Crypt Custodian
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Crypt Custodian was one of the greatest demos I tried on a Steam Fest at the start of the year, so when it released in August, I jumped right in. It is a metroidvania where you play as Pluto, a cat who died in a car accident and is sentenced to clean the afterlife for all eternity. The game was created by Kyle Thompson, a solo dev, and his brother Eric Thompson, who wrote all the incredible music.
In Crypt Custodian you face an unfair trial, and instead of going to the Palace to enjoy your afterlife, you are thrown into the wilderness of the purgatory, sentenced to sweep the wastes, collecting garbage that is constantly being dumped there from who knows where. However, as you wander around, you meet other unfortunate ghosts who were also denied passage to the Palace for various reasons, and together you hatch a plan to infiltrate the Palace grounds because there is something precious there, something that you all want more than anything.
Crypt Custodian struck me as an archetypical metroidvania, and I mean it in the best sense. It's the essence of what you think the modern metroidvania looks like without much of an odd quirk. You know, there are more battle-focused metroidvanias, more platforming-focused metroidvanias; some hold your hand and point you in a general direction of where to go, others do no such thing; some are very lonely, in others you might have a compelling cast of characters. I'd say, Crypt Custodian is in the middle of all these spectra and that's why it is a very approachable game that can be recommended to almost any player; precisely because it doesn't lean heavily into any single aspect of the genre, which means that it's not overly demanding.
It doesn't mean that it lacks unique features that make it stand out; one of such features is definitely its absolutely enormous, huge sprawling map that consists of hundreds of tiny islands. When zoomed out, it looks like a web of interconnected square-ish mosaic pieces, or maybe pieces of broken glass. Constantly jumping from island to island is the main kind of platforming you're gonna do throughout the game. Here I should note that Crypt Custodian controls absolutely beautifully in both combat and traversal, which is no small feat for an indie game developed by one person. I am used to fast-paced games and I always expect the controls to be as tight as possible, and this game absolutely delivers in this regard.
While your only weapon throughout the adventure is your trusty broom, the build variety is created through various trinkets that you get as rewards for exploration, challenges and puzzles. Not only can you equip Pluto to do more damage at lower health, or have a damaging aura, or summon a little ghost to his help, you can also choose a special attack that can be anything from damaging all enemies on screen, connecting them like a constellation, to becoming briefly invulnerable. The combat system is fairly simple but snappy and functions like clockwork. The difficulty scales significantly the more you progress, with more enemies on the screen, each having a few unique patterns of attack, but the learning curve is very gentle.
Another key aspect of Crypt Custodian that doesn't allow it to become a truly casual metroidvania, is the fact that you can't heal. Not only that, but you'll be able to increase your health bar by only one cat mask throughout the game, and it's an equippable trinket. I have to admit, it didn't bother me at all for the majority of the game, but towards the end, when the number of enemies on the screen is getting a little ridiculous, and bosses turn the game into bullet hell proper, it started to. It is certainly an interesting difficulty-regulating decision, but I wonder if it ended up making the game less smooth. Maybe, Crypt Custodian could benefit from a healing mechanic, even if it was limited to a couple of HP points or balanced in any other way.
The exploration is very rewarding: not only do you get to meet new characters and see all sorts of areas, from snowy peaks to the cinema theatre, from an abandoned entertainment park to a giant tower, but you also find little puzzles, secrets and challenges everywhere. The most common reward for those is an ability point, and the more you have, the more gameplay-modifying trinkets you can equip. However, if you're not really in the mood for challenges, and platforming puzzles do not bring you joy, that's fine too! You can purchase ability points for a flat rate from an NPC. I think it is a great accessibility option, and I am very grateful for it because I have a very limited interest in challenges.
Probably the only thing that I truly did not appreciate was one bit of post-endgame content that was suddenly hidden behind a whole bunch of optional challenges and riddles. Had it been some sort of upgrade, or a gameplay mechanic, I would never have cared, but it was a bit of the story, and a very important bit at that, so I had to buckle up and sweep through the entire map to collect everything I needed to gain access to a special area where I'd be able to find out an important part of the story. I used a guide for completing this last bit and I am not ashamed of it in the slightest, because it was either with a guide, or not at all. It gave me much needed closure and definitely rounded up my Crypt Custodian experience. I kind of see why it was hidden away as something extra, but I would have appreciated it if it wasn't. Anyway, it was very much worth it.
However, I must say that Crypt Custodian was hard for me to play, and it only got harder with time. It wasn't the gameplay itself — it plays wonderfully — but rather the story and characters. This game touches on complicated themes such as death in general, missing your loved ones that you've parted with forever, and the passing of pets. All the animals that you meet have passed away, just like Pluto. They are all ghosts. You can find three Polaroid pictures per character: the first one will tell you about their childhood or their early life, the second will be about some sort of event, and the final one will tell you how they died. It's just three sentences and three drawings, nothing overly graphic or violent at all, sometimes not even straightforward, but at one point I just thought I couldn't do it anymore, you know. I want to know about their lives — and deaths — because we're friends now, but honestly, I have no emotional resilience for this type of stories. Absolutely none, and I never had any. That is why I don't — and probably never will — play Neva from Nomada Studios even though I am sure it's a fantastic game. Crypt Custodian just broke my heart in this sense. So just keep that in mind if you decide to give this game a go.
Otherwise, I think Crypt Custodian is a remarkable game, considering it was created by a solo dev. It nails all metroidvania aspects, remaining consistently fun and entertaining while not suffocating the player with platforming puzzles that are too challenging, or bosses that are too tough. The writing is excellent, made even better by kind, light-hearted humor. It's also very pocket-sized for a metroidvania; it took me a little over 13 hours to complete including the extra content. And I was streaming the whole thing, so it's probably even shorter than that if you play on your own. I do recommend Crypt Custodian, but bear in mind what I said about the emotional aspect of it and the themes it explores. Might not be for everyone.
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