Cryptark
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Cryptark is a 2D roguelike shooter that challenges players with boarding and neutralizing procedurally generated alien starships to earn income for their Privateering enterprise. Purchase improved equipment and weapons to tackle more dangerous targets, but be cautious as failure will result in a loss of investment and profit. The decaying alien arks will defend themselves from intruders with a wide arsenal of cyborg monstrosities, robotics, and security systems, all obstacles that must be surpassed to achieve victory, the destruction of the ship’s central System Core.
Steam User 619
Hopefully its worth the $0.00 that I spent on it.
Steam User 24
I bought this game way back when it came out and have never beaten it. I decided to give it another try and am reminded how great it is. I wanted to make a review for it so hopefully other people can understand how great it is as well.
So this game is incredible and very unique! It is a combination roguelike sidescroller twin stick shooter (which to be fair isn't as unique of a genre now as it was back when this came out) but what does make it stand out is the absolutely amazing theme and visuals. I love sci-fi horror, and the enemies in this game are an absolute treat to destroy.
The gameplay loop is that you are presented with a choice of ~5 ships to salvage (different ship types exist that have different characteristics). You pick a ship to tackle, pick your mech's loadout (more on that later), then enter the ship and destroy various modules within it while being attacked by creepy alien robot zombies. Along the way you can pick up health or ammo refills (although you probably won't, again more on that later) as well as technology stations which give you more options to equip your mech for the next mission. The modules do stuff to make your job harder, from as basic as "makes another module invulnerable while this one is alive" to "causes a massive nuclear explosion whenever you destroy another module" and many more brands of horribleness. Each of these modules is more than capable of defending itself and is a little mini-boss fight. The final goal is to destroy the central control module which ends the level. Then you get a new selection of harder ships. If you fail you either end the run on roguelike mode or on campaign mode get kicked out into a new selection of same difficulty ships (which is almost as bad, yet again see later).
You are on a clock while you do all this by the way (more on that later), so pick a couple systems that you most need to destroy and find an efficient route through the ship to get to the main control. At least you can see the whole map of the ship beforehand and come up with a loadout and strategy (most of the time. A jammmer module exists and it is exactly as horrible as you think it would be).
The other unique thing about this game is also why I will never beat it in a million years. Remember how I kept saying "more on that later"? Well, it's later! Your expedition into this derelict space fleet has a certain budget, and the loadout you select before going into any given level costs money. Want more starting health? Costs money. Want to swap out for that awesome rocket launcher you just found? Costs money. Want to bring more ammo for your weapons since you were close to running out last time? Costs money. Want to bring a repair kit or other cool gadget? Costs money. Go over the time limit for the level? You guessed it, costs money.
Fortunately your initial budget is not all you ever get to complete the game. Every ship that you select to salvage has a certain base reward for completion, along with challenges that you can complete for a bonus reward. These can be quite substantial if you complete all of them, equaling or exceeding the base payout, but be warned some of them are absolutely miserable to complete. A very common challenge is "no resupply pods" so you know those nice health and ammo refill stations scattered around the ship I mentioned earlier? Yeah, you won't be using those.
It does make the game a very weird choose your own adventure difficulty which I love but freely admit I still haven't mastered. If you want to max out on ammo and really strong weapons, strap as much armor on your mech as you can, and bring tons of cool gadgets you totally can, and the mission will most likely be super easy. You will also most likely not break even on that mission and have less money for your next one which will be harder. I tend to be the opposite and try way too hard to horde money at the expense of loadout while also going for challenges, which inevitably gets me blown up (and kicked over to another set of ships with no reward).
Anyway, I highly recommend people play this game. It's been around for a while but I still think it holds up well enough to buy today.
Steam User 22
Can only say this for very few games including Cryptark; Runs good, plays good, looks good, sounds good. I purchased this game during a sale, but would happily do so at full price. One of my personal favorite rougelike titles.
Steam User 19
One of the best roguelike games I've played. its a shame it hasn't gotten more attention.
Steam User 26
bro ive played 30 minutes of this and its already a classic
Steam User 6
Very fun game overall. Everything is centered around its slightly unusual gameplay loop, which is more like a heist than a typical shooter. You have to plot out your route on a map to slip in and out of the ship and take out key systems while dodging as much of the defenses as you can, on a time limit. Paying for your loadout on each stage after already getting a look at the map and enemy selection creates a fun opportunity for making meaningful choices, including the all-important choice of "Do I think I can afford to skimp on ammo here for a bigger cash reward?"
I've only played a few hours so far but it seems like there's a good variety of weapons and a decent variety of threats.
Steam User 6
It is a great game. I have played it so much and had a lot of fun with it.
I got it when it was free but it is worth buying it, especially when it is on 75 % discount which seems to be quite often.
Even though there is currently a problem with achievements, it can be overcome by using previous version (v 1.23) (just choose "linux32 - Linux (legacy)" version in beta participation). Version 1.23 does not seem to have a lot of noticable differences from newer version 1.24. In version 1.24, you can have EASY mode off or on while version 1.23 has only one mode (which is easier than EASY mode off in 1.24).