Curse of the Crescent Isle DX

A game by Adam Mowery for PC, Mac, Linux, and Vita, originally released in 2015.

Curse of the Crescent Isle DX is an updated re-release of Curse of the Crescent Isle, originally released on Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Indie Games channel. The new release features updated graphics and sound but retains the enemy-tossing gameplay, level designs, environmental puzzles, and boss encounters found in the original. However, the graphical enhancements and addition of 2P co-op – along with a few other enhancements – make this the definitive version of the game.

The premise remains the same: A few days after her 22nd birthday, the princess of Crescent Isle is set to enter into an arranged marriage with a prince from another island in order to retain peace in both lands. However, a warlock appears and attempts to curse the king, but the spell goes wrong, and instead the people of the land are transformed into various creatures that the player later encounters in the game.

The warlock absconds with the king’s wife and daughter, so now he must set out to rescue them and to save his people. The DX version of the game offers two playable characters, the king and the queen, although their movesets are the same. However, new to the game is the ability for players to team up for offline 2P gameplay, with each player controlling one of the characters for some same-screen co-op action.

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 2015, Adam Mowery, Linux, Mac, PC, PSM, Vita

Curse of the Crescent Isle

A game by Last Guy Games for Xbox 360, originally released in 2010.

Let’s get this out of the way right up front: Curse of the Crescent Isle isn’t just a game that looks old school; it’s also a game that plays old school. You can take that as a positive or a negative if you wish. Many of us who grew up playing the original 2D platformers have frankly lost the skills to play games that are high on challenge and low on hand-holding. We look upon chunky 2D sprite art with a sense of nostalgia as we recall the days when the infinite free time of childhood allowed us to master even the most unforgiving games, through sheer perseverance and memorization.

But they were still some pretty good games, weren’t they? Just because you can’t get past World 2-2 of Super Mario Bros. without blowing your first continue doesn’t mean the game is lacking somehow. It’s just that most games have eschewed both the 8-bit aesthetic and the 8-bit gameplay in favor of 3D worlds with veritable floating arrows pointing you in the direction of progress.

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 2010, Adam Mowery, AdamTheOtaku, Last Guy Games, XBLIG, Xbox 360