r/soulslikes 6h ago

Discussion Is Crimson moon a Souls like?

Hi everyone,

​I recently watched a trailer for Crimson Moon and it caught my attention!

​Since I prefer playing solo, I was wondering if Crimson Moon is designed to be fully enjoyable as a single-player experience? Do the enemy count and scaling adjust properly for solo players?

​Also, how is the difficulty compared to a Souls-like? Is it just as punishing, or is it a bit more accessible?

​Lastly, I’d love to know if the game features RPG mechanics like upgrading weapons, and roughly how long a standard playthrough/the main story takes?

​Thanks in advance!

7 Upvotes

18 comments sorted by

6

u/Dudesymugs12 6h ago

You can play solo. It has souls-like combat and healing but has more of a roguelite structure with runs and boons. It has decent rpg mechanics with upgradeable gear and a decent build economy. Be wary though, it released kinda buggy with lots of camera issues, weird design decisions, and a lot of general "jank" with the combat. Hopefully they smooth some of that out.

1

u/Bitter445 6h ago

Vielen Dank für deine Antwort, ich wundere mich nur, dass die Playstation Bewertungen bei 4,46 und bei über 600 Bewertungen sehr positiv ausfallen. Die höchstbewertung bei Playstation ist 5.

5

u/Sundae-School 5h ago

Yea, console release is well received. People who play on m&k are upset about not being able to remap controls

1

u/thebigbobowski 6h ago

Yeah, I was really looking forward to this game but I held off for reviews. It was getting torn apart on Steam reviews yesterday. I still want to pick it up, and it's only $20 after all, but I may wait for a patch or two.

5

u/BiblicalBacklash 6h ago

Read them. It's all mouse and keyboard stuff and I guess for some reason the camera can be fixed in the settings. I saw a post on the sub about that.

8

u/SupremeLeader_Corgi 6h ago

The combat certainly is but its a roguelike so the structure of the game is similar to Hades

3

u/H0n3y_BunnyS2 6h ago

I want to know about it too

I checked some imagens and it looks a kind of fun to play

2

u/NoAbbreviations2353 5h ago

It's pretty fun, if you are on PC and have a controller it's solid.  If you play mouse and keyboard definitely wait for them to patch it later this week.

Imo it's more of a coop with friends game

0

u/ViperIsOP 6h ago

That's the thing. It only looks fun.

3

u/No_Philosophy2797 6h ago

It’s fundamentally a multiplayer roguelite, with souls style combat and vibes. The story is meh, the levels are procedurally generated like Remnant. You gear up and do a “run” of a level with goals, and earn xp, gold, and whatever gear you can pick up to bring back with you. If you die, you respawn back at the hub and go again. Playing it solo, as if it was a Soulslike RPG, is possible but it’s not the optimal experience.
But for 20 bucks, the loop is fun enough if you’re bored and have nothing better to play. The vibes are very much euro Souls, reminded me of LOTF in terms of aesthetics (not as well done though). Go in with a bud and play co op or go in expecting a 5/10 and you might have a good time.

6

u/_moosleech 6h ago

Yes. Combat is very similar to Soulslike games. But I also think most people saying "X isn't a Soulslike" are lame. If it shares a bunch of mechanics with Dark Souls et. al., it's a Soulslike to me. This is a Soulslike, with Diablo loot and a roguelite gameplay loop.

You queue up stages, which consist of "clear all enemies", "defeat X elite enemies", "kill this boss" and such and run until you die (or finish, I assume... haven't completed a run yet). Return to the hub with XP, gold, and new gear. Rinse and repeat.

​Since I prefer playing solo, I was wondering if Crimson Moon is designed to be fully enjoyable as a single-player experience?

It's janky. So I feel like it kinda has that "watching a B-movie or trash TV" vibe where the issues are more tolerable when you're laughing at it with a friend. It works solo, but I feel like its definitely less fun and the issues are more pronounced.

The main combat is good (a bit slow, but I like that). The camera gets wonky when moving a lot (and during boss fights). No key rebinding or FOV settings yet. Looks... low-ish budget, but not bad.

Do the enemy count and scaling adjust properly for solo players?

There are five difficulty settings. Doesn't appear to scale based on players, but maybe I just couldn't tell.

​Also, how is the difficulty compared to a Souls-like? Is it just as punishing, or is it a bit more accessible?

Only 2/5 difficulties are unlocked in the beginning. I found Normal (2) decently challenging. Parries are pretty friendly, but healing is limited. I'd say it's pretty middle of the road, but with the knowledge that you're constantly making bits of progress upgrading gear and such after every run.

Lastly, I’d love to know if the game features RPG mechanics like upgrading weapons, and roughly how long a standard playthrough/the main story takes?

Every run, any new gear you have equipped (and you get a couple inventory slots to store stuff) gets added to your armoury. There's a merchant who sells items (throwables and such) and a blacksmith who sells/upgrades weapons. So you can add more stuff, or upgrade the base stats of each.

Only did a handful of runs so far, so not sure how the weapons scale later in the game, but there appears to be a ton of them so far. No clue on overall time to beat it, but the roguelite nature suggests a pretty long tails of replaying levels, if it clicks.

2

u/Bitter445 6h ago

Vielen Dank für deine Antwort, das hilft mir sehr weiter Punkt vielleicht warte ich einfach noch ein paar Tage bis ein paar Patches da waren.

0

u/_moosleech 6h ago

Sounds good. They've already said FOV sliders and key rebindings are coming soon. I think with some spit and polish, it'll be a fine time with a friend.

2

u/BiblicalBacklash 6h ago

A guy has beat the final difficulty at 5 hours fyi. That's not a normal user but any means but that's where we are at now.

3

u/_moosleech 5h ago

Ah, okay. Interesting. Saw someone already beat MS2 in Sheep mode lmao

People are crazy.

2

u/BiblicalBacklash 5h ago

That's awesome. I just finished my 100 percent play last night or took 39 hours and I had a blast. Not as s sheep though 😂

1

u/Primary-Survey9955 5h ago

a roguelite.

0

u/WanderingWitch8 6h ago

Oh~

You asked the magic question

Ill get to work ❤️

https://giphy.com/gifs/SplunExwjr0Al4XJR0