Overview

Crawl is a roguelike game with singleplayer and up to 4-person local multiplayer. Multiplayer is typically facilitated by the use of controllers, or with multiple wireless keyboards (not fully supported). A game must have at least two players, although three or four is more balanced even if AI-controlled players must be added. All players start as human characters in the first room, but to progress they must attack one another until only one is left standing. The last surviving player will become the first hero, and the players that were defeated will become ghosts. Ghosts are capable of flinging objects, activating traps, collecting ectoplasm to summon slime monster minions, or activating summoning circles to randomly take control of a monster available to them. If a player kills the hero as a ghost, the hero will become a ghost and the ghost who killed him will transform back into a human and become the current hero. The ultimate goal of the game is to progress through the dungeon and beat the boss they are presented with in order to attain salvation.

The player select screen, showing two human players and two AI players.

An image of one player as a ghost, one player controlling a monster, and one player controlling the hero immediately after the first room.

Gameplay

It is easier for a ghost to obtain gold, but only a hero may spend gold and obtain experience. Gold may be spent at the blacksmith, who is found on each level of the dungeon and has his wares randomized each time the players progress to a new level. Experience causes the hero to level up and become more powerful, allowing him at level 10 or higher to enter the portal at the end of the dungeon and challenge the boss for victory. If the players collectively fail the boss fight three times, the current hero is removed from the rankings, and the “winner” by default will be the remaining player with the highest experience value. As other players level up, the ghosts receive “wrath” which allows them to upgrade their monsters, making it easier to depose the current hero. This is a built-in mechanic to help prevent one player from continuously dominating the others. There are many unique traps to activate, items to purchase, and monsters to control. Even the boss fights are very different, allowing the ghost players to use many different mechanics to try and prevent a victory by the current hero player.

Items Summary

There are four main categories of items: artifacts, weapons, skillbooks, and stat potions. Whenever a player purchases an item from the blacksmith, it will be removed from the shelf. For other players to have the option to purchase items if the shop has been cleared out, the group must progress to the next level of the dungeon.

Artifacts are unique items with varying effects. Some might reverse poison damage, while others make special abilities recharge faster. Yet others could give store discounts, or could even spawn followers that help the hero to defeat monsters and stay alive longer. This is by far the most varied category.

A hero character examining an artifact. This artifact would summon a follower.

Weapons can be quite unique as well, with many different weapon types that all are used differently. A hero could use throwing knives that slash in a combo and end with a throw, or could use a crossbow to attack from range. Clubs, magical staves with special powers, slings, and more are also available. Every weapon could be blessed, cursed, magic, or damaged, and these modifiers will further affect the stats of the weapon, making it either more or less efficient. Some even have the risk of turning the hero into a toad during the middle of a fight!

A hero character examining a weapon. This weapon is cursed in a unique way. It has extra damage, lower attack speed, and may cause the hero to stagger and vomit, even during a fight!

Lastly, stat potions and skillbooks are fairly standard. Every stat potion subtracts 1 point from one stat and adds 2 points to another. However, vitality is usually looked at as the worst stat, and so potions that provide a bonus to it at the expense of either strength or agility are usually not taken. Skillbooks are also standard, in that they will not have any special modifiers, but they are varied in what effects they have. For instance, some might give the player a better dodge ability, while others might allow the player to poison the ground or throw magical axes. Anytime a skillbook is purchased, the previous skill is forgotten.

A hero character examining a stat potion. Gnome Brew will make the player move and attack more quickly, but their attacks will do less damage.

Deities & Monsters

Every player must choose a deity to worship at the start of the game. This deity will provide them with a boon and will affect what monsters are possible for them to summon and upgrade. Advanced players might choose the option to mock a deity instead and receive a handicap to make the game more interesting.

Chz is one of the available deities. He allows the player to heal when damaging monsters, and gives access to the rat, eyebat, and imp monsters.

As the game progresses, players will level up as they kill monsters. As hero players level up, the ghosts will receive wrath which can be spent to evolve monsters in between each level of the dungeon. This creates a negative feedback loop, much like the slower gold gain for a hero player, that helps to prevent one player from remaining the hero for the entirety of a game. The longer one player is the hero, the stronger their opponents will become. Not all monsters are available right away, and so players will have to play a few games before they are all unlocked. Monsters come in four tiers: Initial, 2nd, 3rd, and Max. Initial-tier monsters are those available at the start of the game, with 2nd, 3rd, and Final tiers coming after evolution. Some monsters may have evolution paths that skip over a tier, or in one case even all the way from initial to final! These special evolutions usually cost more wrath, and so come at the price of upgrading other monsters, making random chance have a greater effect. Each monster has a unique attack (although some may be similar), unique special ability, and varying health, speed, and damage. Some monsters, such as the rat shaman, are capable of summoning minions to harass the hero while the ghost player continues to control the original monster.

Players evolving monsters in between levels of the dungeon.

The second evolution of the rat monster, down the vermin soldier path.

The third evolution of the rat monster, showing Final tier monsters, down the rat shaman path.

Boss Fights

Hero characters have the option at level 10 or higher to continue through the dungeon and try to become more powerful or to use one of the three charges of the portal and challenge a boss. If a boss fight is failed, the same or another player may later attempt to face a boss again, which may or may not be the same as the previous bosses.

A hero activating the first charge on the portal.

The introduction area to every boss fight allows a hero to heal up to full health.

Every boss fight is unique, and presents a unique challenge to the hero as well as the ghost players who are able to manually control some of the bosses’ attacks. One boss is a dragon with three heads, each with a different attack. Another boss is a sewer monster that is able to shoot laser beams, trap the hero in a bubble, and requires bouncing an object into his mouth to become vulnerable to melee attacks. The newest boss in a buried statue of a demon, capable of different attacks, and is even able to transform the hero into an animal in order to make him more vulnerable. Both the dragon and the demon statue bosses change as they are damaged. The dragon’s heads detach and move freely around the arena,  and the demon statue summons more limbs with new effects.

The first stage of the demon statue boss.

The second stage of the demon statue boss.

If the hero is able to defeat the boss, he achieves salvation and escapes the dungeon, and the game end screen is displayed. If the hero fails on the first or second charge of the portal, he is transported back to the portal room in the dungeon at very low health. Since the introduction area to every boss fight heals a player to full, attempting the boss at low health has fewer drawbacks than attempting the boss at full health. If a hero fails the boss on the third and final charge of the portal, their humanity is stolen and the boss is released from its prison in the dungeon. This player is removed from the rankings and automatically comes in last place, with the player with the highest experience coming in first. Even the player with the lowest experience could finish in first, but only if they are able to beat the boss.

The Salvation screen at the end of a victorious boss fight.

The victory screen after a game where a boss was successfully defeated.

Analysis of Interest Curve

The interest curve of the game is relatively simple. Players are initially excited to explore the game world and see what first choices are available to them, such as which monster to upgrade first or what weapons the first blacksmith shop will have. The players’ interest will further increase as they diversify and all have different weapons, abilities, and stats, not to mention different monsters. Near the end of each match, interest might wane as there is less to upgrade and it becomes a race to defeat the boss. The same may be true for playing multiple games in a row, as players have begun to memorize and master what choices for character progression that they think are “best”. Frequent updates from the developers may help to keep interest in replayability, but is not a particularly stable way to do so. Eventually, like with all games, overall player interest will wane as there is less to discover, although interest progression for an individual match may still follow the same pattern of increasing quickly and then slowly leveling out.

Analysis of Learning Curve

The learning curve of the game is not particularly steep, but the skill curve will take longer to increase if players take a long time to learn the game. Despite an explanation of the mechanics sounding very complex, once a player has been able to get some hands-on experience they become fairly self-explanatory. Where Crawl has a steep learning curve is memorizing the evolution paths of monsters, as well as their basic and special attacks. Memorizing the different items and their effects may also take some time. Fortunately, the game slowly unlocking and adding new items as games are played helps to alleviate front-loading and allows players to more gradually increase their knowledge and skill levels.

Randomness vs. Skill

Crawl relies heavily on skill, with a proficient player able to accomplish much more than a novice. This is true both for skill level when directly controlling the character, as well as for when making decisions on what items to purchase or monsters to evolve. Randomness does, however, factor highly into the game, with the caveat being that many of the players’ decisions are made in order to push randomness more in their favor. For instance, a player might upgrade all their monsters one tier instead of one monster two tiers, so that no matter what monster they are assigned they will still have a solid chance at defeating the hero. Perhaps a hero might gamble on a cursed weapon, and hope that when it transforms them into a toad they are relatively safe and not in the middle of a battle with three different monsters. Level layouts, the contents of the item shop, and a few other mechanics are fairly random, but they almost always offer ways for players to adapt and prove they have better mastery of the game than their opponents.

Audience and Player Types

Crawl caters heavily to a mature playerbase that enjoys a challenge. It may also play off nostalgia for old 8-bit games and the era of couch co-op, further increasing the average age of its audience. Killers are interested in the competitive aspect of the game, and their ability to exert control and power over other players (or the AI). Socializers enjoy the ability to sit together in-person and have fun playing together. Boss fights might particularly appeal to them as they bring the ghosts together in defeating the hero, instead of selfishly trying to land the final blow. Explorers will enjoy the randomness of the level layouts and the blacksmith’s item catalog. There is not very much available for achievers, but the ability to unlock new items and monsters may appeal to them. Additionally, there is a challenge mode where a player may see how long they can survive against waves of enemies, which may interest achievers. Overall, Crawl has fair appeal for all player types in Bartle’s taxonomy, but they will most likely be more mature and older than the average person in their corresponding type.