Let’s discover together, in this dedicated review, what are the strengths and weaknesses of Crymachina, FuRyu’s action-rpg published in the West by Nis America permeated by cute girls… we mean, by very interesting philosophical digressions on human nature
For every good action-rpg that stands out in today’s videogame market, another ten quickly end up forgotten due to inaccuracies and incompetencies that make them set aside as soon as they are completed (if they ever actually reach completion). We hoped this wasn’t the case with Crymachina, about which we expressed timid good hopes during the preview (click here!), but which, at the end of our test with a view to the review, it didn’t really make our eyes shine. We spent several hours in the company of Leben, Mikoto and the other cute girls who permeate the production of FuRyu published by Nis America, and we are finally ready to talk to you about it.
Science | Crymachina review
In a post-apocalyptic future, in which humanity has become extinct for a long list of reasons, starting from a pandemic of a disease of unknown origin to the various internal struggles for resources and power, we find ourselves impersonate Leben, young teenager awakened in a synthetic body several thousand years in the future from when she actually died. The only hope for rebuilding (literally) humanity is Eden, a sort of spaceship with gargantuan dimensions inside which there are eight self-evolving entities, called Dei Ex Machina, aiming precisely at the possibility of rebirthing the human race.
However, when the first Deus Ex Machina, Propator, mysteriously disappears, the precarious balance on which Eden was based is destroyed and the remaining Gods begin to war with each other. Even though they are machines, some of them seem to have developed autonomous thinking, and this is obviously a big problem. Leben is awakened by Enoa, eighth Deus Ex Machina, tasked with reconstructing the human psyche, reconstructing her personality using the data available to her and therefore creating an EVE. What is the task of the EVEs? Simply gain EXP (in the game called e-cross-pi) to rise further towards true humanity.
Envy | Crymachina review
If it seems rather complicated when told like this, in reality the narrative of Crymachina, which takes inspiration from giants of the genre such as Nier Automata, is rather linear and devoid of major twists. The main events of the narrative are often interrupted by digressions on human nature, which the protagonists have during the Tea Parties in the Digital World created by Enoa which acts as a HUB for all the missions. These game phases are those most expressly linked to the Visual Novel part of the title, but also those in which the lore of the game world is expanded and deepened, as well as all the player and non-player characters. And if you don’t have a good memory, don’t worry: all information can be found in the very detailed game Codex.
In the same Hub it is also possible to develop characters by navigating the game menus, which as we had already highlighted in the preview, they are very convoluted, complex and made up of far too many submenus. Nothing that you won’t learn to navigate during the first hours of the game, this is true, but even a few less screens were enough. It will therefore be possible to spend experience points and EGO points to develop the EVEs at our disposal, increasing their level and increasing statistics and sub-statistics of various kinds.
Talk | Crymachina review
If you decide to leave the peace and harmony of the world created by Enoa to entertain the EVEs, you can leave for one of the various stations scattered throughout Eden to recover the territories from the hands of the crazed Dei Ex Machina. And so it’s time to take to the field and fight. Each mission allows you to explore a different area (and with different coordinates), and has a total duration of about ten minutes. Very fast and rapid missions, in short, which you can also retrace to grind experience points and EGO in case you find yourself underleveled to beat the next boss.
An eventuality which, we warn you, is quite frequent. This is because, although Crymachina is not a particularly difficult game, some technical inaccuracies make it imprecise and very subject to inexplicable sudden deaths. The gameplay is, as already seen in Crystar (its spiritual predecessor), very fast and adrenaline-filled, but equally imprecise in terms of reactions, parries and dodges. We therefore found ourselves dying from attacks that were not aimed correctly, even though it was perhaps the twentieth similar parry we had performed, or against masses of enemies who, attacking randomly, forced us to quickly dodge towards the limits of the combat area to avoid being crushed. However, it was not uncommon to find yourself faced with a Game Over screen for a reason that was not well explained.
Day | Crymachina review
Grinding experience points and EGO can be useful, this is true, but although the latter can be useful for increasing stats and improving some extra skills, the EVE level cap is increased as the plot progressesand you will therefore find yourself at the maximum upper limit more often than you might imagine.
For the rest, Crymachina presents classic third-person action gameplay, with light and heavy melee attacks and the possibility of using two ranged units that can be customized with different modules as desired (and there are so many). Apart from the above inaccuracies, which we personally found mainly with parries, the missions in Crymachina are strung together rather quickly, with a rapid pace and some walls to break through with the grinding of the previous levels. The pace, however, remains quite good and you will hardly get bored during the main plot.
Conversation | Review Crymachina
To write this review of Crymachina we played the FuRyu and Nis America titles on a PlayStation 5. Basically we want praise the excellent performance of the 3D models of the protagonists, all characterized by a truly captivating and unique design. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for the settings which are all, literally, identical to each other. Long corridors only sometimes interrupted by some secondary roads containing simple environmental puzzles that lead to unique objects or enemies and which, in these cases, reveal mechanics that are not particularly in-depth by FuRyu. A real shame because it could have been much more: certainly more refined.
Italian is completely absent, while the English adaptation seems to have been carried out with great care and attention (and this can be seen, especially, in the digressions on human nature and the philosophy of machines). The soundtrack is also excellent, mixing electronic, techno and ambient in a few, but truly successful, tracks.
Alive
What else to say in this quick review of Crymachina? That we can hardly recommend the title to fans of the genre, much less to novices. Although it is true that basically we find a well-managed narrative and a captivating lore, with many interesting digressions on important themes, on the other hand the playful offer proposed by FuRyu is imprecise and inattentive on many, too many factors: from the inaccuracy in the reaction of the commands, to the banality of level design, everything screams of barely touching sufficiency. Sin!
Crymachina is currently available on PC, PS5, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Let us know what you think of the FuRyu and NIS America title below in the comments and stay tuned with us at techgameworld.com for all the news, guides and reviews on gaming and tech themes! And if you are interested in game keys at advantageous prices, we recommend you take a look at the InstantGaming catalogue!
But there are cute girls
Points in favor
- Simple narrative, but in-depth and captivating lore
- Interesting philosophical digressions
- Fun and adrenaline-filled gameplay…
- Chara unique and refined design of the protagonists…
Points against
- … but far too imprecise
- … the same cannot be said for the settings
- Level design mediocre
- At times repetitive