PlayStation's first State of Play for the year was stacked with new releases and updates from some of the biggest upcoming games in the industry. There were big announcements like the God of War Trilogy Remake, updates on Death Stranding 2 for PC, and plenty of reveals for exciting titles across a range of genres, with one of the most interesting being Crimson Moon. The game is an action-adventure RPG set in a world of angels and gods, and is looking to bring a gritty and brutal spin to the space with a whole new setting and a bunch of creative mechanics and gameplay ideas.
Crimson Moon is a Brutal New Co-Op Action RPG, and It's Coming to PS5
Crimson Moon is a brutal co-op action RPG that gives intense high fantasy and soulslike vibes and is set for release on PS5.
The initial trailer already has players across the globe begging for more, and although many details are still unknown at this point, a few things have been nailed down already that are interesting enough to get people hyped. From the combat to the world itself, there is already so much to see and admire about Crimson Moon well before the game even drops.
Fit the 9 games into the grid.
The Story
A Tale Of Angels And Demons
- Reclaim a city from evil.
- Push back the enemy with each victory.
Story and narrative design are important aspects of any RPG, and for Crimson Moon, the world looks to be a big focus for the game and the action that takes place within it. Players take on the role of Nephilim, a human-angel hybrid tasked with taking back the corrupted city of Gildenarch from the evil forces infecting the streets.
The demonic forces of the Infernal Legion once pushed mankind to the brink of extinction, but the angelic race managed to push them back and banish the evil back into the darkness from whence it came. Now presented with a new challenge, players will need to take back the city one area at a time, fighting anything that stands in their way on their path to victory.
Combat
Influences From Across The Gaming World
- Brutal melee encounters.
- Transformations that change the tide of a fight.
Combat in Crimson Moon has already become one of the biggest draws for the RPG. It's visceral in all the best ways, and players have access to a range of abilities and tools like parries and transformations that give them a lot of control over how encounters play out during a run.
The Greatest Open-World Action RPGs Of All Time, Ranked
These games all delivered spectacularly on the action and RPG front, and they also feature incredible open-world environments.
The developers describe it as a game about improvisation and expression, heavily rewarding players for showing off and landing skillful combos time and time again. In terms of comparisons, the gameplay draws similarities to soulslikes and even hack-and-slash games, but with its own identity that keeps the action and intensity just as high.
The Enemies
From Zombies To Giants
- Unique attacks and enemy executions.
- Compositional changes between missions.
Enemies are an integral part of how players engage with an RPG. With nothing interesting to fight, gameplay can get pretty boring. In Crimson Moon, there is a huge roster of enemy types already on display, from vampires to undead ghouls, each with its own distinctive attacks and patterns that players need to learn and master over time.
Also, fights come in all shapes and sizes, with larger waves of smaller foes and much bigger opponents that demand respect and require a lot more effort from the player. The variety is pretty impressive right from the start, and players should be satisfied with the number of targets to hit and bodies to decimate.
Co-Op
Escalating The Action
- Dynamic difficulty scaling.
- Different mission setups depending on player count.
The trailer for Crimson Moon was impressive enough, but when a second player joined the fray, things really started to look epic. New players can jump into the fight alone or with a friend, and the game respects that additional power by scaling the difficulty and upping the intensity to ensure things don't get too easy.
Best Isometric ARPGs You've Probably Never Heard Of
Overshadowed by titans like Diablo and Path of Exile, these lesser-known loot-centered isometric ARPGs can perfectly scratch the same itch.
Enemy composition is also said to change in co-op, which may mean that a solo player will experience an entirely different challenge in a single mission than a duo fighting alongside one another. These cooperative changes make it sound pretty fun to play both alone and with friends, and it should also increase its replay value as well, thanks to the different feel that comes from each co-op mission.
Mission-Based Gameplay
Reclaiming The Land, One Step At A Time
- Different locations and settings.
- New stages are unlocked, with a final battle at the end of each.
The action-adventure genre is a diverse space that covers a range of different games, and Crimson Moon is looking to branch out even further with its own gameplay style. Rather than exploring a huge open world, players will instead play through a series of different missions across the city, each bringing new challenges, enemies, and rewards.
Individual victories represent the city being slowly reclaimed, and as players fight harder, they will eventually be faced with a final confrontation against the vampire lord Solomon Moore to decide who comes out on top. Despite the mission-based loop, runs are said to be replayable and deeply satisfying, ensuring that there are always more ways to play and more goals to overcome.
Upgrade Hub
Gearing Up For The Next Run
- Permanent upgrades and gear unlocks.
- Build customization.
After completing a run in Crimson Moon, players are free to return to the Church, a hub filled with upgrades, NPCs, and the mission selection area that lets them decide where to attack next. The main loop revolves around putting together a build and forging new gear to have a better chance against tougher foes, giving it an almost roguelite feel that should add plenty of variety to an already expansive game.
Progress extends to different combat abilities and techniques that can give players even more advantages in the middle of the battle, and successful bouts also come with additional unlocks like modifiers and skills that bring with them a whole other level of replayability that should keep players entertained for dozens of hours on end.
- Released
- 2026
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Intense Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- ProbablyMonsters
- Publisher(s)
- ProbablyMonsters
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
