When I heard of a precision platformer mixed with hellish imagery, rhythm-based movements, and heavy music, my ears went up like a meerkat’s head. Krimson felt incredibly weid in its pre-launch trailers, but also equally enticing. What the hell was I looking at? Am I playing as a Satanic version of Meatwad from Aqua Teen Hunger Force? What’s going on? At the same time, for reasons beyond my comprehension, I was being drawn towards it. I wanted to play it and see what the hell the damn thing was all about. And maybe that means I shouldn’t have listened to my primal gut instincts. It’s a unique game in the sense it is quite different from other things I’ve played in the past, but I can’t say I’ve had a good time playing Krimson.

This game is basically the ungodly lovechild between Super Meat Boy and pretty much every single edgelord game which included an inverted pentagram released ever since the dawn of modern pop culture as we know it. You control an unspecified blob of meat (there must be some kind of analogy behind it, but I can’t be bothered to look it up), and your objective in each level is twofold: find a will-o-the-wisp, and bring it to the nearby inverted pentagram in order to summon a portal to the next level. It’s your standard precision platformer fare. Die a lot, respawn immediately, learn from your mistakes, solve puzzle.

The problem lies on how poorly designed Krimson is. It’s almost as if every single aspect of it was tailor made not to provide you with a challenge, but to annoy the living hell (pun intended) out of you. For starters, the game features incredibly confusing and abrasive visuals, filled to the brim with strong strobing effects. If you suffer from some kind of epilepsy, stay away from Krimson. I do not suffer from any kind of sensitivity like, but this game’s visual effects irritated my eyeballs as if I were in a rave. To make matters worse, it zooms in and out constantly, ensuring that you will never have the optimal visualization of what’s ahead of you. It’s almost as if Krimson actively wants you to die over and over again.

I’m sure of that because its controls are very sensitive. In essence, the controls are simple: you can run, hop onto walls, and double jump. It’s not complex, it’s just poorly designed due to how finnicky the sensitivity is. Add in the aforementioned camera issues, and Krimson becomes a true test of patience.

That being said, what I really wanted to find out was the quality of its soundtrack. After all, most of its pre-launch material put a big emphasis on the fact it included a really heavy soundtrack, comprised of metal bangers, and even some puzzles in which you basically had to jump according to the beat in order to solve them. That is true, some levels are rhythm-based. Those are the few moments in which Krimson felt a little bit less crappy. The problem lies on the quality of the music itself.

In a rhythm-based platformer, if not even the music is that good or engaging, you know the rest of it just crumbles like a poorly-assembled house of cards. Initial levels are devoid of actual metal music, with the stressed-out player having to deal with annoying and abrasive dubstep. It takes too long for the metal to kick in, and by the time it does, it’s not even that good.

From its overly sensitive controls to its questionable design choices, Krimson managed to irritate me throughout my entire gameplay. Not even its metal soundtrack, which should have been a slam dunk to my ears, managed to make this utterly irritating experience stand out in a positive way. It’s almost as if it was intentionally crafted to annoy me in every conceivable way. I simply cannot recommend it. Even if you like loud, abrasive and challenging games, there are better options elsewhere. This is just unnecessary sensory overload for the sake of it.

Graphics: 4.0 Really confusing visuals filled to the brim with strobing effects, weird design choices, and poor camera placements.	Gameplay: 3.5 The controls were too senstiive, and I’ve always had the feeling the camera was actively trying to make my experience even more miserable.
Sound: 5.5 In a rhythm-based platformer, if not even the music is that good or engaging, you know the rest of it just crumbles like a poorly-assembled house of cards. Initial levels are devoid of actual metal music, with the stressed-out player having to deal with annoying and abrasive dubstep. It takes too long for the metal to kick in, and by the time it does, it’s not even that good.	Fun Factor: 3.5 From its overly sensitive controls to its questionable design choices, Krimson managed to irritate me throughout my entire gameplay. In no moment did it feel challenging and motivating; it was just plain annoying.
Final Verdict: 4.0

Krimson is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Xbox Series S.

A copy of Krimson was provided by the publisher.