this description almost perfectly, and it makes for an unpleasant experience.
Crimson Keep feels like a relic from a bygone era, and it doesn’t come with the warm glow of nostalgia that such a phrase usually evokes. There are a healthy number of gamers who complain that games have become too easy in the past few years, but if Crimson Keep is the alternative, I would happily take games that hold my hand a little too much. It’s extremely rare for me to entirely recommend against playing a game, but Crimson Keep encourages me to do just that. There are far better options available for you to play, and you’re only setting yourself up for disappointment if you decide to play this game. This isn’t an experience like Dark Souls where you can get better with practice and overcome enemies that once gave you trouble, instead, it’s a game that is made to be punishing, without enough redeeming features to encourage you to persevere. Whether through design or by accident, Crimson Keep is an uncompromising and unpleasant experience, and you’re better off spending your time elsewhere.
