Review: Cryptocurrency Custodian is as simple as it gets

I appreciate when a Metroidvania game tries to refine and polish its mechanics or when it mixes things up with a familiar formula. Cryptocurrency Custodian is one of those Metroidvania-style titles that shines through its simplicity. While the game feels closer to an isometric platformer, the mix of genres comes together nicely in this game. Add a cute premise and an adorable cat hero to boot, and you’ve got me on board.

Pluto is a good boy, the best person ever. Unfortunately, the time has come for Pluto to depart for the land of the dead. After meeting Kendra, guardian of the land of the dead, Pluto is declared perhaps not the coolest boy ever. Sentenced to cleanse the afterlife forever, Pluto must now make new friends to break into the Palace of the Afterlife where good ghosts live, where a mirror shines into the land of the living allows them to visit and protect their loved ones, in order to set things right for himself and any other trapped ghosts left outside.

Although thinking about adorable animals and pets meeting their end is not my top priority, Cryptocurrency Custodian handles this well and the premise is simple and lightly handled. As Pluto meets new characters and animals, players will also find Polaroid photos of their lives and how these animals met their ends. The small stories in the polaroids provided context into the lives of these characters, and collecting all the photos ultimately paid off.

Explore the world of Cryptocurrency Custodian really fun Pluto starts off as a nimble and somewhat flexible character to control, and as you progress through the game and get upgrades and new tools to navigate the world, he become more agile and control becomes more precise. While fighting, his main tools are very fast melee attacks and reliable dodges, as well as a number of special moves that Pluto can activate after filling up his special meter. These are really useful and I find myself using them very often because the meter fills up so quickly. Enemies usually take a few hits to defeat, but so does Pluto. Combat therefore depends on smart positioning and knowing each enemy’s capabilities to destroy them strategically. Some encounters can be challenging, especially in some of the challenge rooms, and with some of the curses you can receive to gain resources. However, I never found the challenging levels frustrating, and doing all the side content and fully exploring each area was always fun.

There are many types of mobs to deal with, each area has completely different enemy types. They all have different flavors of melee or ranged damage, but the way each one attacks, their timing, or even their reaction to being damaged or defeated are all different. This makes every new area fun to explore and get used to both the platforming and combat.

Fighting isn’t the only thing you’ll be doing as exploration is a big part of the experience. Isometric perspective refreshed for Metroidvania and platforming style gameplay Cryptocurrency Custodian is very accurate. The game provides very useful indicators of when you’ll land after a jump, and the minimalist visual style keeps you never confused about where enemy attacks will appear. My eyesight can get tired easily or I have trouble reading the screen if there’s too much going on. But since Cryptocurrency Custodian keeping things clean and easy to read, this wasn’t an issue and I wasn’t disappointed with the game’s controls and readability.

Each area has a distinct art style and color palette, with my favorites being the basement of the house, the abandoned themed section, and the blue area with the teleporting enemies, both in style and style. play and aesthetics. The latter in particular has a cool gimmick where dashing will move enemies to different spaces, making some available to interact with and others unable to interact until you switch back. Cryptocurrency Custodian There are some really interesting ideas going on. Minimalism doesn’t allow for much artistic expression, but I still find it attractive in its own way. The afterlife feels mysterious and puzzling, and the simplicity of the style conveys that nicely.

It’s in the character and enemy sprites where the more expressive art style appears with Pluto and his friends being extremely cute and funny. Pluto is always a joy to watch, from its humorous expressions to the way it moves. In fact, losing the chance to dodge early to get a more reliable one makes me a little sad, because seeing him roll around is funny and I like it. All enemies have the same style, often varying variations of bug-like designs. Their designs are generally very easy to read and a quick glance will help you guess what they can do. However, it is the boss design that makes the game even more powerful and avant-garde. The early game bosses look pretty normal, but towards the end of the game, there are some really funny looking guys and creepy crawlies, with the Lunar Man looking like he came out of a nightmare that one may encounter as a child.

I really appreciate it Cryptocurrency Custodian for knowing its strengths and exploring them during the roughly 10 hours it took me to complete the game. The combination of Metroidvania and isometric platforming elements combine truly nicely in a title where accuracy and readability are of the utmost importance. You won’t find a tough challenge in this game, but some of the additional boss racing modes later in the game can be really demanding and give you that edge. And while the subject matter may be a bit overwhelming if you’re sensitive in the same way I am about petting the death of an animal, Cryptocurrency Custodian makes me look back fondly and remember my childhood pet and every animal I have ever loved.

Cryptocurrency Custodian available for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC via Steam.

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