Crimson Moon Review (PC): Stylishly Parrying the Undead

The Nephilim stand ready in Crimson Moon, an action RPG where divine warriors attempt to restore a doomed city overrun by the undead. Envisioned as a much-needed co-op entry in both the roguelike and souls genres, Crimson Moon promises exciting battles against demonic forces from the perspective of a holy order, attempting to take back the city of Gildenarch and recover the Abraxas stones.

Tackling two saturated markets at once is no small feat, and while Crimson Moon isn’t without its shortcomings, which will be discussed at length, the game’s ability to stand its ground is commendable. Thanks to YouTube video essays and the mouth-to-mouth popularity of games like Elden Ring, there’s a growing community of newcomers who want to engage with the souls-like genre but get too scared by the tales of high difficulty and brutal combat, which is where the allure of a co-op title comes in, allowing for strength in numbers. I’m also sure that veterans of the genre are in great need of an approachable title to show to their friends, so cornering this market with a roguelike really is a great idea.

The Nephilim Rise Up

Crimson Moon’s combat is slower-paced for the most part, opting for high-commitment attacks that can’t be animation-cancelled, especially the ones in the two-handed stance. Fighting can feel a little stiff at points, but that does seem to be intentional, in order to keep the players from being too competent during co-op. Difficulty-wise, the game is pretty manageable, even solo, not only due to its very generous parry windows but also because your angel transformation can be used to get rid of enemies you don’t feel like fighting on fair terms, thanks to some very high damage reduction that results in near invincibility. Being able to take a breather both during boss fights and exploration by just mindlessly swinging at enemies feels great, even though it might reinforce bad habits like always ignoring a specific enemy type.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much in terms of different weapon movesets or types, which makes the combat get a little dull after a while, since it’s one of the few areas in which your character doesn’t really progress. The lock-on camera is also not the best, especially when fighting larger enemies, clipping into the ground and swinging around in ways that leave you completely blind to the action, so there’s still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the game’s combat system.

Looking Good, Feeling Good

The game’s meta progression comes in the form of a loot system, where the armor pieces and weapons you find during runs can be purified, equipped, and upgraded before tackling Gildernarch again. As you level up, you unlock higher rarities to upgrade your equipment to, and although it is very satisfying to work through this loot and upgrade system, it isn’t without issues.

During runs, you acquire souls, a temporary currency used to purchase equipment from the blacksmith. Unlike the loot you find by defeating enemies, any equipment you purchase disappears after you defeat the final boss, making it a temporary upgrade. The main issue with this system is that the higher rarity items you can purchase are locked behind a level requirement, and by the time you do reach that level, you’ll most likely already have upgraded your items to that rarity, so the mid-run currency just goes to waste. Hopefully in the future, players get the opportunity to exchange their souls for gold, the permanent currency used to upgrade your real equipment, since it’s something you’re always in need of.

Another disappointing feature is that the extra perks that some items can drop with will vanish after the run is over, meaning all loot is fixed with no randomization whatsoever. This is a game that would heavily benefit from a more ARPG-esque loot system, with random modifiers and extra perks found during runs actually sticking to the gear.

Despite that, it is refreshing to play a roguelike where you have more control over your character’s build, since some games in the genre barely give you a say on what will happen during runs, but it also comes with the caveat of inviting repetitiveness. The boons you get after clearing each stage also don’t change much about your gameplay, and that’s not to say that the boons available are bad, since some of them can definitely give your build an extra push, but rather that they are just slight variations of the perks you already have attached to your gear.

Taking Back Gildernarch

Most of the game’s stages follow the same formula, tasking you with clearing a large area of enemies to move on to the next gate. Playing solo early on can become a little annoying, as you’ll find yourself constantly combing through the game’s levels for enemies, since they easily blend in with the environment. The levels get much larger as we progress through a run, so there’s always a good bit of backtracking later on as you are trying to hunt for the last few enemies required to fulfill the mission objective.

At the moment there are two mission paths that the player can go down on, each resulting in different boss fights, areas, and enemies. There’s a good bit of diversity with the environments and bosses, but both areas tend to reuse the same enemies, which makes them feel kind of samey. Being able to weave between both paths as long as you unlocked their stages is nice, and is yet another choice that most roguelikes don’t give to the player, so it’s nice to see it here.

Final Verdict

Crimson Moon has a very short honeymoon period before the repetition sets in, and it becomes clear that there isn’t much content or randomization to be found in the game. The great armor designs are definitely something to note, but even that is unfortunately soured by the lack of a transmog system, forcing you to choose between either looking or performing your best.

Its biggest draw at the moment is its straightforward co-op gameplay in a souls-like style, something the genre desperately lacks, but it’s difficult to find the drive to keep going on runs when the map and enemy variety, as well as the slow meta-progression system, don’t provide many incentives. Hopefully Crimson Moon finds more ways to keep the player engaged in the future, but in its current state, it feels somewhat incomplete.

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