One of the oldest battles represented in gaming is the never-ending conflict between good and evil, and one of the most represented genres in gaming today — the roguelike — continues to be the gift that keeps giving. But what happens when the indie developer, PlayableMonsters, combines the two? The answer is Crimson Moon. ProbablyMonsters deploys a solid action title that doubles as an infectious co-op adventure, demanding you try over and over again to defeat the abominations that destroyed the city and take it back. In Crimson Moon, you are humanity’s last hope and its greatest weapon.
ProbablyMonsters tosses you in the deep end as Nephilim, a human-angel hybrid member of the order of the Crimson Moon, and you are the last line of defence to clean up the mess caused by the fall of the city of Gildenarch. Each ‘run’ towards danger pits you set on a mission to reclaim the fallen city, and each mission sees you return to the hub world of The Church in triumph (or failure), like a proper roguelike.
Where Crimson Moon could be confused is its hybrid of Souls-like and Roguelike features, and gothic medieval high-fantasy presentation. While Crimson Moon is a true action-RPG, ProbablyMonsters has deployed numerous difficulty options for players who want to take the edge off and play at their own speed (unlike other soulslike titles). This might be its biggest strength and weakness, as some fans may discount this journey as ‘just another Soulslike’ without giving it a fair shake. I’m happy to report that isn’t the case.
Crimson Moon is a roguelike first, and on top of that, the entire game can be played in seamless co-op, so a team of Nephilim can beat down the demons infesting Gildenarch. ProbablyMonsters also inserted a musical composition that can be described as undoubtedly metal, and the blood-rushing tempo keeps pace with what’s on the screen at any given moment.
Moving around as Nephilim feels fast and responsive, and you have access to all the tried-and-true action-RPG mechanics. You can dodge, parry, use light combos, heavy attacks, and uncork your true power by going into a special rage mode that sees your Nephilim embody their more angelic side in a flair of angelic fury. It’s basically a rage mode denoted by full angel wings and an angel staff, and it absolutely levels scores of demons with a fast and flashy moveset. When not on the streets of Gildenarch killing demons, you are in the hub world, The Church.
The Church is also loaded with helpful NPCs that make each run a little easier than the last, like SuperGiant’s House of Hades. The Church gives you access to a Blacksmith, an item shop, a lore NPC (dubbed the Historian) that teaches you the ways of the Crimson Moon, and a commander that tells you your next goal. The Church is where everything starts and ends in Crimson Moon, and you will spend a good amount of time here.
“In Crimson Moon, you are humanity’s last hope and its greatest weapon.”
Instead of giving players a regular inventory system, you can choose what to use on the fly during runs. Each Nephilim is equipped with a classic sword-and-board combo, and a two-handed weapon of some kind on the back bar. There are over 30 different weapon types, so each run will feel markedly different, and Crimson Moon demands you build with structure; otherwise, later missions will see David vs. Goliath levels of a mismatch.
This is where Crimson Moon stands out most. While there are aspects of Soulslikes and Roguelikes under the surface of Crimson Moon, it plays a lot more like Elden Ring: Nightreign than anything else, and while there is no closing ring or time limit, I was forced to make my character build on the fly to defeat the demonic hordes infesting the streets of Gildenarch.
After each biome, you’re also given a passive boon to buff your growing stats and to make your build even stronger for more abominations down the line. Unlike Nightreign, however, I was unable to dig through my acquired inventory to change my playstyle mid-run.
Instead, when you pick up an item, you have two choices: Either equip the item and run with it, or stuff it in your inventory to be purified and equipped later for a cost. You have to make these decisions mid-run, and sometimes, you can tell immediately when you have made the wrong one. In Crimson Moon, build experimentation is fun and varied, and when your Nephilim build falls flat, it’s back to The Church to try again.
As you get better in Crimson Moon, you may be tempted to up the difficulty, and ProbablyMonsters basically goads you on by dangling the carrot of extra rewards in front of your face. I’m happy to report that when you do, enemies behave smarter; they have enchanted weapons, and they do a whole lot more damage to you with just one difficulty uptick. ProbablyMonsters may have taken a page out of Devil May Cry’s book with how difficulty works, as enemies don’t just take more hits and deal more damage when the toggle is turned up: the game adjusts to it.
In practice, Crimson Moon is a great time, and after each failure there’s that allure of ‘try again, won’t you?’ When you mow down a small mob of monster fare, it feels powerful, only for a stronger enemy to hit you for half of your health in the next beat. You must remain vigilant as Nephilim, and defeating the varied hordes populating the streets of Gildenarch is a strenuous affair. Big enemies with hammers, executioners with jagged longswords, and even spellcasters infest the streets, and you will have to use smart tactics to exterminate them.
In one run, I equipped a frost sword and shield, with a burning spear on my back bar to stack multiple forms of damage at once, and it worked just as advertised. I was able to smash a large enemy with a parry, hit the lumbering foe with some frost stacks from my sword, dodge roll, and then hit the enemy with my spear a few times to build fire stack damage.
After that groundwork was laid, I was able to stagger them with another parry and finish the lumbering enemy off with a coup de grace that sees your almighty Nephilim use their own hammer to smash their skull out of existence. When Crimson Moon hits its stride, it absolutely rocks, and gameplay goes hand-in-hand with the blood-rushing metal in the background.
On the flip side, Crimson Moon did have some performance issues and hiccups that left me a little bewildered. With such a precise parry mechanic, any frame rate dip feels like it takes minutes, and often parry would feel sluggish and less responsive than it should, leaving me with the familiar, “but I parried!” complaint.
“In Crimson Moon, build experimentation is fun and varied, and when your Nephilim build falls flat, it’s back to The Church to try again.”
On top of that, the hallmark of the genre, Dark Souls, became famous in three mainline titles without including the verticality present in the new Elden Ring and Elden Ring: Nightreign. In plain terms, you did not have a reliable jump button. Unfortunately for Crimson Moon, you do, and it feels very bad in every aspect.
In the first mission that sees you as Nephilim patrol the streets of Gildenarch, there’s a segment where you need to perform basic platforming down what feels like a windmill, and it feels terrible. It’s almost as if ProbablyMonsters knew this, though, because there is no fall damage in Crimson Moon, and that’s a blessing. So, while these hiccups in gameplay are present, they are far from game-breaking. It’s also worth mentioning that during my playtime, ProbablyMonsters dropped numerous updates to fix performance, and they work well (albeit there are still issues), so the developers are keen on honing the experience to meet expectations.
Crimson Moon is infectious. ProbablyMonsters dug into their bag of tricks to deploy a roguelike soulslike hybrid, and they’ve earned their flowers. With a metal soundtrack that keeps the blood flowing, difficulty settings that level up with the player, and countless builds to take down demon enemies with, Crimson Moon gives players another title to rip demons to shreds in, and it feels damn good in practice.
While there are some general gameplay issues (namely, the jump is atrocious), ProbablyMonsters has already made numerous improvements before launch to help smooth the rough edges. Everything considered, Crimson Moon is a good time (issues and all), and could be the next title that glues roguelike fanatics to their chair with the allure of ‘one more try.’
