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CRYPTARK is a game I discovered by searching for twin stick shooters. I was looking for games in the genre that I haven’t heard of or may have overlooked and I found a post on Reddit that mentioned CRYPTARK. So I looked it up, liked the concept, and I decided to check it out. Developed and published by Alientrap, CRYPTARK was released for PC and PlayStation 4 in June, 2017. For this review, I played the PC version. CRYPTARK is a 2D shooter that has you infiltrating and neutralizing alien starships and features strategic, tactical, and roguelike elements.
The campaign can be considered the story mode and the plot is pretty straightforward. You’ve been hired to locate and secure a derelict alien ship called “Cryptark” which houses some kind of premium xeno-tech. Your goal is to work your way through the alien fleet, neutralizing ships, in an effort to find Cryptark. You start with a set amount of funds which can be spent to outfit your character with different weapons, items, and ammo. You earn money for every vessel you neutralize and bonus money for completing optional objectives. You only fail or lose once you run out of money.
CRYPTARK comes with multiple game modes and the real meat of the game lies in the campaign and Rogue modes. There’s also a Coop Campaign mode but I was only able to experience the game solo. The campaign offers what I’ll call the full experience. You start by selecting your character and each one comes with their own weapons and bonuses. Most need to be unlocked by finding artifacts in the alien ships. The gameplay loop goes like this; select your character, modify their loadout, select a ship to infiltrate or board, neutralize it by destroying the core, earn money as a reward and modify your loadout with any new weapons and/or items you found on the previous ship, and then select the next ship to board. You keep doing this until you reach the Cryptark and then destroy its core to beat the campaign.
So now let’s get into the nitty gritty. The concept alone is pretty cool to me – boarding ships, plan out my approach and attack, and manage resources in the process. One of the big things here is making sure you have funds to keep going. You can run out of money if you continuously spend way too much on your loadout in between ships. Before boarding a ship, you can check out the map to see how it’s laid out. There are numerous systems on the ships that control different things like turrets, shields, alarms, doors, and enemy production, among others. And some systems are connected. For example, the shield system seems to always be connected to the core which means the core is shielded from damage so you have to destroy the shield system before you can destroy the core. This can apply to other systems as well. The idea is to plan out your attack and figure out what routes you want to take and what systems to destroy and prioritize. To progress through the campaign, you have to neutralize ships by destroying their cores so you will need to do whatever it takes to make that happen.
The ship layouts are randomly generated. This means no playthrough will ever be exactly the same and it does add some replay value. The campaign isn’t very long but it can be tough. You fly around the ships, shooting at enemies and you’ll typically be outnumbered. It’s not uncommon to get overwhelmed by foes and projectiles and you have to be mindful of things like turrets and hazards. You also need to be mindful of resources like ammo and your hull or health. Luckily, there are pods on the ships that can resupply you with ammo and replenish health for a fee. You can also equip items that help you with these things. As you move around the ships, you want to be on the lookout for keycode and tech terminals. Keycode terminals grant you key codes to unlock doors. Interacting with tech terminals grants you new tech which equates to new weapons and items to equip your character with. There are all kinds of weapons available from more traditional firepower to energy weapons and more, and I found the combat in the game to be punchy and satisfying. Weapons fire looks, feels, and sounds good thanks to cool visual effects and solid audio work. The action can be fast-paced, hectic, and challenging.
When selecting a ship, it’s important to take note of the difficulty, systems onboard, reward money, and optional objectives they offer. Some ships contain artifacts and to unlock them, you will have to meet certain requirements which are typically similar to optional objectives. And this is where my only real gripe with the game comes in. Some of the objectives are just frustrating like any that require you to limit your loadout to anything under $100K. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all doable but I found some of them to be more tedious and frustrating than fun. Other than that, I think the the objectives offer fun and unique challenges. And completing the optional objectives does mean bonus reward money. Money management is a big part of the game and can affect the difficulty in some ways. For example, if I spent a shit-ton of money outfitting my character with powerful weapons and items and tons of ammo, I found I was able to navigate around certain ships and deal with threats relatively easily. On the flip side, limiting your resources to save money can make things more difficult so it’s a neat balancing act that you’ll have to figure out as you go.
Not only is the combat is fun and satisfying but the strategic and tactical elements also add a layer of satisfaction. Planning out your attack and figuring out what systems to prioritize and take out is all good fun. Taking out certain systems can make things easier and taking out all the systems can be extremely satisfying. You’re free to navigate around the ships however you see fit and take out most systems in any order. As I mentioned earlier, some do need to be taken out before you can take out others. Higher ship difficulties will mean more threats and systems to deal with. There are systems that basically result in continuously spawning enemies, the repair system will begin to repair other systems as soon as they’re destroyed, and the sensor jammer system results in the ship layout being hidden on your map screen. Each system does something specific and offers its own obstacle that can be overcome or ignored. You don’t have to destroy every system. CRYPTARK is a game that gives you options and a nice sense of freedom.
The Rogue game mode is another mode that can eat up a lot of time and does offer artifacts to find. Just like the campaign, your goal is to work your way through the fleet and find Cryptark. However, one of the biggest challenges here is resource management. You don’t have to worry about money but there are no loadouts or resupplying in between ships. You simply go from ship to ship carrying over your health and resources. You’ll find new weapons, suit upgrades, and items on the ships that can be equipped immediately and you can resupply ammo and replenish health from pods. As far as I know, what weapons and items will be available is always randomized and you’ll have to swap out certain things with whatever you find so you’ll have to not only try your best to conserve resources like ammo but also learn to adapt to whatever equipment you find and utilize it to the best of your ability.
I think CRYPTARK is a pretty good looking 2D shooter. It’s got a dark sci-fi look and feel and the visual effects really help elevate the action in my opinion. The presentation offers plenty of color, the lighting effects are good, and the enemy designs look pretty cool. There is a good amount of detail in the environments and the action is accompanied by good audio work and a fitting soundtrack consisting of a nice mix of ambient tunes and more intense stuff and what I would consider heavy metal jams. On the technical side, the game ran smooth but it did crash on me numerous times, and every time was when attempting to load the next the ship. That’s the only real issue I encountered.
I think CRYPTARK is a blast. In my opinion the concept is great and its executed well. I find some of the objectives to be more frustrating than fun but that’s only a small gripe with an otherwise fantastic 2D shooter. The action is satisfying as are the strategic and tactical elements and the roguelike stuff really adds to the replay value. Every run means a fresh start so you will have to learn the different character’s strengths and weaknesses and adapt to whatever equipment you find and decide to use. It’s not the kind of game with persistent upgrades or bonuses that help you get a little further each time. There are things to unlock but you’ll have to think a little bit and learn how to overcome the obstacles with whatever tools you have available in every run. It is a game designed to be replayed and no run will ever be exactly the same.
I do recommend CRYPTARK. If you’re not a fan of roguelikes or games with randomized elements or even shooters like this, I don’t think CRYPTARK will be the one that changes your view but if you don’t mind any of those things, it does provide a fun action-packed experience that requires a little thinking. And it should keep you coming back for a while. Whether it’s to unlock things or find artifacts or just trying out different loadouts and approaches, there’s plenty here to keep you busy. Plus, the gameplay is fun and satisfying so definitely check it out.