Iron Crypticle from Confused Pelican and TIKIPOD Ltd is a pixel art roguelike twin-stick dungeon crawler. Learn more in our Iron Crypticle review!

 

Since the game is a roguelike, if you die you lose your progress and have to start from scratch. The dungeon layouts are different every time you restart a new game, and you have several difficulties to choose from varying from easy to very hard, so there is a mode to suit the skill level of different players. I do have to warn you that the game is challenging even on easy!

When you play each game you are greeted with a map with the end goal, and you’ll notice there are dozens of rooms to complete before you can make it to the exit – that is assuming you get that far. During my first run, I struggled to make it past the first five rooms!

You are searching the dungeons for the missing royal treasures that were stolen. You play as a royal guard and must loot all dungeons until you drop! To help you survive each room, the enemies you defeat drop items so that you can regain some of your lost health, or they might also drop money which will come in handy later on. You can also collect food to boost your final score.

There are lots of treasure chests in the rooms you visit, so be sure to check them for some extra money or tasty food such as apples, eggs, donuts, cakes and more. There are also golden treasure chests, and these are packed full of food for you to collect to boost your score. You can also work on a combo if you collect several of the same food items in a row.

Since Iron Crypticle is a twin-stick shooter, you will find power-ups around the room that change your firepower, so you should collect them as soon as possible to help you overcome the onslaught of enemies on your path. Every bit of help counts, so be grateful!

Not all rooms contain wave after wave of enemies since you’ll sometimes run into shops where you can buy upgrades, others where you can complete endurance challenges, and some in which you can take part in fun mini-games.

The game does have some minor things I’d like to complain a bit about. The graphics are quite dark, which sometimes make your surroundings a little difficult to see – sure, you can adjust your TV’s brightness, but you shouldn’t need to do that. There is also the harsh difficulty balancing that should be reworked since the difficulty spikes are a ll over the place.

Overall, I had time with Iron Crypticle, especially once I started to get better at the game. You’ll need to play this one over and over again to be able to survive for longer during your subsequent runs, so be sure to stick with the game for a bit!

Disclaimer
This Iron Crypticle review is based on a PS4 copy provided by Tikipod.