As creatives, we take inspiration from wherever it can be found but colour me surprised when CryptMaster held aloft Typing of the Dead as its beacon in the night.
However, where the House of the Dead cash grab sequel felt out of place in a horror game, CryptMaster had me engaged and entertained… Even if it was only for a few moments.
A novel Idea
CryptMaster is a game in which you type words to make your move. This involves both combat where you type out moves to hit enemies and verbal puzzles where you must figure out what an object is by asking questions to the cryptmaster.
The story follows you, an unnamed walking dead zombie thing, being ordered around by the harrowing undead being, the CryptMaster (Like honestly, look at its face and tell me you slept the night okay). The undead being wants you to help him escape the confines of the crypt, something only the living can achieve.
He attaches himself to your body to guide you out of the crypt and into a world filled with monsters, friendly giant mice, and talking save points.
As for combat, you are granted control over the souls of four forgotten heroes from the past. By solving puzzles, you get letters which are then added to your collection. Like Wheel of Fortune, you guess words with the help of these letters. Get them right and another item is added to the heroes’ arsenal of weapons.
Not many dead to fight for
While a lot of fun can be had, CryptMaster failed to keep me interested for long. The gameplay, despite being unique, never truly leaves its shell, getting stale and repetitive quickly. The game does offer a turn-based combat mode to switch things around but that is not exactly an upgrade to the formula.
The story itself never takes off in any meaningful way. We continue to follow our CryptMaster boss but we never really go anywhere. The game does tell us that we are heading out of the crypt and into the real world but the graphics never really change the scenery to a level worth harping on about. Speaking of which,
deadly Comic bookman
CryptMaster has a nicely drawn art style reminiscent of comics. Devoid of colour, the game takes pride in its grayscale, black and white ecstatic, often to a fault. You see, it is not that easy to look around and the lack of colour does start to get a little too heavy for the eyes.
They do allow you to add a tint of light to the mix with the option to add a glow of coloured choice. While it did not change much for me, I did find the red glow to be somewhat soothing for me.
While the world is 3d, the characters which roam these lands look very much 2d. There are some exceptions like the talking save points being a sort of 2d plastered over 3d situation.
A bit too dead-long
When I began my playthrough of CryptMaster, I had a smile on my face. For every passing second, that smile felt shorter and shorter. Three, or four hours in, it was gone but the game was yet to finish. Despite having only 10 hours of gameplay, CryptMaster should have ended earlier. Maybe then it would have received more love. As it stands, a bit more variety in puzzles and combat would have been appreciated.
In the end, CyrpMaster is a completely unique and well-functioning game. However, if you are looking for a breathtaking story with good pacing, CryptMaster is not your light at the end of the tunnel.
