Games Happy

Through the February 2026 State of Play Presentation, one of many new bulletins that caught our consideration was Crimson Moon​​​​​​, an motion RPG with a crimson gothic artwork model. Boasting “replayable missions that mix visceral fight with deep character development,” together with a heavy metallic soundtrack, we had been curious to search out out extra about what this sport entailed.

At GDC 2026, I had an opportunity to satisfy with the ProbablyMonsters improvement workforce as they confirmed me a bit extra of the sport in a hands-off demo. Guiding the demo was Mark “Bot” Subotnick, Chief Product Officer on the studio.

On the planet of Crimson Moon, the town of Gildenarch has been overrun by a military of undead referred to as the Infernal Legion. Positioned within the sneakers of a half-angelic warrior referred to as the Nephilim, it’s your activity to wipe out the Legion, apparently as ruthlessly as attainable.

ProbablyMonsters just isn’t shy about the kind of tone that the studio goes for with Crimson Moon, if it wasn’t already evident from the announcement trailer. Bot opens up my preview saying, “You are highly effective, you are a badass. You are going to go slay a bunch of actually scary badass undead. And so we’re leaning into that energy fantasy.” 

The GDC demo included two sorts of playable characters revealed to this point: Sunder and Aegis. Sunder is a range-based character, whereas Aegis is extra straight fight. I requested Bot if these had been like a personality class, to which he responded, “We’re not a class-based sport, however it’s in all probability the best phrase to get your head wrapped round. They’ve completely different movesets, they’ve completely different results.” We proceeded by way of the demo utilizing the straight-combat Aegis character.

The sport’s foremost hub space is Sanctus Clypeus. Bot explains to me that they spent quite a lot of time designing and constructing this space, since that is the place you’re going to be spending most of your time in between missions, constructing your character. ‘Gothic, Excessive Renaissance structure’ is how he describes the aesthetic philosophy. The sport is mission-based, which incorporates quite a lot of problem ranges and problem modifiers that you just set on any given mission earlier than heading out, though I didn’t get an opportunity to look at these choices intently. Having presumably demoed the identical mission a number of occasions all through the day throughout GDC, he went for the second-highest problem stage and set off.

One of many sport’s most important parts is that it may be performed both solo or in co-op multiplayer with a pal. That is additionally very clear within the announcement trailer, and one of many sport’s tag traces is ‘hunt alone or slay collectively’. Bot explains:

“Co-op is drop-in, drop-out; it is peer-to-peer. Whoever has the most effective connection goes to host. As for solo and multiplayer, we do not wish to make it ‘both or’. We all know some folks wish to play solo, and a few folks wish to play with associates. It is an choice with dynamic problem scaling. You are going to get roughly the identical expertise both method. Now, we do have a 1 plus 1 equals 3 concept of balancing. If we had been enjoying collectively, and we labored on our loadouts, and we began progressing in a sure method, we may have some [synergistic] profit from enjoying co op.”

As we proceeded by way of the demo mission, which was hands-off for me, it appeared most just like me to one thing like Nioh or Nioh 2, solely fairly a bit faster-paced. I noticed a staged-based, stamina-focused fight with quite a lot of completely different movesets and skills, alongside a major loot and kit system that performs an enormous function in constructing your character to be as lethal as attainable. There may be moreover an overdrive-like “Angel Mode” which will increase your injury output (and I assume lowers your stamina necessities indirectly).

I requested Bot what the strongest inspirations had been for Crimson Moon. “Darkish Souls, Darksiders, Diablo, Lies of P, Nioh, Elden Ring … we play all of them. We’re influenced by them,” he says. “I additionally would say we’re influenced by 80s metallic album artwork.”

Heavy metallic music was one thing the ProbablyMonsters workforce talked about a number of occasions all through the demo (and sure, additionally gleaned from the announcement trailer). Blood-pumping, adrenaline rush-inducing gameplay is explicitly what the builders are going for right here.

One of many methods Crimson Moon differs from different fashionable motion RPGs is the way it incorporates a Lives system. It is what it feels like, the place you may revive on the spot as soon as your HP is depleted, assuming you’ve gotten a Life to spend. It is a bit extra arcadey in that sense, the place you might be given a second (or third, or fourth) likelihood after shedding all of your well being. Bot had six lives in the course of the demo, though he defined these would usually be elevated by development by way of the sport.

“It is just a little bit extra forgiving in a way,” says Bot “You get a second to breathe, work out, okay, how am I going to get by way of this now?”. He additionally said that the variety of Lives you’ve gotten might improve as you proceed by way of the sport.

Bot emphasised that the sport just isn’t open-world and even open-zone. It’s a level-based system, the place you proceed by way of a sequence of encounters and land on a boss combat on the finish. He did make clear that there’s nonetheless wiggle room to probe for loot and lore inside every stage, as they nonetheless wish to encourage wanderlust inside the world they created.

The demo ended at a boss, named ‘Cardinal Mathias’, who was a big, agile zombie with an equally giant weapon. Whereas the boss did have a well being bar and title populating the highest part of the display, I seen that the boss did not have any type of stagger meter or stun bar. There’s a poise system in place (maybe the Lies of P inspiration), the place the boss may be surprised momentarily if it takes a adequate quantity of harm inside a sure window of time.

Throughout my preview session, I needed to verify what the construction of the sport can be like. The unique press launch and PlayStation Weblog put up described ‘replayable missions’. From every part I noticed, you begin missions from a hub space and return with loot, energy up, after which proceed on. ProbablyMonsters mentioned to me they name it a “mission roguelike”, which was just a little unusual to listen to, as a result of I hadn’t actually seen something that explicitly indicated a roguelike loop. Once I pressed them on this, Bot responded:

“I am calling it an motion RPG with roguelike components. There’s completely different loot that can seem, and we have now completely different boons or passive results that may spawn on tools. For us, everytime you full a mission, you get to maintain and procure that loot … we’re nonetheless having quite a lot of these different roguelike components carried out.” It was a bit difficult to understand within the context of a 30-minute guided demo exactly how the bigger roguelike meta development labored in coordination with leveling and kit. As Bot mentioned, it appeared that a few of the boon and run components had been nonetheless being selected.

To be as clear as attainable, I requested: “If we name this an motion roguelike RPG, you do not suppose that is a misnomer?” He replied: “I don’t suppose that is a misnomer.”

Through the demo boss battle, Bot as soon as once more factors out to me the music coming in because the boss is on its final legs: “You get that good mix of gothic high-renaissance music after which metallic …. I do not know … after I’m enjoying in that metallic kicks in … it simply .. It fuels me.” 

Crimson Moon is about to launch later this 12 months for PlayStation 5, Xbox Sequence X|S, and PC.