Crumbling tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Crumbling defending their world from the evil Bose Corp, which has wreaked havoc on their world. Now it’s up to you to play as your favorite toy hero, taking down enemies, gathering magic essence, and bringing and end to the evil Bose Corp.
Crumbling is an action adventure game with rogue-like elements. You play as a little action figure called Crumbling that comes to life inside of a toy store. The toy store acts as a hub where you can view your collection of action figures you unlock, purchase additional characters and various other items using the cash register, or just interact with various items around the store.
Once you’ve taken your action figure out of the package, it comes to life from the magic you pour on it and you pick it up and get ready for your adventure. You’re tasked with traveling through the various realms taking down enemies and gathering magic essence that they leave behind in order to help progress the story and progress through the story in an effort to take down the evil Bose Corp.
After selecting a stage, you have enemies that appear on the screen that you have to defeat and they come in waves. Completing the last wave of enemies in a given area will allow you to select either an upgrade to your states or a new ability to help take down enemies in the next area and going forward until the completion of the level.
Speaking of defeating enemies, the combat in the game is both simple, yet tedious. You see, you can attack using the press of a button or you can also move into your enemies which will also attack them. This wouldn’t be so bad, if you didn’t have to literally move your character around with your hand.
Now don’t get me wrong, this is a wonderful way to immerse the player in the game and take them back to their childhood of playing with action figures, but this way of control and how fast you tend to have to move, can put a lot of strain on the player. I would have liked to have seen the option to select a preference of using either traditional controls or the controls found here, which I will admit are unique and fun in short periods.
Despite my issues with the way the character is controlled, the combat itself is fun. Offering not only a unique combat experience, but it’s fun and there is a good amount of strategy involved. Aside from the combat areas, there are other areas that contain mini games like one that has you navigating a rod through a maze. This helps to give you kind of a break from the fast paced nature of the game, but you are still timed with these games and letting the time run out will forfeit any reward you may have unlocked upon the completion of the mini game.
Crumbling does a great job of being an immersive experience and gives you the sense of being a kid again and playing with your toys. Everything is bright, colorful, and has a cartoony look to it. Given it’s immersive nature, the game doesn’t have current generation graphics and quite frankly, it doesn’t need it.
There is something about being drawn into the pages of a story book and playing with action figures that just transcends graphics and is just a sense of pure joy. If the game didn’t have it’s cartoony look, I think that feeling would be lost on the player and it wouldn’t have the immersive effect that the game aims for and hits out of the park and because of it’s cartoony look, it performs very well. Combat is fast and fluid, there aren’t any performance issues, the load times are not too long, and everything just fits perfectly, keeping that sense of immersion.
Crumbling’s attention to detail and immersive nature is evident in it’s sound design as well. Every object you interact with from the coins you place in the cash register, to opening the package of your action figure toy, everything has a unique sound to it. Though limited with the number of music tracks in the game, the music is fun and helps to keep you engaged in combat, or entertained and nice to listen to while browsing in the toy store hub area.
Sounds that your character makes along with those of the enemies are the same sounds I made playing with my toys as a kid. This attention to detail helps to keep the magic of this game alive and provides a very unique experience. Even the games narrator sounds like a kids inner monologue of what a narrator would sound like if you had one detailing the accounts of you playing with your toys as a child.
Crumbling is one of the most unique and fun action adventure games that I have played in many years. I keep saying that it’s unique because it really is. The game has you playing with action figure toys in a toy store, in first person, with an impressive amount of detail in every aspect. You won’t find another game that does a better job of making you feel like a kid again like Crumbling is able to achieve.
If you’re someone that wishes you could be a kid again or want a fun and immersive action adventure game like no other, I strongly encourage you to pick up Crumbling. It’s an unforgettable experience like no other and I would highly recommend it.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.