Flynn: Son of Crimson

The Good
Flynn: Son of Crimson has caught me off guard. I went in low on expectations, a bit afraid that I end up with a generic platformer, but ultimately ended up loving almost every minute of my 12h, 101% playthrough. It was a bliss all the way through.

Our protagonist Flynn and his furry companion Dex are living a rather peaceful life in the land called Rosantica. They get attacked while running a simple errand, a fight ensues during which Dex gets his magical abilities sucked out of him, along with almost all basic life functions.

As it turns out, ancient evil called The Scourge has opened portals all over the place, infesting the land with its minions. It's up to Flynn (& the player) to save Rosantica from The Scourge, but more importantly save Dex from a slow death.

"Flynn" is a platformer at heart but one with very engaging and surprisingly deep combat mechanic. You'll be using different weapons but also magic ranged attacks and are expected to combine the two to fend off all sorts of enemies. You'll be collecting crimson gems, which are a main currency used mainly for combat upgrades. There are also well hidden relics to collect which - once collected - you'll be able to sell for the equivalent of 1,000 crimson gems in Sanctia - the main hub-village in the game.

The Bad
Certain areas of Rosantica will be closed off to you until you gain an ability or skill to aid you in your progression, however the game world slowly opens up in a Super Mario World fashion, where you progress through different levels instead of a one main world metroidvania style. Progression is non-linear (in a way) - there will be times where you'll have multiple paths open to progress but you'll be able to return to all of the levels at any time. The only nuisance are The Scourge levels - every now and then during your playthrough a portal will open up to a new, slightly harder version of an old level that you have already completed and you'll have to do it again. It's not as bad as it sounds because the levels are shorter this time around but more intense, with more dangers and enemies - not a big deal but to me it felt like slowing down my progression.

The plot and lore is mostly learned from the dialogues between characters, game sort of depends on the player to make the first move and start talking to other NPCs if they want to learn more about Flynn's past or the world he lives in, cutscenes are virtually non-existent.

The Bottom Line
It's a gorgeous game with a lovely soundtrack, and fantastic pixel-art. At roughly about 7h +/- depending on skill, it never overstays its welcome. It took me about 12h to do a full 100% (all relics collected, all challenge levels completed, where you defend yourself against waves of enemies). It is a game that excels at almost everything it does & I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Edging towards 4.5/5.