The Indie Informer

Can a combat-focused game feel gentle? Before playing Crypt Custodian, I didn’t think so. But this artful metroidvania manages to provide heart-pumping challenges, then immediately turn around and swaddle me in feelings. The traversal is smooth and thoughtful. Combat grows throughout with plentiful upgrades. I feel a connection to every NPC so far. And each unique area I wander into tempts me to explore every nook for secrets. I’m over six hours in and it’s been hard to put it aside long enough to write out my thoughts.

The first thing you need to know: Beware Pip The Deceiver. I became acquainted with this scheming guide back when I played the game’s demo. However, despite my knowledge, I couldn’t avoid my fate. Having lived a good life bringing my humans happiness and joy, a few mistakes in the afterlife — which Pip pushed me to! — meant I was doomed to cleaning for all eternity.

Broom in hand, I step into a world outside the comfort of The Palace. But instead of the baleful existence I was expecting, this first area washed over me like a gentle rain. There are enemies to dispatch with my sweeping implement, but there are also friendly faces. A bar sits not far along my path. Its mellow musical stylings hang in the air as I speak to the bartender and get my bearings.

Here, the devs have created a great moment to give me a focus. So far, I haven’t had any real objective, but the bartender also works as an upgrade merchant — exchanging the grime I’d cleaned up and gathered from foes for things like extra health or special attacks. Even the relaxing jukebox give me a reason to venture out as I discover collectable records I can bring back to change the tunes. From here on out, I’m on the search for all the grime I can get.

Following the winding paths of this afterlife feels wonderful. The genre-expected jump, dash, and slash are familiar but also used to facilitate creative elements. Some platforms move with an encouraging slap, some appear and reappear as I dash along, and sometimes I glide from ledge to ledge via delicate bubble. This and more keeps every step of the journey fresh.

And I’d like to tip my hat to the devs for making some kind, small choices. For instance, there are gentle invisible curbs that keep me from walking off cliffs accidently. There’s also a mechanic that grabs me out of the air, like a magnet, sticking me to a platform as I jump — so it’s more difficult to die simply because of a misjudged hop.

Death is also friendly. Not only in the narrative — the entire game takes place after my death, and there are pictures scattered throughout the world depicting the implied demise of my NPC friends — but mechanically. Checkpoints in the form of glowing wells pop up in well-calculated areas. When I die, I return to these with all my resources intact. The only thing I lose is the distance I traveled, and this is easy to make back up.

These wells also act as fast travel points that I can warp to at any time and at any point on the map. So, if I stumbled on a treasure at a dead end, I could  pick up the loot and snap back to the closest well instead of backtracking. I can also travel back to the well near the merchant’s bar the moment I realize I have enough to pay for a new upgrade. This is especially useful when I’m looking down the barrel of a big boss, which likewise dot the scenery.

As I traverse farther and farther into this world, I find more to appreciate. Biomes range from rusted metal heights to waterfall-surrounded pathways. Each is eye-catching and contains creative mechanics, objectives, and narratives. I recently uncovered the looming facade of a movie theatre that features a movie so scary many ghosts don’t walk away from it in one piece. The theater’s only employee is also a sweetie of a crow who gives me the key to unlocking several areas I’d been unable to get past previously.

The constant inevitability of finding something unexpected that sends me off on a new adventure makes Crypt Custodian hard to put down. Its player-friendly traversal and design, along with the game’s pleasing aesthetics, keeps me trapped in this gentle afterlife for hours.