Crymachina from FuRyu Corporation, Aquria and NIS America is a JRPG that will immediately catch your eye thanks to its captivating visuals. Thankfully, apart from the exceptionally good art style, the game has a lot going for it.
Is Crymachina therefore worth picking up and should you dive into this futuristic-looking action-packed title?
Crymachina
In Crymachina players will take on the role of Leben Distel. After a brief introductory cinematic with your character in the hospital, you’ll suddenly awaken in the far future. 2000 years into the future to be specific. Crymachina’s onboarding process is a tad rough with the game feeding you a lot of information in the first chapter of the game.
And by a lot of information, I mean a lot. Seriously there’s so much going on here that you’ll be left with a tonne of questions but therein lies the best part of the game. Crymachina’s storytelling is done in a way that makes you want to press on further and learn more about the game world.
Leben finds herself in possession of a cybernetically enhanced body and is inside a strange world. She’ll quickly learn how to defend herself against enemies known as Cherubs and will soon encounter another character known as Mikoto. After a brief battle with an extremely powerful “Deus Ex Machina” named Ecclesia, you’ll escape to the “Imaginary Garden” where more lore gets revealed.
The story of Crymachina involves trying to gain as much “ExP” as possible to return you to a human state. Eight Deus Ex Machina are vying for control over a spaceship known as Eden and somehow you’re involved in this situation because of “Enoa”. Enoa tasks you with restoring her capabilities and taking the fight to the other Deus Ex Machina and it’s all really intriguing throughout.
Split between visual novel-esque fully-voiced conversations and in-game cutscenes, Crymachina’s storytelling is great. Without spoiling too much, things really get interesting quite quickly and the game draws you in with its numerous concepts and ideas which drive its plot forward. There is a bit of trope-filled writing here though with characters behaving in certain ways and there are some cliché moments but the game is entertaining nonetheless – Especially if you’re a fan of anime media.
The gameplay in Crymachina plays out very similarly to Nier Automata. Players will control their character and hack and slash away at enemies in 3rd person view. You can attack with light and heavy attacks, dodge, dash and make use of special programs which will trigger special attacks that have cooldowns. Additionally, you can also enter an “Awakened” state which greatly enhances your capabilities and lets you automatically dodge enemy attacks.
Exploring in Crymachina is limited since the game world features some rather linear levels. Levels in the game look fantastic though and so too do the enemy designs. Graphically Crymachina is a title that has a visual style that is incredibly beautiful to look at and the developers clearly knew this too since they included a Photo Mode in the game.
The soundtrack featured in Crymachina is also really good with so many tracks that are perfectly suited to the game. Either for storytelling purposes or just to serve as ambient music in the background. There is a music player in-game too which is great if you just want to listen to a particular track. Crymachina’s cast of characters is voiced by some very prominent Japanese voice actors and each one of them has performed their roles perfectly.
Crymachina isn’t a particular long game nor does it give you much freedom to explore. Instead, it focuses on massive lore and worldbuilding and has combat that’s quite addictive in its button-bashing-centered gameplay. The game features a casual mode too to make things easier in case you find yourself having a hard time with boss enemies. In total, the game will take you around 20 hours to complete and more if you want to 100% it.
Being a JRPG, Crymachina does feature a lot of levelling up and there is some customization when it comes to special attacks. Upgrading your characters is essential to victory and the game does tend to get a bit grindy at times since there are difficulty spikes when fighting some tougher foes. The casual mode alleviates this problem but makes the game way too easy if you enable it.
Crymachina’s storytelling can also get in the way of the actual gameplay since there are fairly lengthy segments of the game where you’ll just be listening to characters conversing with one another. If you lack the patience to sit through conversations, this game will start to annoy you quite quickly. It is standard fare for JRPGs though so you should understand what you’re getting into if you’re a fan of the genre.
Final Verdict
Overall Crymachina is a charming JRPG title that has quite a lot of polish. It’s certainly a step above some of the other FuRyu Corporation titles out there. Yes, there’s a layer of jank to the game but it’s remarkably enjoyable. The cast of characters are all likeable and grow on you as you play and there’s enough humour mixed in too to keep things fresh despite the dark themes present in the game. Give this game a try if you’re a fan of JRPGs with simplistic battle systems and a focus on storytelling. Chances are you will really enjoy it! Crymachina therefore gets a solid recommendation from me.
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