What Iron Crypticle is
Iron Crypticle is a top-down twin-stick shooter set in the medieval crypts beneath Cryptonia. A mysterious force has taken the princess and the king's golden treasures, which are shaped like large pieces of food, so the washed-up kingsguard heads down into the ancient magical crypts to get them back. Rooms are filled with hordes of creatures, including zombies, and you fight through them with guns, melee slashes, magical scrolls and items you unlock along the way. The structure draws on arcade classics: the core loop is built around Smash TV and Robotron style arena shooting, the item collection works like Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands, and the setting recalls Ghosts and Goblins and Gauntlet. It is an expanded and enhanced version of Iron Fisticle, with gameplay, visual and presentation upgrades.
Playing it with your group
You can play solo or with up to four players in local co-op, and Remote Play Together is supported, so friends who are not in the same room can join in. Everyone fights side by side in the same rooms, slashing and shooting through the enemy ranks together. The dash move gets you out of close combat emergencies, and the Atomic Fist punches a hole through enemy lines when a room gets crowded. Between fights you can visit the cat merchant to see what is on offer, or try the arcade room to earn extra coins and health. Splitting attention between the shop, the arcade room and the next room's threats is part of the shared run.
Before you start
Surviving past the Guardian Monster at the end of each floor means upgrading your abilities. Speed, Damage, Fire Rate and Weapon Duration can all be raised, either by buying them in shops or by chaining food pickups together. Most enemies drop food such as cheese, cake, lollipops, hotdogs or fruit, and juggling that chain collection while fighting is a constant demand on your attention. Route choice matters too: each floor is a branching system of rooms, and every room type has its own advantages and disadvantages. The rooms also shift and reform between playthroughs, so a route that worked last time will not be the same layout this time. Expect to learn the floor structure over several runs rather than on the first one.