My Word, Cryptmaster Sure Is Unique ► Ludology Now!

I knew I was going to like Paul Hart and Lee Williams’ game Cryptmaster from the moment it asked me to describe how I wanted to desecrate a holy statue. I typed the letters one-by-one, each keystroke promoting an enthusiastic gurgle from my character’s throat: “URINATE.” Upon pressing Enter, the silky, smooth voice of the Cryptmaster himself (Williams) cackles in my ear, saying “Yes, yes! Give it a good soaking!” The altar crumbled, and I laughed.

I had heard offhandedly that Cryptmaster was prepared for a good bit of esoteric word inputs, and that, more than anything else, is what finally convinced me to give it a try. Those people were correct – the scope and variety of acceptable inputs on offer borders on ridiculous. It’s an incredibly well-written, narratively focused, surprisingly funny experience, one which I highly recommend.

The Rare Case of Showing While Telling

It’s hard to sell me on new fantasy worlds and lore. That’s why I rarely get into most fantasy games – once I start hearing about all the ancient lands, kings, and new names for magic in a game, I immediately start to zone out. The game Cryptmaster avoids this issue by drip-feeding information about the characters and the world to me, while still making this information mandatory to unlock if you want to access better combat attacks.

How do you unlock these combat attacks and lore snippets? By playing Hangman, or Wordle, basically. All four playable characters constantly have a word they are trying to remember, and defeating enemies and solving puzzles grants you letters which help to fill in the blanks. At any point, you can try and guess what the word they are trying to remember is. If you get it correct, you unlock that memory and/or ability.

Quit Playing Word Games With My Heart

After many hours with the Cryptmaster video game (not to be confused with The Crypt Monster, a movie from 2021) I think the thing that impresses me the most, apart from the work that was very clearly put it, is how puns are integrated into gameplay. Everyone loves a good pun (those who say they don’t are liars or just boring, which is worse) and yet it has rarely been integrated into an interactive experience in such a way. If I could boil the feeling down to a single statement, it would be “Cryptmaster does for words what Pentiment did for letters.”

Cryptmaster Fun Fact: One of the earlier ideas for Cryptmaster would have seen the game be more aimed at children, with a brighter style and simpler language, co-designer Lee Williams tells me.

I can think of no higher praise. Pentiment was (and still is) one of the best games ever made, a fantastical triumph in incorporating fonts and typography into gameplay and puzzle design. Cryptmaster does the same thing with word games, accepting nearly any viable response whether it’s the “classic” riddle solution or not. To explain any further would risk spoiling some of the game’s puzzles, and I have no intention of doing so. Just play Cryptmaster and see what I mean.

Honestly, that’s it. I don’t want to spoil it, just go buy Cryptmaster if you haven’t already. Not every column has to be 1.5k words, you know. Not every review needs a numerical score, either. Some of us have games to play. Some of YOU have Cryptmaster to play.

THIS WEEK’S RECOMMENDED MEDIA:

It’s not an easy watch by any means, but the most recent video from People Make Games, 100 Slaps: The Breaking News The Games Industry Ignored in 2024, is incredibly important information and needs to be shared and seen as much as possible. Expect to cry, and expect to be angry. You should be angry about this.
For something a little more lighthearted: Dan Olsen’s Folding Ideas videos are always interesting, and the most recent Mantracks: a True Story of Fake Fossils is fantastically informative. It’s a feature-length film about the history of fake human fossils, fake dinosaur fossils, and Creationism. Absolutely worth an evening.
AGDQ was last week and we all got to see some incredible runs, but the most important thing worth sharing is this Crazy Taxi speedrun with a live pop punk band playing the soundtrack. 10/10, no notes.