People play games for various reasons. It could be that you want to experience a few thrills, lose yourself in a world beyond your imagination, or simply relax and unwind after the stress of everyday life. Some games, however, are designed to test the very limits of your patience, inducing a level of anxiety that many would rather avoid at all costs. If you’re someone who enjoys suspense and accepts ruthless challenges like a warm hug, then Krimson might be the game for you.
Everything about developer CryingPsycho’s platform, from the visual design to the sound, is designed to be an all-out assault on the senses, and for good reason. It takes place in a rather abstract representation of Hell, and your task is simply to get through each level in one piece. We say “simple”, but nothing about Krimson is particularly simple. It’s an extremely difficult game that, like Super Meat Boy and Celeste, uses death as a means to teach players how to overcome countless challenges.
The world of Krimson is in constant motion, with platforms and hazards spinning, turning, collapsing and disappearing to the beat of the music. Recognizing the beat and using it to time your jumps is key to success, and the game itself encourages you to play with headphones for best performance. The music itself, in keeping with the hellish theme of the visuals and gameplay, is a face-melting mix of heavy metal and dubstep, with a slight preference for the latter. Think Skrillex with a touch of Slayer and you’re probably on the right track. (If in doubt, announcement trailer gives you a good idea of what to expect).
Along with the standard levels, there are also some pretty unique boss battles. Again, this is mostly an exercise in moving to the beat and avoiding an avalanche of projectiles until the sequence ends, but you can also coax boss characters to get hit by lightning strikes, which occasionally flash into view in time to the music. These segments provide a nice change of pace, but a little more variety in the game would be welcome considering how many times you’re likely to die. We can only take the same repetitive attack patterns so many times.
While it’s certainly designed to be disorienting in terms of visuals, Krimson’s levels can sometimes be a little too hard to parse, with safe platforms and deadly obstacles often blending into each other. This is exacerbated by swirling, gooey textures on every surface, along with strobe effects that appear briefly upon death. There’s a lot to take in, and the game never lets up, so we often found ourselves wanting to put it down for a while just to give our senses a break. We appreciate the artistic intent, but some accessibility features that might tone down the effects or better highlight certain platforms would be welcome.
