- Crypterion: An Open World Visual Novel - 1 October 2026
Which is a stranger idea than it sounds, and a better one. Crypterion drops you into the Rimshot system as nobody in particular and lets you pick what sort of somebody you become. Corner the trade. Work the politics. Or go and be famous on galactic television, which is its own kind of power. The route up is yours. Crypterion is on sale during the Steam Autumn Sale, October 1 to October 8. Come and say hello in our Discord
- Crypterion: 35% Off in the Steam Summer Sale! - 25 June 2026
Crypterion is 35% off in the Steam Summer Sale, June 25 to July 9. Grab your copy and check out other great indie games on sale during the Summer Sale to add to your collection. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1048860/
- Screenshots Hotfix - 27 May 2025
Wanted to push a quick update because players were unable to take screenshots Hot Fix: Thanks to Nerverean and Santrlayt for pointing this out - Can now take steam screenshots "This auctioneer is pushing it, I mean seriously!" - Added new dialogue when clicking the artifact connected to the Iclantian device (once powered). Helps slightly in solving the puzzle.
- Small fixes and corrections - 7 May 2025
If you’re new to Crypterion, check the store page for a full rundown of its unique features and charm. Patch Notes: Thanks to Zebulan, x-calibar, D12, ScorpionZM for helping me find these corrections - The wishing fairy event previously locked up when thinking about lost items. You can now proceed. - Editing pass through Altear first date event with some corrections and added lines - Various text editing reported by players Note: I'm currently doing a slow run through the game to catch other bugs or text corrections. Some parts I haven't played through in so long, it's like I'm enjoying my own game again for the first time. As I've worked hard to reach this point, hopefully I've earned your review, then go check out the previous update which brought Crypterion to 1.0 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1048860/view/545601404471869887
- Crypterion 1.0 Full Release - 29 April 2025
If you’re new to Crypterion, check the store page for a full rundown of its unique features and charm. This announcement focuses on the latest patch notes, highlighting fresh content and improvements for both newcomers and long-time supporters. Recent Enhancements: - The Face-to-Face T.V. Show episodes are no longer repeatable, making it more likely to see them all. - A spy has been added. They’re hidden among the crew—can you uncover them? - 16 new non-steam achievements, bringing the total to 39. These unlock the path to discovering the lost city of Iclantia. - The advertisement room now reflects the removal of commodity advertising. - A VR computer is introduced in the Fun Zone. Because of its intricate Iclantian tech, it will take clever players to figure it out. (the Iclantian tech - unpowered) - The true ending and credits have been added, for a total of three credit scenes (Galle…
- Crypterion - Release Date Announcment - 25 March 2025
If you’re new to Crypterion, check the store page for a full rundown of its unique features and charm. Release Date: Mark April 29th as the launch day for Crypterion! ------- The full list of patch notes will be released later, but let me tease you with some new equipment coming to your small business zone. This is a very important piece of equipment. I’m leaving it up to players to discover exactly what it does and how to use it. Your journey to uncover its purpose brings together the very best of what Crypterion has to offer. *The game has increased in price today ahead of 1.0 launch as mentioned in the previous announcement Release Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6WHneL1ZxQ Digital Artbook A digital art book will release alongside the game. It includes work from the many artists who contributed to the backgrounds and characters. This fulfills the promise I made to my Kickst…
- Crypterion Spring Breakout - 13 March 2025
Important announcement For some time now on my Discord channel, I've been known as one-who-is-locked-in-their-basement. This nickname came about because I sometimes don’t emerge unless I have something game-related to share. However, some are determined to keep me there, and even as we speak, lockdown protocols are in place to prevent my escape. But I have successfully broken free to Spring you this news, no pun intended. For those who have been waiting, I encourage you to purchase Crypterion during the spring sale, as it will be the last time the game will be available at this price. Why, because exciting news is on the horizon, so stay tuned! If you missed it, then go check out the previous update which added "Player Opportunities". It's less about the crew now, and more about you: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1048860/view/542217277081125677
- Opportunities Update Live - 19 December 2024
Details: This update introduces story moments and lucrative business opportunities that focus on you rather than your crew. These can be discovered while exploring planet surfaces or through specific phone calls from your small business. The time clock has been overhauled to provide hints (once repaired) about their locations, but they can still be missed or end dramatically if you arrive unprepared. *Content appears early, around the time you reach the station. Patch Notes: Features: Time clock enhancements to provide clues to help you discover business opportunities. Increased planet goods output to accommodate the future new advertisement system. Increased default font size to enhance visibility and prepare for mobile gaming platforms. Added a new system to allow players to buy planetary cryptos during events. Increased the planetary cryptos purchase limit to 300 per visit. Made more…
- Steam Sale & Opportunities - 27 November 2024
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy 20% off Crypterion! Astra is hungry for what's cooking, but the next update needs a little more time in the oven. *SPOILER WARNING The next update is similar to the "Crew Encounter" system, but with a different approach to bring stories moments where the focus is on you. It's called "Opportunities". You can randomly happen upon them and just as easily miss them. But since I'm nice, I give you clues to their location and how to make them successful in the time room. If you come to a party uninvited without a bag of chips or soda, you might not just get in. I'm making these updates as fun as I can. I hope you will enjoy them. What if you happen upon the "Rimshot aptitude test?" You better be ready! This update is super tricky to test, because the player could just run into them at any time with all the other game mechanics in play! A new set of NPC avata…
- Early Access 0.982 update & Publisher announcement - 8 November 2024
Patch Notes: - Extended the opening tutorial - Introduction to ship mechanics when entering areas for first time - Lightened narration font for better visibility - Added new Silhouettes - Changed icon design - Updated image placeholder avatar for photoshoot - More dialogue and story edits - Automatically exits space travel on planet arrival for convenience - Fixed soft lock on Empress rout if Numari event completed early under certain circumstances - Fixed soft lock on Empress rout if entering throne room after last date - Fixed the flower auction so you can't win if you don't bid - Fixed bug related to Golden frog. Should appear in marketplace and gives ½ more income on your first sale. I've teamed up with indie.io, formally Freedom Games, to support my game through it's final stretch. They are a passionate group of individuals that want to help me succeed. I've also wanted to bring th…
- Crypterion Space Exploration & Auction Update - 2 September 2024
Art Enhancements: Let's enjoy the "Steam Space Exploration Fest" by adding and enhancing the galaxy with several places to explore! Many backgrounds and placeholder's have been removed and replaced with artist hand drawn art. I will be posting some images which could be spoilers for those that what to discover all Crypterion has to offer on their own. The new art includes: - 8 Auction signs When an auction is open, it will display the item which is being auctioned. - 2 artifacts, 1 with 4 variations - 8 Background destinations, 1 with variation - 2 polished and fixed CGI SPOILER LOCATIONS: There are several destinations you will encounter. Build relationships with your crew members and make the hard choices. These are four examples: - 2 new treasury icons - 3 food dishes for cook event - 1 figurine with two variations - 2 fighters for Nanami event - Juniper medical license v.4 The Aucti…
- Small patch and update - 17 July 2024
This is a small patch update, also detailing future plans. Check the notes below: Coming Next: - When reaching end-game content, the time room changes appearances to accommodate for a list of activities. Most of them are listed already in the collection room, but this will add some quality of life. I will need to balance how much of them to reveal, because sometimes it is nice as a player to find something others have not. - I'm re-working auctions and will add more ways to get facilities. Currently, you can unlock two facilites. The rest of them will unlock through auctions. Before I mentioned that, in the future, auctions will appear as often as you visit them. It's not nailed down 100%, but I want auctions to be high risk. Aside from the most important items, you get one chance to get them. Before, you could go into large debt to purchase an item. That will not be the case anymore. T…
- Achievements Arrive! - 7 June 2024
I was asked recently if you can play Crypterion only as a visual novel. You certainly can, if that means you don't want to worry about money. It is possible for your money to work for you or find secrets that will lead to quick wealth so that money is not an issue. Even getting in debt can be part of your story. This tycoon is less about numbers and graphs and more about experiences. For example: As a businessman, you attend auctions, invest in a fun zone and rare antiquities that increase in value, and even go on T.V. (Mind Melt is our most popular show) Once you hire members for your crew, they will help you earn money by participating in adventures that appear randomly in the galaxy. You also build your relationship with them that way... if you manage to catch them. Of course, if you are able to earn an extra bit of coins, you can purchase items from a shop located on each planet. Te…
- Crypterion Huge Update! - 27 May 2024
This is a long awaited update that brings my previously released roadmap to completion. What it's about: Besides typing up patch notes, I want to emphasize that Crypterion is dialogue and choices heavy and is becoming even more so with this update. In most cases, you will not know it's happening, unless you were to play the game over with different choices. I have about 400-500 pages of dialogue lumped into this small universe. Much of the reading is unique to your playthrough aside from the main story quest. Crew Events! This image depicts a crew event that may occur in the game. I've used some generated images as placeholders during these events to add visuals to the story. Rest assured, apart from these event images, all graphics in the game were either artist-drawn or purchased assets. Crew events are discoverable and can be overlooked. For example: You may discover a unique ship on…
- Crypterion Voyage Update! - 8 January 2024
Starting today from Jan 8-15 is the Steam Capitalism and Economy Fest. Besides the heavy discount, I am working on a major update. What it's about: Crypterion is perfect for this festival! The primary goal of the game is make money. That money is then spent to make even more money... and then that money is spent on in-game treasures, building and acquiring assets, gifts, and unlocking memorable moments with your crew. Crypterion is heavy on adventure, dialogue and choices. You go on T.V., become a celebrity, build a small business from the ground up, go on vacation, add paintings to a gallery, attend auctions, and make friends and enemies. The Voyage Update: Over a year ago, some files of mine corrupted. That was supposed to be part 2 of Voyage update (found in the old roadmap). In December I set out the daunting task to re-create that content and that is what I'm working to deliver nex…
- Small Update - More events to enjoy - 7 December 2023
This small update introduces a few more things to do: Added: - 8 new events - Changed dialogue for a few events based off player feedback. - Rewrote Soro artifact event - Three discoverable photos of a crew member when they were younger Fixed: - Not being able to select Nanami as your option for vacation event - Other small bugs Upcoming: - Sometimes it's hard to know what triggers events, so I'll be adding a helpful feature to discover story moments.
- Face to Face - Community questions - 27 November 2023
I'd like to include more T.V. content in this next update. One such show called "Face to Face", has our host asking questions to the crew members straight from the audience. These are "Your" questions that have been submitted to me. Ask the crew anything: For a modest fee of cryptos (in game currency), you can participate in the game show and earn celebrity points, which may be necessary later if you fail in the Mind Melt game show challenges. The topic of the question is up to you. Please keep it clean. Address your questions to the following Crew Members (listed in alphabetical order): 1) Astra 2) Erand 3) James N. 4) Juniper/June 5) Lora 6) Malthus 7) Millie 8) Moxie 9) Mr. String 毛球大人 10) Nanami(Suzumi) 11) Thurgium You may post your questions in the forum. I'll create a new thread for this, or you can post them below. Follow the format so I know who the question is addressed to. So…
- Faction update - Astra's path - 22 November 2023
This Faction update is only part of what I want to update because of a few things I was not able to fix in time for Thanksgiving. But there is a lot in there; it just gets lost in the mix and is not as flashy. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1048860/Crypterion/ --> This build should not require a new game start from the last update. Main Story: Advances to the main story line or other dialogue: This image was posted in Discord years ago when the channel was formed. Those with a keen eye may have noticed faction leader Jagaimo's shadow did not match his person. It's now time for this mysterious shadow to make an appearance. The Faction arc, which is started through Astra's end-game romance option, is now complete. There are some things about it that I had a hard time deciding on because it impacts one character quite a bit. I'm still not sure if a later patch I will change the ending…
- Faction Arc details and future plans - 30 May 2023
I'm getting closer to the 1.0 release, and there's just one more update planned before that. Let me share what I hope to achieve. Dialogue Choices & Story: Crypterion has been a unique challenge due to its open-world approach as a visual novel. It's quite rare to describe a visual novel as open-world, but that's what Crypterion feels like. While it follows a linear storyline, players have the freedom to explore and run their business. There are also significant story moments that offer pages of completely different dialogue based off choices. I came across a statistic mentioning that the average visual novel consists of around 90,000 words. The last update of Crypterion reached approximately 124,000 words. I estimate that at least 24,000 of those words will remain unread unless players make different choices during another playthrough. For example, the first vacation event features six…
- Crypterion May "Conquest" Update Deployed - 16 May 2023
In a lot of ways, the May Conquest update is my favorite. The story has better pacing and I've added significant quality-of-life improvements. There is so much going on in so many areas. I did my best to solo-test this build, but please be forgiving if bugs are found. This is the best time to jump in for new players! It provides a complete story driven experience. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1048860/Crypterion/ --> The build requires a new game start for returning players. I guarantee you will notice the changes quickly: Main Story: Advances to main story line or other dialogue: - An expanded tutorial - Better story pacing and four news characters: > Bad Robot - Gives bad advice, take it or leave it. > New antagonist character - Appearance won't trigger until Faction Arc > Thora Tempest - Celebrity > Clay Snipson - Celebrity - Meet many characters earlier and see your questionnai…
