Created by Renerdercode Games in 2016 and remastered for re-release in 2022, Crypt of the Serpent King is advertised as a “medieval first-person hack’n’slash dungeon crawler with roguelike elements.”
Let’s break that down a bit.
- Medieval = Nope. First, there is nothing to suggest the setting is Medieval except maybe because the walls are made of stones or the character uses a sword. Second, this game has zero plot, so the idea of being in the Middle Ages has no bearing on the player.
- Hack’n’slash = Yes! As advertised! That is what the player will do. In fact, that is all the player will do. Hack and then slash. Repeatedly. For seven levels.
- Dungeon crawler= Yes! This is a dungeon crawler. Which happens to be my favorite kind of game and a favorite episode of Adventure Time (Dungeon Train, Season 5, Episode 36). I love attackin’ enemies, lootin’ corpses, findin’ traysure, and UPgradin’ my gear!… This game does not do this. Corpses hold no swag, and chests only contain health potions or gold; that’s it. Yes, there are different weapons, but no need to upgrade. In fact, once you’ve got enough gold to buy the sword, you don’t need to think about your gear ever again.
- Roguelike elements = Nope. Not even sure what this means. When I think of rogues, I think of character classes, stealth missions, and light armor. None of that is in this game. The player can choose different weapons, but none makes a difference for gameplay. Ranged weapons are pointless, considering every enemy (even the level bosses) acts exactly the same. They walk at you and then attack. You, the player, need only step back when they attack, then counterattack. Doesn’t feel very roguelike.
Let’s be clear. I’m not trying to dump on someone’s passion project, and I understand that it’s easier to criticize than create, but play this game for five minutes, and you’ll understand it is not as advertised.
Randomly Generated Nothing
This game’s other big selling point is the “randomly generated dungeons.” At first, I thought, “This will be cool. How can I get bored when I never know what I will run into?”
Well, randomly generated actually means only each level map is randomly generated. Every level will always hold precisely one type of creature (Level 1= Ax rats, Level 2 = Sexy goblins) and the same types of chests (Health or gold). Every time. Okay, the chests are sometimes prominently placed in different hallways, but… I don’t consider this “randomly generated.”
Difficulty Settings
The only other thing to discuss is the “3 levels of difficulty.” Causal, Normal, and Hardcore.
Here are the differences:
- In Casual, you find gold and health; if you die, you get to keep it.
- In Normal, you find gold and health; if you die, you do not get to keep it.
- In Hardcore, you only find gold; if you die, you don’t get to keep it.
In both editions, you can’t play Hardcore until you’ve unlocked it by playing the easier levels.
In the original edition, you could not earn a platinum trophy unless you completed all three difficulties. In the Remastered 4K, you only need to complete Casual to get all the achievements and trophies unlocked, essentially taking this from a four-hour game to a ninety-minute game.
Why the Remaster?
I keep asking myself this question. What was so great about this game that it was remastered and re-released after only six years? I still have no answer.
Remastering is about taking advantage of new technology to improve graphics and gameplay. Crypt was released in 2016, so I’m assuming the 2006 aesthetic was intentional. Maybe? There was definitely no attempt to update the graphics.
The only difference between the original and the remastered, as far as I can tell, is that the remastered has two snakes on the title screen.
Who Should Play?
Either the very drunk or the very sober.
This is a game that MST3K could narrate. It should be played like Rock Band; lots of friends, probably a little inebriated, with lots of laughter and snarky comments.
This game could also be a speedrunner’s dream. The gameplay is so repetitive that it would be nothing for a speedrunner to master the moves. At the same time, the randomly generated maps would throw in just enough of a challenge to make it fun.
According to speedrunner.com, the current fastest time is 12 minutes 26 seconds. That’s for the entire game. That’s how little a player needs to do.
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Related: Reviews by Michelle Jones
I'm a completionist gamer who just needs to find that one last object and clear that final dungeon. I love all video games, from open world sandboxes on a console to a mindless match three on my phone. In addition to gaming and writing, I am a graduate student working on a thesis about the ancient Icelandic Sagas. Feel free to ask me anything about Vikings.
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