Solo Review: Crypt

What is this game about? 

Crypt is a game about reclaiming family heirlooms—treasures that your deceased father promised to leave to you, but took to the grave instead. You (and, in the mulitplayer game, your siblings) are all robbing his tomb and trying to profit the most handsomely from doing so.

The game is mechanically very simple. All you need are three dice for each player, and a deck of treasure cards. There are also "collectors" who can offer you rewards for collecting multiple treasures of the same type. Each round, you flip treasure cards. Then use your dice, which represent servants, to attempt to claim them. (Highest pip value wins.) What makes the game interesting is that rather than roll your servant dice to determine their value, you get to set that value yourself. Just how badly do you want that treasure? There is, of course, a catch—dice with high values have a much higher chance of becoming "exhausted" for future turns, meaning that you'll eventually need to use a turn to recover them and get them back into play. Although you do not throw the dice to set their value, you do roll them to determine exhaustion. If a die rolls lower than the value you initially set to claim a treasure, it's exhausted. Once the treasure deck is exhausted, the player with the most coins wins. 

How does it play solo? 

Crypt comes with a solo variant called "Only Child," in which you are racing your father's ghost to steal as much treasure as you can before he runs you out of the tomb. You compete against a simulated AI player that works very simply: Just roll three dice and assign them. The rules specify how they should be placed based on the value of the available treasures and the dice you've already played. 

Overall Thoughts

I backed Crypt on Kickstarter because the price was incredibly low and I'm always in the market for a small-box game. Crypt is definitely the sort of game you could easily slip into a backpack or purse and carry around with you. Unfortunately, I'm not entirely convinced you would want to. 

That is not to say that Crypt is a broken game, or even necessarily a bad one. The game works. Its premise is charming, as is the art for some of the character cards. But at the end of the day, Crypt is utterly forgettable. The solo variant doesn't put all that much pressure on you as a player, and it never felt tense or challenging. The decisions are not dramatic or interesting enough to make this game more than a time filler. There are a lot of interesting small-box solo experiences out there, and I just don't believe that Crypt can compete.

Do I recommend it? 

Not really. The game isn't terrible or anything, and the price point is great. But if you want a small box solo experience, I think you can do better.

Overall rating: 2.5 stars

Rating scale: 
5 stars — I love it!
4 stars — I really like it. 
3 stars — I like it. 
2 stars — It's okay. 
1 star — Meh. 

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