Dungeon crawlers are a dime a dozen these days. It’s a genre that cries for ineguity and originality. Crimson Alliance delivers neither. While playing this game, the first thought that comes to mind is standard. It’s all been done before and, in many cases, better.
Crimson Alliance follows the tried and true format of a standard Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Players can choose from one of three characters: a wise old wizard, a gruff mercenary, and a quirky assassin. Of course, one can only progress so far without the All Class Pack add-on. As would be expected, the wizard handles the ranged, damage-per-second assault, the assassin takes care of the damage up front, and the mercenary tanks. At character selection players have a very limited amount of customization in changing the primary color of their heroes, but the characters are very bland with only weapons and shields available to change their appearance later on.
The story begins with the heroes coming upon a ruined city in the Empire of Byzan. Only the old wizard remembers it fondly enough to bribe his two companions to help him travel through the ruins. That’s about as complex as it gets. The wizard is on a quest to save the world while the assassin and the mercenary whine about the lack of money and generally not wanting to be there unless it’s worth their while. The trio sets a course through the city and other, mostly subterranean areas in an effort to stop the resurrection of the dark goddess of the Gulyabani, a primitive and vicious race of creatures living in the ruins. There are literally only eleven enemies in the game and players will fight throngs of them in order to progress through the quest, which makes it seem like the developer, Certain Affinity, may be leaving too much room for future DLC to fill in.
Voice acting in Crimson Alliance is as engaging as the story. The performances are bland and stereotypical. It would explain why the music seems just as unimpressive. The music and ambient sounds seem to rise with the action, but at times it seems randomized an irrelevant, and can even become a bit annoying.
One redeeming feature of this game is its rather beautiful art style. The dungeons are gorgeously deep and beautifully rendered. The levels of the dungeon really pop with a very three-dimensional feel. The only thing that takes away from their design is the repetition, though that can be said of many other dungeon crawlers. The art for the storytelling portions is also quite nice, lending painting-like visuals to counterbalance the dull story. The only shame is the static camera that doesn’t allow players to view much of Crimson Alliance‘s scenery and even leads to more than a few headaches when caught behind a pillar or debris pile. The camera also remains too far from the action, sometimes making it hard to tell just what’s biting at the hero’s ankles.
Crimson Alliance may be a “pass” for some gamers. The free-to-play structure is a good start, but forces players to either upgrade each class at 800 Microsoft points each or 1200 points for the All Classes Pack. Add to that the extra cost of future DLC, and this game gets expensive fast, putting into serious question its worthiness of the investment.
