Crimson Alliance Previews

In case you’re looking for simple hack’n’slash fun you may want to keep an eye on Certain Affinity’s Crimson Alliance, at least judging by Joystiq’s impressions of the title:

There is no skill tree or leveling in Crimson Alliance. Players acquire gear that increases their armor, which increases their health. “Leveling up” is all based on gear gathered from the “crafted” (i.e. pre-generated) dungeons and loot drops. It’s also possible to purchase items in the store, but I didn’t get to see that functionality in the demo.

Crimson Alliance feels fresh, yet familiar. It’s a weird notion playing through a game and getting the impression that this should all be so tired by now, but something about it is compelling and different. You’re doing the basics: killing massive waves of enemies, exploring the dungeon for secret nooks and grabbing all the gold in sight, but it’s the little changes that make the difference.

An interesting feature is that as you kill enemies a multiplier starts ticking up. Conversely, if your character gets hit the multiplier starts ticking back down. At the end of the level the score goes toward a medal and is also converted to gold for use at the store. It helps to learn to block very early in this game if you’re looking to get gold in the 18 available levels.

GameInformer has a video hands-on with Max Hoberman, Certain Affinity’s president, and, of course, some gameplay footage.