Kharon's Crypt - Even Death May Die

Kharon's Crypt is a game that set out to do pretty much one thing only, but do it quite well. It's an incredibly specific thing: take the dungeons of Zelda on Game Boy (Link's Awakening), tweak the puzzle-to-combat ratio a little in favour of combat, and set the entire game in an much-expanded version of such a dungeon. There is no overworld; everything is just a long gauntlet of fighting enemies, finding keys, opening chests, defeating bosses, looking at the map to see where that one key you're missing could be. To me, the problem is that dungeons were always by far my least favourite part of Zelda games. I was hoping that since here the entire game is a dungeon it wouldn't really feel like a dungeon - but it very much did. So I found the gameplay simply not very fun, in spite of all the other cool stuff that's present in the game. That's why I'm not recommending it; yet, the things that I'm going to complain about might be the selling point for someone else, so I'll try to be informative here. The story is simple, yet interesting. It's a retelling of the Greek myth of how Sisyphus tricked Thanatos and sealed the very concept of death away so that he wouldn't die. Ever wondered why Sisyphus in Hades got such a horrible punishment, and why he and Scythe-Boi don't see eye to eye? Well, that's why. Anyway; there are two main differences. Thanathos is replaced by [strike]Charon[/strike] Kharon instead, and in the "real" version the situation got quickly resolved by Ares who got pissed that he can't slay peeps anymore. Here, Khanatos Tharon was instead sealed for an incredibly long time - enough for the Not-Sisyphus to build an entire dungeon around his seal. The only reason why you are free in the first place is because the jar you were in simply gave way. The world is also filled with stories; you can find pages in broken pots - they tell an edgified mishmash of old European fairy tales. Those stories are already pretty edgy by themselves, and here they're made even worse. There are typos here and there ("Blind Reflexion") but overall I found them fun to read, and the art was really nice. But even the best story doesn't matter much if the game's not fun to play. And Kharon's Crypt just wasn't fun for me - even if I liked a lot of its mechanics; at least on paper. For the most part, you don't play as Kharon in his flimsy soul-body, but rather an enemy, your HP determined by whatever body you managed to pick up and your attack determined by the weapon you're using. This sounds cool but in practice it adds complexity and nothing else. I've seen this very idea done far better in [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/561740/MidBoss/]MidBoss[/url], but even that game has issues with the mechanic. The dungeon crawling wasn't interesting, either. Even though every floor is its own "world", with its own music, decor and sometimes even enemies, it's still a Link's Awakening dungeon - and no amount of tweaks could really fix that feeling for me. I also got lost far more than I care to admit - and while getting lost in open world games and even Metroidvanias is where the fun's at for me, here it was frustrating, since it wasn't about "where the hell am I" but rather "where the hell is that one key that I need to open this door". Backtracking, and not the fun kind. Oh, and while in (pre-BotW) Zelda every dungeon pretty much boils down to "here, have this new toy, enjoy exploring its new uses in puzzles and combat!", here the items you got were... eh. Not particularly exciting. Like, yes, Zelda also gave you a bomb bag as a dungeon item, but that was then and this is now. It won't fly anymore. You could say that this is emblematic of the issues of this game: it tries a little too hard to resemble Link's Awakening, without channeling what made Link's Awakening a great game. It borrows the body, while ignoring the soul... oh, just like Kharon does in the game! So maybe this is actually genius and that was the whole point??? In all seriousness: if you liked the dungeons in Game Boy era Zeldas then I'd say give this a go. However, if - like me - you've been drawn towards Kharon's Crypt because of the aesthetic, the concept and the promise of a good story, then perhaps skip this one. Like I said, it focuses on this one thing. Take it or leave it; I chose the latter. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42922988/]Curator page[/url]

I remember finding this game one day while browsing Steam, I always found the design of it to be really good, and that's what mainly drew my attention. But the more I played the game, the more I found myself wanting to continue to the end, mostly for the writing [h1] In The Beginning [/h1] We start off with a bit of how the game starts. One Gigachad king decides to imprison the God of Death, Kharon, and lock him up in the crypt. That's where our game starts. [h1] Gameplay [/h1] For those of you who have played 2D Zelda games (More so the older games like the Oracle games or Link's Awaking) but with a mechanic to possess any enemy in the game. This allows the game to create a good amount of puzzles. You do have to keep an eye on the bodies health, since losing that will make you go back to original form. One thing I can appreciate the devs doing is not locking the play out of a room if they are unable to complete it, which they'll give you a body to help get out of the room. Do be warn that this game gets difficult very fast, and you have limited amount of saves. [h1] Story [/h1] I won't spoil much here, just know that the games base story, while not mentioned too much til the final part of the game, is pretty good. There is some optional lore you can pick up that tells you about tales of some characters. The pages are hidden, so you will have to find them. There is lore for almost anything in the game, from items you pick up, to the NPC, to Kharon himself. [h1] Design and Music [/h1] I'm really not that picky when it comes to music, but there are some pretty good themes in this game, like the boss theme. The design of the game is like a gameboy color aspect, with some dark fantasy tied to it. Needless to say, I think the game pulls of both styles really well. The Portraits of the characters are well made, the pages in the Index are very detailed. This game has some of the better pixel art I've seen in a game. [h1] Conclusion [/h1] This game was a very fun yet challenging experience to play, I honestly hope this game is seen by others as this would be a very good gem to miss out on.

Really solid adventure game. Ive seen a lot of comparisons to the LoZ Oracles games for the GBC, and thats fairly apt. Get tools, new gear, and from where Ive gotten, no serious back tracking unless youre trying to fill out the map. The combat isnt terribly deep, but it doesnt need to be. Grab a body that comes with a sword or such, and start swinging. Later gear comes in the form of subweapons that need ammo, and gear that uses your power meter, so theres some light resource management. My only complaint is that it needs a colorblind mode or something, as the first main boss and its attacks were incredibly hard to see. The red/blue hurt orbs are good, but boosting their contrast would do wonders for their visibility, as would lightening some of the fog in certain areas. All in all, p good. Im enjoying it, and it really does have a good sort of GBC feel to it. But without the sound cutting out whenever you do anything.

Cool possession concept and good puzzles revolving around it, but the combat is excruciatingly janky.

敵の体を乗り換えながら、 敵と戦いパズルを解いていくアクションゲーム。 XBOXコントローラー使用。日本語はない。 画面翻訳ソフトで上手く訳せなかったので、 残念ながらストーリーは読み飛ばした。 攻略情報は見ないでクリアできた。 主人公本体は障害を無視して楽に移動できるが、 鍵や宝箱を開けられず、敵を倒すこともできない。 敵の体を奪い、使い分ける必要がある。 奪った体のHPがなくなると体を失い、 主人公のHPがなくなるとゲームオーバーになる。 戦闘は素早く敵の体を乗り換え、 主人公へのダメージを抑える事が重要。 休息地点で消耗品のセーブアイテムを使ってセーブを行う。 セーブアイテムは宝箱の他に店でも買えるが、 値段は買うたびに上がる。 ・その他 ダメージを受けた敵の体を奪うと体のHPはその分低くなる。 鼠穴や像置く場所が若干分かりにくい。 赤い血のような跡で判断できる場合がある。 雪の積もった木だと思ったら動かせる像だった。 爆弾は移動しながらで投げる。すぐに爆発。 地図の赤い！マークの部屋は攻略が必要な場所。 攻略に詰まったら未到達部屋の周りや赤い！の部屋を調べる。 初めて来た時点ではパズルが解けない事も多い。 ボス戦は基本的にザコ敵が湧いてくることになる。

Although i haven't had the chance to finish the game yet, I'd have to say I've had a good time with it. There are certainly a number of typos and what I'm assuming are translation issues as the characters that are rhyming don't always seem to rhyme or say things that can barely be considered a rhyme. nothing super major of course Trying to play with a controller, it feels better with the D-pad as using analog for movement tends to get you falling off ledges more often than now the Boss encounters. I do enjoy how they are simpler when using the items you collect, yet aren't fully required depending on how well you can handle it, though they do feel a bit drawn on or overstayed their welcome a bit, similar to some room puzzles, though maybe i was missing something as i still enjoyed the fights and mechanics regardless with a bit more patience is all I'll update with my thoughts after i finish the game how the rest feels

Great game. It really rewards you for learning the secrets of the world and the stories along the way are wonderful.

This is a really great game that does a lot of new and interesting things and does them well. It has a great, spooky vibe and has some dark world building behind it. Towards the end, I was getting more and more aggravated by little issues that added up, and I think if I didn't beat the boss in a single go, I might have a vastly different feeling about the game. But in spite of those issues, I enjoyed it and will recommend it to fans of Metroidvanias and top-down Zelda games. Pros: + You have an interesting mechanic where you play as the specter of Death, and are weak and intangible in your shade form. All you can do in that form is float over and through obstacles, stun enemies, and possess them. Once you possess a body, depending on the body, you have some unique attacks and abilities, can pick up treasure, and use items. It makes the game a bit easier than it would be otherwise because if you take enough damage to destroy the body you inhabit, you are still a shade with full health and just need to survive until you can take another body. Body swapping plays a pretty important part of the game and the puzzles + Some of the best 2D Zelda-style puzzles out there. It reminds me of the GameBoy Color Oracle of Ages/Seasons where you whole dungeon is a puzzle and you need to check the map, navigate it carefully, and manage to bring the right thing to the right place to move on. A lot of the puzzles might be a bit familiar, but a lot feel like fresh takes on that kind of puzzle. And there are a ton of secrets. + Challenging (but not too challenging) boss fights. Big boss fights have a trick to them like the best kind of Zelda bosses. You have to solve them as well as avoid getting hit and giving as good as you get. They aren't super tough, since it's easy to survive as a shade and you just have to stay alive until you can snatch another body. I beat every boss on my first or second try. + A lot of secrets. This game really makes you scratch your head to find everything. You'll find a room accessible by possessing a mouse and find a chest in there. But you need hands to open a chest, so you need to get a body with hands in there. How do you do that? If you're observant, there's a way. I scoured the map and only got 85% out of 113%. Unfortunately, I'm not going to try and get everything. More on that below. Some things that annoyed me: -No fast travel. For a game that is challenging to navigate as this one, not having fast travel is a real pain. If you didn't solve a puzzle three floors ago, all you can do it walk the winding way back there on foot. Sometimes you'll have to re-solve puzzles as you go, or swap bodies to clear specific obstacles. Luckily you don't *have* to backtrack much, each couple floors are self-contained and once you move on, revisiting those floors is only for the completionists who want every thing they can find. But since these games usually cater to completionists, and so does this one with an achievement for finding 113%, it is a pain. -Having to swap bodies can be a pain. Often puzzles require a certain body to solve them. And the bodies you inhabit are somewhat fragile. If your body dies and one isn't available, sometimes you have to travel back several rooms to find a new suitable one. Often the game will accommodate this with infinitely spawning creatures in certain rooms, but not always. Also there are enemies who will pretend to be pots and bushes and will charge at you and explode. These pretty much are just the devs saying "F-you" to the players. - Saving requires a special item that is consumed on use. It's not too bad as far as these things go, there are a number to be found and every store sells them. Each scroll you buy gets a little more expensive than the last but I was in the final area and had plenty of money to spend so it was never really a problem, but it was kind of a pain. There were times when I saved out of desperation while possessing a body with just a couple hit points. If I wanted to then abandon this body and grab another one with full health and weapons, I would have to burn another scroll to do so. This will never not be a downside for me. - These three things combine to make the game more tedious than it needs to be. I can't just open the game, warp to an old area, look for items and secrets I missed for 5-15 minutes, and save and quit. I think if these things weren't so annoying, the game would be 9.5/10. Instead it's closer to an 8-8.5/10. Still recommend it, but I'm probably not going to try for all the secrets or play it again. - Also, the final boss fight was annoying. Not super difficult or challenging, but annoying. It was one of those bullet hell style fights where there were only a few points of vulnerability. It went on for too long imo. I didn't feel happy I beat it, but relieved I wouldn't have to try again. All in all, the good outweighs the bad by a good margin. These annoyances only keep it from being a "must play" imo. If you like old-school games, including their annoyances, this is a great one to play.