Crypt Custodian Review

thesixthaxis.com:

Cats are meant to have nine lives, but it looks like no-one told a mischievous black tabby named Pluto that. Eviscerated by a careless driver on a rainy night, poor one-life Pluto finds himself stuck in the afterlife. Where, after a comical misunderstanding over a few broken statues, he is commanded to clean cat ‘purr’gatory – cat puns, this review’s got ‘em – for all eternity. Still, it’s not all bad, as this neat storyline set-up sends Pluto on a charming video game adventure, one that is a delight from beginning to end.

Played from a top-down perspective, Crypt Custodian mixes an old-school Zelda aesthetic and accompanying sword-slashing gameplay with the labyrinthian structure of a modern-day metroidvania. Pluto searches the afterlife, makes cute friends, solves ingeniously devious puzzles, discovers satisfyingly secret paths, and bashes a fair few brutal bosses for good measure. The narrative accompanying Pluto’s adventures is easy going and genuinely humorous. Indeed, if someone was trying to cram in cat puns, they might even refer to the dialogue as being, ‘hiss’terical. Sorry, I’m just kitten around.

Visually, Crypt Custodian is simple, but simply oozes charm. With just a few frames of animation, Pluto has more charisma than numerous AAA protagonists. The world he explores is equally as engaging; fish can be seen swimming in deep-blue water, haze glimmers across moonlit swamps, and caves glisten with unearthly light. The fact that the whole game was put together by just one guy is frankly mind-blowing, Kyle Thompson must get up very early in the morning to make games this good.

Looking at Crypt Custodian it would be tempting to think that the whimsical visuals and light-weight storytelling would lead to flaccid combat, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Pluto is a dab paw with a broom, so much so that he’d make a Samurai Pizza Cat green with envy. Thwacking a foe will have you feline good. Each strike is cathartic in its impact, with a genuine sense