Humanity isn’t a person or a thing but an expression and an identity. What makes someone human can be held by many definitions and contexts. At this moment in time, there is much inhumanity on the world stage, but somehow, despite it all, we are learning to be more human. At a time of rising artificial intelligence, learning how to be human is quintessential to the future. This is the world we find ourselves in with Crymachina, the latest game from team FuRyu and NiS America.
Seen as a spiritual successor to the action JRPG Crystar, Crymachina is a more futuristic take on emotions and humanity, which were similar themes Crystar shared. Crymachina is an incredibly remarkable sci-fi action RPG, with a strong philosophical story and sharp combat. While it has setbacks and unfulfilled ambitions, this incredible, albeit short, cybernetic adventure is unforgettable in its themes and storytelling, making Crymachina a highlight to a stellar year in games.
Gold Stars in the sky
On a gargantuan space station orbiting Earth, a lone girl awakens. Her body is entirely synthetic. The feet and legs are adorned in metallic silver. A feminine torso glows red. Her eyes are more like camera lenses. Her arms contain great strength and agility. Red lines streak from her eyes. A red halo containing bits of information appears above her head. Her name is Leben. Confused and thinking this is a dream, she is startled by the appearance of what appears to be an angel. A small girl appears before her, Enoa. Between the very real enemies and the fragments of data around her, Leben soon realizes this is no mere dream. Leben died 2,000 years ago and she has been brought back to life. Her mind and memories are pieces of digital information that have been reconstructed into an EVE unit.
Two millennia ago, a rampant virus devastated the human population. This led to a mammoth planetary war over resources. Through endless war, the planet found itself poisoned and destroyed. In a last-ditch effort to preserve humanity, a gargantuan ship was created in the hopes of resurrecting humanity, named Eden. The ship is controlled by multiple sentient A.Is. These powerful beings help monitor, research and preserve Eden as well as humanity’s hopeful comeback. However, these A.I have gone rogue and threatened the last of humanity. The only way to take back control and bring humanity is to become a Real Human. A being that meets the qualifications to be a Real Human can gain ultimate authority of the station and bring back humanity.
Reject Flesh, Embrace Steel
Crymachina is an action RPG. Leben inhabits a cybernetic frame. These frames were built to allow humans to operate on the station without the worry of oxygen or injury. Leben’s frame is designed for combat using a spear and laser bow and arrow. Leben is joined by another EVE, a woman named Mikoto. She inhabits a stronger frame, using a laser canon and a large sword for combat. Over the course of Crymachina, players fight enemies and receive upgradeable points or EGO. These points go towards upgrading Leben and Mikoto during the course of the game. Each upgrade increases combat abilities, health, and defense.
In battle players fight robotic, monstrous enemies that are dedicated to protecting the rogue A.I’s. Players fight in hack-n-slash action combat, not unlike Devil May Cry. Players slash, shoot, dodge, and parry their way through levels, uncovering clues to Eden and special items for use. The levels and battles are fairly quick, though the boss fights put up a challenge for players to contest. Secret bosses and areas exist, some of these enemies being vastly overpowered. During the battle, there is a prompt to launch enemies into the air for a devastating air combo. Using a finishing move sends a decisive blow into an enemy unit. Enemies unleash a barrage of close-range and ranged attacks, keeping players busy and on their toes. Some attacks can only be dodged. Others can be parried if the attack flashes purple.
Cool Calculations
This is a world born of steel and alive with circuitry. Every fight is a chance to learn and obtain new programs with which to fight. Enemies drop auxiliary programs. During the battle, players activate these auxiliaries to launch remote ranged fire. They can also tweak these auxiliaries to change their abilities. One auxiliary constantly sends out a pulse to disrupt enemies while another transforms into a beam cannon. Enoa assists the team through combat support programs. These include orbital strikes, emergency repair, and Awaken, which supercharges the player and their attacks. Finally, enemies drop special codes to decipher. These codes can be analyzed by Enoa and then given to the player. They contain more auxiliaries but also plot-important information.
Between battles, players go to the Imitation Garden. This is a virtual world that Enoa has developed to provide a haven for Leben and Mikoto during the chaos ensuing on the ship. In this ream, they are returned to their original human forms. They are joined by another EVE, a noncombatant names Ami. Here is where players change costumes, tune their EVE unit abilities, upgrade weapons, level up, and access necessary tips and tricks. They may also access music and a glossary to learn more about the world of Crymachina. To move the story along, players engage in Tea time. Crymachina’s story is told through visual novel-styled cutscenes. Toggling automatically speeds up dialogue and reveals the plot as told through the characters.
More Human than Human
Crymachina is bold and arresting in its visuals and story. The designs are reminiscent of the team’s predecessor Crystar. The themes and story also take from Crystar in that tears are a human response. Whether it be pain, joy, grief, sadness, or finding something beautiful, tears are very much an identity of being human. In a way, Crymachina takes a certain scene from James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day and acts on it. When witnessing tears and distress from a young John Connor, the cybernetic weapon states “ I know now why you cry but it’s something I could never do.” Crymachina takes that and runs with it to effective use.
The story for Crymachina is easy to understand but remarkably deep. The game plays upon the themes of reality and being real. Even the opening song NotToNotice() by Sakuzyo mentions ‘The Blue Fairy,” a reference to the tale of Pinocchio and a wooden puppet’s desire to become a real boy. Leben, Mikoto, and Ami struggle to find the purpose of becoming a Real Human and fighting for the resurrection of humanity. But along the way, they discover what is worth fighting for and how to use their newfound forms to make that dream a reality. The term familial love Crymachina puts the story and characters as the central focus for an incredible story.
Fight for the future
There are faults to the story and world. There will undoubtedly be detractors, saying that Crymachina follows anime tropes. However, a story can still be good, even if it follows a somewhat familiar path. Crymachina is very much its own story and tale of humanity and human transcendence. Some may compare it to Nier Automata but the two games couldn’t be any more different from each other in character design, story, and the overall ebb and flow. By the end of the story, players will resonate with Leben, Mikoto, Enoa, and Ami in their fight to save humanity.
The action is incredibly satisfying in Crymachina with its flurry of polish, color, and speed. Facing down smaller enemies is fun but the real joy comes from the game’s many boss fights. These battles require skill, speed, and knowing when to dodge and parry. Dodging allows for a slow-motion effect to nail an enemy in bullet time while parrying unleashes a devastating counterattack. It’s an easy-to-learn combat system but that doesn’t make the boss fights easier. The fighting looks and feels great using ranged fire, close-range attacks, and the cybernetic auxiliaries. Crymachina even goes further into its anime roots as a pulsating soundtrack echoes with every boss fight and enemy encounter. This certainly makes every battle something that feels larger than life. Even more stylistic choices help perpetuate the scene like lines of code and explosions of light. Playing Crymachina is a familiar but incredibly unique experience.
So much but so little time
Crymachina is ambitious and a solid game as it stands. However, several aspects hold it back from greatness. Firstly as an action game, the experience is rather on the short side. Mainlining the game, that is skipping all cutscenes, has the game over in less than ten hours. Doing absolutely everything, from secret bosses to additional levels will have the game finish at around 15 hours. There may be some additional time for mopping up trophies and achievements but the game is like to end fully before 20 hours. Having longer levels with more enemies and boss fights would have been beneficial to game.
This length isn’t necessarily a detriment. Some may be put of and put their money to a 100 hour epic like Baulder’s Gate III, but there are those that want to play games that are within the realm of completable. Players have been wanting shorter games fr quite some time now as a means to complete titles that mesh well with the their day to day lives. To that end, Crymachina is a good length. However, given the ambition of this sci-fi fantasy, Crymachina could have been so much more and so much longer. I would have loved to continue to see a bigger story and the characters flesh out further. The world of Crymachina, with its transhuman story and comraderies, is something I’d love to see tried again in the future, whether as a sequel or spiritual successor.
Tears in Rain
Crymachina also has a few oddities in its execution and art style. The game does a fair job of establishing the world and providing tutorials. However, one tutorial, changing equipment, wasn’t shown properly. I didn’t know that I could change my auxiliaries and weapons until many levels into the game. On the PS5, you may do so by hitting the center button. This felt like a strange omission, given the importance. An additional missed opportunity I the lack of English dubbing. The Japanese voice work with subtitles is strong and gets the job done well, but having English would have made it easier for players to better understand and engage with the story. Furthering this is the lack of animated cutscenes. Crymachina opens with a stellar anime music introduction. If this were featured in the rest of the game, this would have made Crymachina quite the looker in its visual storytelling.
Finally, the level designs. Fighting in each level results in going down hallways, fighting a few enemies, then doing the same thing until a large boss at the end. For a spaceship brimming with robots and synthetic beings, there could have been more life and energy brought into the levels and Crymachina overall. The levels are sharp but could use more life, diversity, and color. There is a constant wave of “blue” everywhere. Crymachina would have benefitted if it had taken cues from Tron or Tron Legacy. This goes further as the Imitation Garden never exactly changes. In some ways, Crymachina would have been better off as a full-fledged JRPG or an over-the-top action game. In doing so, more of the world and gameplay could have been seen.
Gold Stars for Crymachina
Crymachina holds a lot of ambition. Unfortunately, some of that is not fulfilled. However, what we have is a remarkably strong sci-fi rpg that with high-speed action and a bold story. The tale of Leben becoming a real human, in a world of steel and circuitry is profound. The action is kinetic and exciting. Mikoto and the rest of the characters are fleshed out and done very well. The music and presentation, along with the story of humans reborn in steel, leave a lasting and memorable impression long after the credits roll. For me, it’s an unforgettable journey I am glad I went on.
It is unknown if this is the beginning of a franchise or if there will be a spiritual successor. If this is a single adventure, I am glad and proud of what FuRyu brought us. Crymachina is a game that helps close out a solid year in gaming with its incredible vision and gameplay. It is my hope tha the team continues with this philosophy but fulfills that ambition of going higher and stronger in its next game. Crymachina is a wonderful game and a great successor to Crystar. A gold star for all.
Crymachina was reviewed on the PS5 thanks to a review key from NiS America
