Recent reviews by Deckard Cain

Despite having "Project" in its name, this is not an Early Access title, nor is it one of those amorphous works-in-progress from a directionless developer. It is ready for you right now, and every second spent doing anything else is a regrettable waste of your time.

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Crystal Project is an unexpected masterpiece in several directions at once, a marriage of the thrills of unobstructed open-world exploration with the familiar mechanics and charming pixel graphics of classic JRPGs. Great care has also been taken to address all of the traditional grievances associated with both genres: There is no wasted space, not one grain of boredom, in the incalculably massive planet that is this game's sprawling world map, and everything from equipment to attributes to combat abilities are not only immaculately organized and explicitly described, they're all more than merely dumb pictures with some numbers stapled on... and the same can be said for the hundreds of different, cleverly-designed enemies populating this landscape that genuinely never stops presenting you with surprises and challenges in equal measure.

This union could have been a disastrous collision, embodying only the worst qualities of No Man's Sky (an impressive technical achievement in using the most amount of space to support the least amount of activity) and Ephemeral Fantasia (described negatively as "generic" in a genre defined by being formulaic). Instead, Crystal Project is an endless, private safari that is driven solely by your desires in the moment, with combat served by humanity's most painstakingly refined JRPG engine. And if everything I've written so far gives you the impression that this is just a giant prissy cakewalk for casual softies, I am delighted to inform you that there is no shortage of SAVAGE, UNRELENTING, INHUMANE ASSWHOOPIN available upon request throughout the game. You can walk right into the bloodsoaked den belonging to your choice of Sales Associate and they will oblige you far beyond your expectations and your personal comfort. If your idea of fun is an intense hour-long war against one of dozens of optional superbosses who is determined to leave you no breathing room and no hope of victory, then you really need to hop in and get yourself some of this glory.

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One primary focus of the game is exploration, particularly in a way that is driven by the player's own natural curiosity - no glowing quest markers insulting your intelligence, no pop-up journal entries or obtrusive HUD urgently screaming for your attention. Every surface, occupied or otherwise, is an invitation for your eager feet to carry you to ever more and ever greater scenes of wonder. Describing this game as "built entirely of secret areas within secret areas" is only a slight exaggeration, and every time you swear you've visited every region, you'll turn a corner and discover entire continents you never knew existed, along with the oceans encircling them, and the abyssal depths beneath those.

There is a moderate "precision platforming" element at work here, nowhere near as confrontationally hateful as Getting Over It but somewhat more demanding than Kirby fare. Once you're up that hill, or on top of that shopkeeper's hut, you'll have forgotten any gritting of teeth done in the process. The developer is a man who deeply appreciates the joys of discovery, the reconnaissance of the unknown, and this game of his is a monument to that emotion and to those who treasure it.

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Nothing is more yawn-inducing than a stale Dragon Quest knockoff. Nothing is more flavorless than Ice Storm being just a Fireball with a different name. The same goes for a Dagger being a Sword that your Fighter just inexplicably can't equip (I guess because it's too complicated?). All of these tropes and more have been cast aside in Crystal Project, and the remaining good parts have been enhanced with both quality-of-life improvements and design decisions that give each element its own identity, and each individual spell and weapon category its own unique tactical niche.

A basic Fire spell might deal lower damage than its Water or Ice siblings, but its burn debuff sets it apart just as much as the Water spell's temporary magic damage buff it places on the caster, or the Ice spell's magic resistance debuff. More powerful spells of the same element don't just add "better" versions of those effects, but instead behave entirely differently, such as being mitigated using the target's physical defense stat, or affecting all enemy targets at once! Weapons and armor receive a similar treatment, with each category of weapon filling a particular role rather than being "designated" only for a certain job class. Each character can, with the right talent selections, equip whatever weapons they want, allowing for a tremendous amount of freedom in party setup, and there are outliers in every group - most wands generally benefit mages, but don't be surprised if you find one that sports high physical attack stats, or a rapier that increases max MP!

Your characters can change their current job class as freely as you change underwear in the privacy of your bedroom closet or public bathroom stall, but unlike you, they can compliment their job's command list with any other job's list, using any of those abilities they've previously learned. Your Warrior can use the Rogue menu as his "sub-command" to Steal stuff if he's not busy! Your Cleric can use Warrior attack skills when he runs out of mana (or at any other time)! Furthermore, each job has an important intrinsic passive perk, so there's a significant tactical difference between a Warrior/Cleric and a Cleric/Warrior, even though those characters would share the same pair of command menus!

Now, four paragraphs in, I'll finally cover the fact that you unlock new classes as you explore the world. Every time you review their skills and perks, no matter how many other classes you've picked up, you will always say "oh THIS is COOL" and busily formulate new synergies and scramble to rearrange your team to accommodate the new toy.

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First of all, I want to highlight that you can do whatever you want, that's a core theme of the game. But anyway, no, you also fight things. These things are varied and numerous and they hang out everywhere. As a consequence of the game's open-ended nature, with no invisible walls or plot railroads restraining you, you're perfectly capable of breaking into secure areas filled with angry residents who are far above your current power level. Once there, you're free to retreat, and you're also equally free to lunge straight into the waiting jaws of danger, and if you're both sneaky and patient, you're free to case the place for any accessible treasure chests or other goodies with too few guards. You might come away with some sick gear that puts an unsportsmanlike dent in the enemies closer to your level, or you might get spotted and dunked on, in which case your reward will be valuable strategic information on the monsters responsible for your latest heroic death.

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My conclusion is that I'm gonna get back to playing Crystal Project now so if you need more convincing then you're gonna have to find somebody else. I am stunned that the guy is only asking $15 for this gem. If I ever get exiled to a forbidden island for a year and my jailers mercifully allow me $100 to spend on survival supplies then I'm buying Crystal Project and $85 worth of food and toilet paper.

This game is not shy about allowing you to be the author of your own sudden and unceremonious death. It is an allegory for the bleak reality of life in the lightless abyss of Finland: Everything bad is your fault, and God abandoned you.

I am an aficionado of Roguelikes, from the obscure (Omega, Incursion: Halls of the Goblin King, ALPHAMAN, UnReal World), to the traditional staples (Nethack, ToME, the myriad Angband forks, Linley's Dungeon Crawl), to the modern Diablo clones (Path of Exile, WOLCEN: Lords of Mayhem, Grim Dawn).

Cogmind genuinely impresses me, and I recommend it to everyone who enjoys Roguelikes.

The game's lore is intriguing and deep while also being unobtrusive, so you're free to explore the "fluff" only if you so desire. A wide variety of raw destructive powers are yours to command, as well as speed, stealth, and reconnaissance options, and you are free to manipulate the many stationary machines throughout the landscape to suit your needs - and incautious players stand to be punished harshly by all of the above.

As a metagame note, Cogmind's developer keeps a blog detailing his design decisions as well as under-the-hood programming notes about his work, which is a very enlightening and well-written resource. It is available at the game's website, and I recommend it to anyone interested in the creation of Roguelikes or other computer games.

Knowing that this product exists is like watching while Santa Claus rapes Gary Gygax to death, while another Santa Claus rapes the first Santa Claus to death, forever. So actually it's a lot like Tides of Numenera.