Word Games – CtrlAltNoob

Cryptmaster

Developer:

Paul Hart, Lee Williams, Akupara Games

Release Date: 9 May 2024

SAY ANYTHING in this bizarre dungeon adventure where words control everything. Fill in the blanks with text or voice to uncover lost abilities, embark on strange quests, and solve mindbending riddles. Can you conquer the crypt and uncover the mystery at the heart of CRYPTMASTER?

I have never played anything quite like Cryptmaster before, and that is not only down to my lack of dungeon crawling experience. In Cryptmaster, you gain your powers through words. Exploring, finding chests, solving riddles and killing enemies grants you letters, aiding in figuring out your characters next ability in this dynamic game of hang-man.

Is it cruel to make a crew of dead people play hang-man? Probably, but it is also very fitting with the games humorous tone. A huge part of the gameplay is being able to type words at any time, which you can use to take as many guesses at the game of hang-man mentioned above, but also to interact with the world around you. Our ever so slightly demonic looking guide will converse with us depending on what we try to do, resulting in me getting chastised for my virtual kleptomaniac tendencies more times than I should probably admit.

Combat didn’t fully click with me during my two times through the demo. The first time I tried the recommended ‘real time’, but the juggling act of remembering the words and typing them accurately with haste would send me off into a clumsy panic, struggling to decipher whether what I was doing was effective or not. The second time I decided to try the ‘turn based’ approach. While I did get hit less during this mode, I didn’t quite understand what consisted as a turn. Thankfully though, the riddle based sections were enough fun to compensate for the difficulties I was having.

The last section of the demo showed a preview of mechanics yet to come, but it ended before getting to experience them, including some resource management regarding using words. Time will tell whether these mechanics will work for me personally, but I can imagine the audience that thrives on this gameplay. For me, this feels like it would be a really fun live-stream game, as the collaborative effort of solving the riddles and the over-arching word puzzle of the abilities would be a lot of fun for everyone. Not to mention, getting to meet some absolutely bizarre characters with very fun performances.

Demo Length – 45 mins
At a glance
+ The riddles are fun.
+ Being able to type at any time is a great choice.
+ The freedom to explore.
+ Fun performances and character designs.
+ The sketched art direction compliments the word based gameplay.
+ The humour is fun.
– Realtime combat felt difficult, turn based felt confusing.