{"id":160755,"date":"2025-09-21T06:40:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T06:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"urn:uuid:ee5eb9e4-c3d9-4110-bd7d-68289ab59031"},"modified":"2025-09-21T06:40:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T06:40:29","slug":"crimsonland-dev-discusses-the-twin-stick-shooters-cult-hit-longevity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/crimsonland-dev-discusses-the-twin-stick-shooters-cult-hit-longevity\/","title":{"rendered":"Crimsonland dev discusses the twin-stick shooter\u2019s cult hit longevity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Crimsonland was the very first game 10tons made. It was the very first game I made. If someone would have said at that time that I’d still be talking about it almost 18 years later… not sure if I’d have believed that. That\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, over the years, Crimsonland has gathered some sort of a cult following. Some players can\u2019t seem to get enough of it. The biggest fans have played it over thousands of hours. While I can only speculate why all this has happened, I do have a few guesses how the game earned its hardcore following.<\/p>\n

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Maze of monsters<\/h2>\n

When the game originally came out in 2003, most 2D games still used software rendering. Using 3D accelerators enabled us to have thousands of moving monsters on screen at once. This had some novelty value especially back then, and there\u2019s no denying that it can be very satisfying to mow down those monster hordes. This also defined the concept of level structure in a new way. Suddenly the monsters themselves provided an ever evolving maze to navigate through. You needed to plan and plow your way through the enemies to get to that next sweet powerup. Everything is in flux all the time, so you need to be constantly taking risks, planning new routes, and trying to figure out soft spots in the horde. I think this sort of plasticity keeps the gameplay fresh longer.<\/p>\n

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Level up, die, repeat<\/h2>\n

The survival mode of Crimsonland may have been one of the first action roguelike style experiences out there. Inspired by bigger RPGs like the Fallout series, one goal was to fit that RPG progress into shorter action game format. Kill monsters, gather experience points, level up, and try to survive as long as possible. Each time you level up, you get to pick one of the random Perks. As you get to know what each Perk does, and what combinations of weapons and Perks might be useful, you\u2019ll start to form new strategies. You perished this time, but maybe in the next run you\u2019ll get lucky? This makes it very tempting to play that one more new game.<\/p>\n

But I can only speculate why the game got popular. The truth is that the fans and them spreading the word is what has made Crimsonland popular. People are still talking about the game. And there\u2019s still one question we hear all the time. When is Crimsonland 2 coming out?<\/p>\n

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