I love Crypt Custodian’s protagonist cat, but its combat not so much
There’s a lot to like about Crypt Custodian, I’ll admit. It has a cat protagonist, which instantly makes it into a winner. A black cat protagonist, no less, like my own little tiny panther. Its world is also intriguing and, given little direction about where to go, I was initially interested to see where I ended up. Moving around feels good, and I was very quickly introduced to an upgrade system that lets me equip my feline character with a bunch of interesting skills as I progress.
It’s an intrigue that quickly waned though. It’s not that Crypt Custodian is bad; it’s just a little mundane. The world soon gets repetitive and, after around an hour of wandering around, I suddenly didn’t really care. Sure, you can see the metroidvania design immediately in jumps that you can’t quite reach just yet, but I found I wasn’t particularly interested in where they might lead. More of the same. Lovely. More of the same.
Maybe combat is where my interest took the biggest hit. It’s responsive and fast-paced, sure, but it’s also unforgiving in that you’re frequently swarmed with multiple enemies. With only a broom to attack, you’re limited to up-close melee damage, which means you need to rely on your dodge roll (complete with cooldown timer) to succeed. Sure, more skills help things along: I quickly equipped a powered-up attack that momentarily applied a spinning torrent of damaging spikes around me. But it wasn’t a gamechanger. If you’re not adept at the ol’ dodge-and-dash combat dance, you’re going to have a hard time here, even on Easy difficulty.
Not everyone groans at repetitive, incessant combat, I’ll admit. The skills here are useful, with you able to equip modifiers such as dealing extra damage, or being able to move faster, making your battles that bit easier. There are boss fights too; great, hulking beasts with attack patterns to learn and all that usual stuff. I can see why you’d like it. But in terms of combat, nothing feels particularly unique or clever.
Related: The best metroidvania games on PS5
There are glimmers of something more interesting here, however, primarily in Crypt Custodian’s puzzles. You’ll occasionally find your path blocked, requiring a bit of legwork to unlock the way forward. The puzzles I’ve encountered so far have had me hitting spirits from one portal to another in order to unlock gates. These puzzles are occasionally tricky, requiring your brain to be engaged, using walls to bounce the spirits off, or figuring out how you can change its trajectory while it’s travelling. It’s a welcome type of challenge, a nice respite from combat.
There are hidden ghostly cats to find, too, giving you reason to explore every nook and cranny of its sprawling world if you care to do so. And you’ll occasionally come across a new character to talk to, all of whom are interesting and well-written.
So, no, Crypt Custodian isn’t a bad game. But the things that make it more interesting are bogged down under generic gameplay. With less combat and more exploration, more puzzle-solving, Crypt Custodian probably would have kept me engaged. But I’m just tired of endlessly swinging a weapon, dodging, repeating. Sorry, little kitty, you’re going to have to complete this journey without me.
Crypt Custodian is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC.
