Reverse Crawl - play as monsters in a short, tactical RPG with a branching story

[Victar]

An indie game created primarily by a single developer ("Nerdook"), Reverse Crawl is a short, player-friendly tactical RPG that streamlines and simplifies many features of the genre.

Major playable characters can't be permanently killed, only defeated and forced to withdraw. There are no menus to equip characters; the only "equipment" consists of permanent power-ups for major characters that can be earned from specific scenarios, or temporary "treasure chest" power-ups that don't last beyond the battle where they are claimed.

There is only one experience bar to "level up"; doing so earns points to spend on upgrades. It's not remotely possible to unlock all upgrades in a single playthrough (unless the player farms the postgame-exclusive endless mode). Additional upgrades can be earned by completing stages.

These upgrades are the only way to unlock new powers for or improve the statistics of playable characters. Reverse Crawl is balanced around this, so enemy and player damage numbers/hit point totals never become absurdly high.

The twist of "Reverse Crawl" is that the player controls traditional RPG monsters. When the Red Queen invades a peaceful kingdom and kills its benevolent king, the princess uses necromancy to bring him back as the Revenant King, and the two of them set out to vanquish the Red Queen and the Heroes who work for her.

How "evil" are the Revenant King and the necromancer princess? That depends on the player! Reverse Crawl gives the player the option to do some morally questionable things (like attack merchant caravans), but the player has a lot of freedom of choice. The Revenant King doesn't have to attack merchants (although there is a trophy for choosing to attack merchants twice in one playthrough). Even if the Revenant King learns how to summon a vile demon, he doesn't HAVE to use the summon!

The Revenant King and the necromancer princess can fight, but they'll need help against the Red Queen and her Heroes. They begin with a number of undead minions (wraiths, skeleton archers, zombies, etc.) and can recruit additional monster minions like goblins, spiders, dark elves, and much more.

The turn-based tactical battles are on a hexagonal grid and pit groups of the player's monster minions against groups of opponents, which are often but not always Heroes. When one group on either side is completely defeated, the next group steps up. The player's groups have randomized positive or negative traits, and sometimes other random factors (like treasure chests) influence battles.

The story has branching paths and a fixed number of chapters. One a chapter is complete, the player can't go back; Reverse Crawl auto-saves with only one save file, and the player's only options are to press on or delete their save and start over. Reverse Crawl is player-friendly enough that the player probably won't be forced to start over... unless they make a lot of very bad upgrade decisions! There is only one difficulty setting, although completing the game unlocks an endless mode and a new game+ mode that carries over five unlocked powers.

Most chapters let the player choose between different possible scenarios. It's possible to "reroll" these choices by exiting to the main menu and then selecting "continue". Some scenarios will not become available unless the player finishes the necessary prerequisites.

There are a few main story chapters where the scenario is fixed; these usually give the player a choice, and the player's choice has consequences for both gameplay and story. There are three possible endings, based on a critical choice right before the final chapter; the endings have no prerequisites other than "choose an option and beat the game".

Reverse Crawl is a short game; it can be finished in three to six hours. The branching story paths, which lead to different minion recruits and power-ups, encourage a replay. Earning all of Reverse Crawl's achievements/trophies is designed to take at least three playthroughs.

Reverse Crawl is available for PC/Steam, Macintosh, Playstation 4, Switch, and Xbox systems; console versions are more expensive, but any version can go on sale for as little as just a few dollars.

I enjoyed my time in Reverse Crawl. The PS5 version crashed only once in my entire playthrough, which is good for an indie game.

Unlike many other tactical RPGs, Reverse Crawl isn't slow-paced, frustrating, or bogged down with minutiae. Its story isn't very deep, and its cartoony caricature art is not good, but its gameplay makes it fun.