The best action roguelikes are defined by choice. Deciding which boons to go for in Hades, which biomes to explore in Dead Cells, or what item to hold onto in Spelunky. These are tough decisions, and they quickly come to define your run and, in turn, future. Perhaps one route will lead to victory? Or, more likely, it’ll lead to another lifeless corpse littering the ground. New roguelike Cryptical Path is taking a different approach, though, and it’s one of the coolest ideas I’ve seen in the genre for a while. Best of all, the game is out now with a nice discount too.
Cryptical Path is a roguelike game split into two halves. On the one hand, it’s an action side-scroller in a similar vein to Dead Cells: you dodge, dash, and slash through enemies to get past each level. You’ve got items and talents to master, and need to get to grips with the core combat and controls to get as far as possible.
Instead of running through a randomly generated dungeon, however, Cryptical Path is different: you build the dungeon yourself. You can open your map and choose what rooms to place where, giving you complete control over the strategy and layout. You’ve still got to reach the boss, but this time you can choose how to get there.
As someone who plays a lot of action roguelikes, the ability to place the rooms yourself is an incredibly cool concept. I love being able to choose my own way in games like Hades and Dead Cells, but Cryptical Path is taking that to a whole other level. Having myriad room types means you can build a run not just to suit your playstyle, but what you need at any given moment.
Old Skull Games has just released Cryptical Path on Steam, with a discount available until Wednesday February 12. You can grab the game at $11.24 / £9.59. Check it out here.
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