One trait I tend to appreciate in most of the best indie games out there is an obvious determination to pick a lane that tends to be less traveled in some way and then go all in on it. It’s great when you swing for the fences and knock it out of the park, but being realistic it’s much more common that those big swings don’t quite connect the way they should, making less of an impact than was hoped for. While Krimson absolutely delivers on the promise of loud music and some weird and wild visuals, it unfortunately comes up short in the critical areas of controls and clarity.

Starting with what works there’s no doubt that Krimson is unique. From its blaring music with a heavy beat, to its jarring screen shake when you die (which you’ll be seeing a lot), to its aesthetic which looks deliberately full of odd jagged edges, it oozes a very specific sense of style. Your objective (which doesn’t inherently make much sense but you just sort of go with it) is to platform your way to some flames, catch your ball of red goopiness on fire, and then take that flame to a pentagram which then takes you to the next level. It’s hardly complex conceptually, but that isn’t to say anything about it is particularly easy, and not always for the right reasons.

The game’s two major issues, which combine to make the game as a whole a more miserable experience than it should be, are its controls and the pitfall of the game’s irregular aesthetic style. On the control side everything just feels a bit loose, except when it isn’t. One element that’s both a help and a hindrance to some degree is the somewhat sticky nature of the walls. There are times when this is absolutely essential to your success, so it makes sense to be present, but both understanding when and how that will kick in and how it should influence what you’re trying to do with jumps can be pretty infuriating at times. This issue is then amplified and further exacerbated by the fact that the ball you’re controlling, and the walls and platforms you’ll be dealing with, would best be considered muddy visually.

Putting together these mechanical hitches with the visual ambiguity feels like it takes the game’s desired concept of it being a tough somewhat rhythm-based platformer a bit past its target a little too far, at least in terms of it feeling like it’s fair. The best games of this type tend to look and feel very clean, leaving the brunt of responsibility for failures squarely on the player. This does neither particularly well, so while it definitely remains playable if you’re determined to overlook its flaws, it’s also difficult to heartily recommend.