Crimson Moon Review: Soulslike Roguelike That Respects Time

Crimson Moon knows exactly what it wants to be. Rather than chasing a 50 hour epic, ProbablyMonsters built a tight loot heavy action RPG that blends Soulslike tension with roguelike momentum and you can finish a full run before dinner gets cold. That restraint is its greatest strength and its clearest limit.

You play as a Nephilim, a half angel and half human warrior bound to the order of the Crimson Moon. The Lunitarian Church tasks you with retaking the fallen city of Gildenarch and recovering three Abraxas stones that hold the souls of dead gods. The premise promises gothic grandeur but the storytelling stays thin. Crimson Moon works best when you stop hunting for lore and start hunting for better gear.

Reviewed on PC (primary rig: Ryzen 9 9800X3D, RTX 5090 and secondary rig: Ryzen 5 7600X, RTX 3070) on patch 1.0. Review code provided by ProbablyMonsters. Tested August 28 to 31, 2026 in solo and two player co-op.

Editor's Take

Crimson Moon delivers fast, satisfying Soulslike combat and a rewarding loot loop for $19.99, even if repetition and camera quirks keep it from greatness.

Pros

• Fast 30 minute runs that respect your schedule
• Satisfying parry and execution combat with strong feedback
• Constant loot upgrades that make every encounter matter
• Painless two player co-op with shared lives and revives
• Excellent symphonic metal score that elevates combat

Cons

• Forgettable main story and bland side quests
• Camera struggles near walls and against large enemies
• No loadout swaps between successful runs
• No button remapping or transmog system
• Limited enemy and execution variety

Game at a Glance

Story and World: A Gothic Setup With Little Follow Through

Gildenarch sells the fantasy at first glance. The city is a gothic renaissance sprawl overrun by undead captains, elite horrors and demonic remnants, and your Nephilim stands apart from both humanity and the angels that made you. The church sanctions your order and then sends you back into danger without much thanks.

That tension could carry a memorable plot but Crimson Moon rarely develops it. Cutscenes are sparse and most narrative lives in scattered scrolls and brief hub exchanges with a blacksmith, a trinket merchant and a lore keeper. Out in the districts quest givers hand out familiar tasks like kill four Undead Captains or recover an artifact. You will complete most of them by accident while clearing a run, then turn them in for a small bump to your experience bar. There is no new dialogue branch, no unique gear and no memorable set piece waiting at the end.

The form recalls Bloodborne and Elden Ring but not the function. FromSoftware ties environmental text to gameplay and mystery in ways that invite speculation. Crimson Moon places scrolls as optional flavor that you can ignore without changing your run. Side quests follow the same pattern and that makes them feel like filler rather than world building.

None of this breaks the game. It just makes the story forgettable. If you come for lore you will leave underwhelmed. If you come for combat and progression the thin narrative actually helps. Crimson Moon drops you into action quickly and it never blocks your next run behind a long exposition dump. The art direction does more storytelling than the script. Armor sets look holy and haunted, lighting leans into stained glass and deep shadow and enemy design mixes religious iconography with body horror in ways that read clearly even when the missions do not.

Gameplay: Combat, Runs and the Loot Loop

This is where Crimson Moon earns its recommendation. The formula is simple to learn and easy to replay. Pick a district on the map, choose your gear and Nephilim form, then push through three levels of objectives capped by a boss. A full run takes about 30 minutes once your build is tuned and often less when you know elite placements.

Combat That Feels Familiar and Forgiving

Crimson Moon gives you the Soulslike essentials without the usual punishment. You have a light attack, heavy attack, dodge, jump and parry. Heavy two handed swings carry commitment and you cannot cancel them, so positioning matters. Circling an enemy opens a backstab window and a clean parry staggers most foes and sets up a brutal execution where you drive a mace or blade back into its owner.

The parry window is generous, almost too generous. Newcomers who found tighter Soulslike timing punishing will feel welcome here. Veterans may feel it removes tension, especially since your angelic Nephilim transformation adds another safety net. Dealing damage fills your angelic meter. When it is full you shift into a temporary invincible form that hits harder and shrugs off hits. Taking damage drains the meter faster but trinkets and perks can speed charge rate and extend duration. In boss fights you can use this form to breathe, reposition or simply swing without fear.

You will not find bows or crossbows. Ranged play comes from throwing knives, bombs and weapon skills that deal elemental damage on cooldowns. One sword fires rays of light, another lets you throw and recall the blade for double hits and others inflict freeze, bleed or poison. Skills look sharp and they feel distinct between weapon types, but the overall moveset pool is narrow. You will see repeat animations sooner than you want and executions follow the same rule. They are visceral and well staged, yet the variety runs out within a few runs.

Controls are clean with one notable snag. Sprint shares the dodge button and requires a hold, while L3 is reserved for a scan that reveals hidden enemies through walls. The scan helps because later levels grow larger and foes blend into gothic clutter, but the sprint choice feels awkward in a genre where L3 sprint is standard. There is also no key remapping at launch, which is a clear accessibility miss. Add a camera that can clip and swing wildly when locked onto large enemies near walls and you have the two strongest mechanical frustrations in the game.

The Run Structure and Why It Works

Every outing is a run in the style of Elden Ring Nightreign. You leave the hub, clear objectives like eliminate all enemies or defeat elites, pick one of three randomized perks at the end of each level and then face a boss. Death is not instant failure. The game gives you several lives before True Death resets the run and as you level you earn more lives, which softens the roguelike edge over time.

That structure respects your evening. You always know what you signed up for and you can make meaningful progress in under an hour. Difficulty tiers unlock as you level and clear runs and higher tiers drop better loot. The incentive to push upward feels natural because you want stronger gear, not because the game forces you.

There are currently two main mission paths, each with its own biomes, bosses and enemy mixes. You can weave between paths once you unlock their stages, which adds welcome choice. Environment variety is solid but enemy reuse across paths makes later runs feel familiar faster than they should and the objective pool repeats often. The sense of discovery fades after the first few hours.

Loot, Perks and What You Actually Keep

Loot is the heart of the game and it borrows smartly from extraction shooters. During a run you find weapons, armor, greaves, gauntlets and accessories in chests or as drops. Every piece carries perks that change how you fight. One shield granted an extra healing flask after enough hits. Another tossed a fireball during defensive play. One sword hammered groups with light beams. You will pause after fights to min max your setup and that pause feels addictive rather than tedious.

Rarity follows Common, Uncommon, Rare and Epic. Higher rarity means more perks and better stats. Leveling does not use stat allocation. It unlocks access to higher rarity upgrades and hub vendors like the blacksmith and the trinket seller. That keeps progression straightforward. You chase better items instead of debating a spreadsheet.

Retention creates the tension. Gear you have equipped stays with you even if you fail. Loot you pick up only becomes permanent if you defeat the final boss and extract it as purified gear. Hit True Death and everything you found stays behind. After extraction you can upgrade purified gear with gold, equip it for the next run or store it in your vault. Items bought mid run with souls, the temporary run currency, disappear after the boss. That split forces a clear choice. Do you push a risky boss with a great drop in your pocket or play safer to ensure you keep it.

The system has rough edges. Souls are tied to a level requirement, so by the time you can buy a Rare weapon you have likely already upgraded to Rare in the hub. That makes late run souls feel wasted since you cannot exchange them for gold. End of level perks also vary in quality and you must pick one even when none fit your build. Most limiting for build crafters, random perks that roll on dropped gear do not persist after purification. All loot is effectively fixed, which curbs long term diversity in a game that would benefit from sticky random modifiers.

Co-op, Performance and Presentation

Crimson Moon is fully playable solo and never feels punishing alone, but it comes alive with a partner. Co-op is simple by design. You invite from the hub and your friend gets the request through an in game mailbox, so you never need to alt tab to Steam or a platform overlay. You can also quick join or host. In co-op you share a life pool. If one player falls the other can resurrect them, but shared lives add real stakes to risky pushes. Enemy numbers and aggression scale up, which keeps fights active without feeling cheap.

The two player cap is the main limitation. A trio would suit the arena style levels and the revive dynamic and many duos will wish for a third slot on higher tiers.

Presentation is strong for a $19.99 release. The gothic aesthetic, detailed armor and striking elemental effects keep fights readable even when the screen gets busy. The standout is the score. ProbablyMonsters blends orchestral ecclesiastical tones with symphonic metal as a single composition. Calm exploration carries choir and strings, then executions and boss phases bring in heavy guitars and drums without breaking continuity. If you like bands like Nightwish the structure will feel familiar. Play with headphones if you can.

On PC the game runs on Unreal Engine 5 and it runs well. On a high end rig with a Ryzen 9 9800X3D and RTX 5090 it held well above 60 fps at max settings with no stutter. On a mid range Ryzen 5 7600X and RTX 3070 it stayed above 60 fps at 1440p after a modest scale tweak. All major upscalers are present including Nvidia DLSS, AMD FSR and Intel XeSS and the options menu is unusually thorough for this price point. Some players have reported dips in dense areas even on low settings, so results can vary by configuration. In our testing performance was stable outside the camera obstruction issue.

Canadian availability is straightforward. Crimson Moon is on Steam and the Epic Games Store for PC and on the PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store for consoles. Major Canadian retailers including Best Buy Canada and Amazon.ca list the console versions near the converted CAD price and Steam shows CAD pricing directly at checkout. For players comparing session driven RPGs this fall, our reviews hub and PC coverage help place Crimson Moon in context, while our PlayStation reviews hub covers similar Soulslike titles and the run based structure they share.

How Crimson Moon Compares

External sources for this review include the official ProbablyMonsters game page for Crimson Moon, the Steam store page for system requirements and pricing, and the PlayStation Store listing for console availability.

FAQ: Your Questions Answered

Is Crimson Moon worth buying at full price?

Yes if you enjoy Soulslike combat in short sessions. At $19.99 for 12 to 18 hours to clear and more in higher tiers it offers strong value. If you need deep narrative or sticky build randomization, consider waiting for a sale.

How long does it take to beat Crimson Moon?

A full clear takes 12 to 18 hours depending on deaths and exploration, with 20 plus hours if you chase higher difficulty tiers and alternate boss paths. Most runs last about 30 minutes.

Does Crimson Moon have multiplayer or co-op?

Crimson Moon supports two player co-op alongside full solo play. You share lives, you can revive a downed partner and enemies scale up in co-op. There is no three or four player mode at launch.

How does Crimson Moon run on PC?

In testing on both an RTX 5090 rig and an RTX 3070 rig the game held 60 plus fps at 1440p with DLSS or FSR. It supports DLSS, FSR and XeSS and offers extensive graphics options. Some players on lower specs have reported dips in dense areas.

Is Crimson Moon better than Elden Ring Nightreign?

It is more accessible and faster to session but less deep. Choose Crimson Moon for quick 30 minute runs with simple matchmaking. Choose Nightreign for deeper movesets, larger teams and more systemic randomization.

Does Crimson Moon have microtransactions?

No. Crimson Moon is a one time purchase at $19.99 with no announced microtransactions. Progression comes from loot, purified gear upgrades and unlockable difficulty tiers.

Verdict: Is Crimson Moon Worth Your Time?

Crimson Moon succeeds because it respects both genres it borrows from without getting lost in their excesses. It keeps Soulslike feedback and tension while using roguelike structure to make runs brisk and repeatable. The loot loop gives every fight purpose, co-op is frictionless and the metal laced score makes executions feel earned. Repetition, camera wobble near walls and missing basics like remapping and transmog hold it back from a higher tier. Even with those caveats, for $19.99 it is an easy recommendation for action RPG fans who want challenge and progression without a 50 hour commitment.