This Access Is Too Damn Early #2: Coin Crypt

Early Access games are like over used pop culture references; you never know what you're gonna get, and you really wish they would just go away. But they're here to stay, so we might as well try to find some good ones.

Early Access, very nice!

 Coin Crypt is a Roguelike game, which these days just essentially means there's no save points and the levels are procedurally generated.

The game casts you in the role of a Lootmancer, a powerful adventurer with the ability to use coins in battle.

For the record, these aren't coins. Do not try to use them in battle or beg for them.

You begin your adventure by picking a class. There's the standard classes, an assassin, a princess, a monkey. Each has advantages and disadvantages, like the princess' slow attacks in exchange for coins increasing in worth.

And then there is the requisite boring class, which is not interesting in any way.

Upon entering the Crypt (which looked a lot more like a crypt in the previous versions of the game) you run around the maze looking for the exit. The environments are made in a grid fashion, which really leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to interesting, dynamic exploration. It's often a matter of going in one of the four cardinal directions until you hit either a wall, or the exit. Repeat. Repeat.

These screenshots of the first level of the game, pre-and-post update, really demonstrate the fluidity of Early Access game design.

You'll often find treasure chests which are filled with coins but which only allow you to take a certain amount, so you have to plan ahead and prioritize those you need most. More on that in a bit.

Enemies roam the crypts, and will attack you on sight. The game then enters a turn based battle system, where you use the coins you found to fight. Coins all have different properties, some attack for 2 or 4 HP, some heal yourself, poison the foe, shield you etc.

Look, he's waving. Kill him!

The problem I've found is, the battles are so fast paced it's almost a waste to use anything but attack coins. Using a shield or poison coin seems pointless when you could just kill the enemy next turn, and even healing is often less efficient than just attacking and ending it there. When you randomly draw three defensive coins it feels like you spun "Lose a Turn" on the wheel.

Your character in battle has the same cracker-ass hand no matter who you pick.

There's also a shit ton of statues and merchants begging you for your coins. You can donate coins for some vague benefit, but the frequency of these is pretty annoying.

All in all, it feels like Coin Crypt has a very promising foundation, but it doesn't really go anywhere at the moment. I'm pretty intrigued to play it in its final form.