Weekly Spotlight #9 – Best Xbox Games Under $15 – Crimsonland

Our Weekly Spotlight program continues to bring the best Xbox One games under $15. There are a wide variety of games as you’ve seen, with titles such as Assassin’s Creed Chronicles, Child of LIght and DOGOS. This week, we have a bit of a different genre. It comes from developer 10tons Ltd and is the first top-down shooter we’ve presented on the list.

This week’s game in our Weekly Spotlight program is Crimsonland – $13.99.

Crimsonland is a top-down shooter that was just released on consoles a couple of years ago in 2015. That wasn’t when the game was first released, however, as it was the first game 10tons ever published back in 2003. It becomes obvious why they chose the name Crimsonland for the game relatively quickly, as there is so much blood in this game that it would make Dracula blush.

It’s a top-down, isometric shooter that features arenas that are not totally “open” per se, but they are so big that they might as well be. From the start of the game, you’re hooked into the addictive nature of Crimsonland and that “Ok, just one more time” mindset. You know, when you die each time and you say that only to die again and you say it again then you die again?

There are a total of 60 levels in Crimsonland and its various stages that don’t take too long to pass through. Most can be passed in less than five minutes as the gameplay is rather basic. Control wise, there is not much to learn but the slightly different aiming system adds a new level of skill to the game. Simply hold RT to shoot as the game possesses unlimited ammo. If you run out in a magazine, you will automatically reload and continue to shoot. Each level sees you start with the weakest weapon, usually a standard semi-automatic firearm. As you kill enemies, various other weapons and perks drop at random places on the map. The weapons may or may not be better than the one you currently have equipped and the swarms of enemies that attack you add a high level of skill to the luck element maintained by the random drops.

That’s just the campaign section. In multiplayer (local co-op only sadly) there are five game modes total in Survival, Rush, Weapon Picker, Nukefism, and Blitz. Each has their own individual area of focus with weapon picker forcing you to play with the same weapon for the whole level, but the best part of the game is Survival. It’s your prototypical horde mode with no end and you just have to survive as long as you can. You can play all of the modes either solo or with up to four players but it’s local co-op only. With such an incredible addiction level in Crimsonland, I really wanted to see how I stacked up against other players via Xbox Live Gold but to my dismay, I was denied.

It’s also important to note the perk system is basically a full on RPG leveling system maintained in a top-down shooter which I found fascinating. Not only do more perks unlock as you level up in the campaign, but the drops of the independent perks are completely random. You may finally unlock the perk you were waiting for halfway through the campaign but it may not be an available choice to pick due to the game’s random system for another few levels. Survival mode also restricts your perks to the progress you have made in the campaign so jumping right in will lead to a much quicker death than should you choose to wait and play it for a few levels. It’s this variety that kept me coming back to Crimsonland as 10Tons does a great job of integrating variety into a game with basic gameplay and yet so much replayability. Think of the old school arcade game Smash TV, and it’s a similar setup with just much more open maps and options in both weapons and perks.

If you haven’t played a game from 10tons before, you should know that their specialty is in creating games that are truly fun. You won’t find in-depth stories, flashy graphics or top of the line MMORPG type quests. What you will find, however, is a solid game that is incredibly fun to play.

Crimsonland is available from the Microsoft store now for $13.99. Check out the trailer below.