Ultra-Indie Daily Dose: In The Court Of The Castle Crimson
Hello, you glorious gluttons for all things indie horror! Are you just starving for the newest of the new, the most unknownest of the unknown? If so, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to the Ultra-Indie Daily Dose! In this series, we’re going to pick a new game every day from an indie horror creator you’ve probably never heard of. No million-dollar budgets or factory productions. This is the space for the little guy with not but a developer toolkit and a dream. So if you’re down to roll the dice on something different, then stick around and check it out!
The description on itch.io reads “Moon God Akuty found himself a soul that contained no evil.” If that isn’t just an inverted spin off of Dark Soul(s), nothing is. And you know what? That rules. As Castle Crimson is testament, we should be fine with reusing a concept that’s already great.
Castle Crimson is a nice little grimdark game by LuneStellar. In it, you play as the resurrected King Crimson, a knight in not-so-shining armor. Channeling the aesthetic of Castlevania, the top-down style of The Legend of Zelda and the stamina-focused gameplay of Dark Souls, the result is that Castle Crimson is really difficult but really fun. Especially difficult.
The combat in Castle Crimson channels the Dark Souls gameplay, which unfortunately makes an awkward transition to 2D. You don’t have the ability to easily dodge or move diagonally, and you also have some significant cooldown after performing an attack. That means each strike is a commitment, and so the game must be taken a lot more carefully.
Castle Crimson could be a direct reference to the band King Crimson, seeing as that evil-free soul is named as such. Or perhaps great minds just think alike. In any case, though this build may be a bit amateurish, the concept is great. You can try it out for free (but you should pay, if you can) by clicking here.
