Flynn: Son of Crimson

Flynn: Son of Crimson is a beautiful looking and great sounding platformer game is a must-play title that gives you a powerful and cute wolf companion. This title does not have an auto-save feature so keep that in mind.

80%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

replayability, grinding

81% User Score Based on 405 reviews

Critic Score 79%Based on 14 reviews

Platforms

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About

Flynn: Son of Crimson is a single player casual role playing game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Studio Thunderhorse and was released on September 15, 2021. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and positive reviews from players.

Traverse a beautifully hand crafted world and unearth the mysteries of a dark past in this fast paced 2D action platformer with metroidvania elements.

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81%

Audience ScoreBased on 405 reviews

story42 positive mentions

grinding5 negative mentions

Beautiful and meticulously crafted pixel art and animations create a visually stunning experience.
Enjoyable and fluid combat system with satisfying combos and a variety of weapons and abilities to unlock.
Engaging level design with varied stages, fun boss fights, and a fantastic soundtrack that enhances the atmosphere.

The combat can become repetitive and simple with limited enemy variety and easy boss fights.
The story is generic, shallow, and poorly developed, lacking depth and meaningful engagement.
Linear gameplay with minimal exploration, lightweight puzzle design, and some awkward platforming mechanics such as clunky wall jumps.

story
179 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
67%
10%
The story of Flynn: Son of Crimson is widely regarded as generic, predictable, and somewhat bland, following typical "chosen one" and good-versus-evil tropes with minimal depth or memorable lore. While the narrative is straightforward and suitable for a family-friendly audience, it often feels underdeveloped, with limited character development and pacing issues, making it more of a background context than a compelling motivator. Nonetheless, some players found the story charming and engaging enough to complement the game's strong art, music, and gameplay.
- “Flynn: Son of Crimson is a 2D action platformer about Flynn, the boy with the crimson hair, who sets out on a mission to retrieve the guardian spirits that were taken away from his companion Dex.”
- “This starts off as a basic rescue story, but evolves into a full adventure to save the island from an ancient evil that now threatens it; all while discovering more about himself along the way.”
- “The cutscenes that are presented like a series of comic panels were a highlight for me - tells a story effectively and memorably without needing a lot of excess dialogue.”
- “The story is so utterly generic that it somehow makes everything surrounding it worse by making me more apathetic to what's going on.”
- “The story and characters feels lifeless, gameplay is boring and repetitive, and the feeling of progression is nonexistent even after getting new "skills".”
- “Beautiful game ruined by extremely slow pacing, a haphazard story, and a lack of urgency or purpose.”
gameplay
165 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
51%
8%
The gameplay of Flynn: Son of Crimson offers solid and satisfying action-platformer mechanics with tight combat, enjoyable level design, and a good balance of platforming and brawling elements. While praised for fluid controls, variety in mechanics, and challenging boss fights, it is also criticized for being repetitive, slow to introduce new abilities, and lacking deeper innovation or mechanical hooks. Overall, it provides a fun but somewhat conventional experience that is elevated by its art and soundtrack but may not sustain long-term engagement for all players.
- “The level design was very interesting and explored mechanics a lot, with thought put into how to make them puzzly.”
- “The excellent level design uses many level specific mechanics that keep the game fresh during exploration.”
- “Flynn really shines with how satisfying controlling Flynn himself is, as well as the amazing level design, both from a gameplay and an artistic standpoint.”
- “The gameplay relies heavily on the same cycle of jumping, attacking, and jumping again, without offering much variety to keep things interesting.”
- “Players are limited in their ability set for far too long to feel like progression is possible which causes early levels to drag due to the lack of mechanical variety.”
- “The gameplay and the combat mechanics are a joke; it consists of attack, attack, roll, attack, attack, roll.”
music
118 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
74%
23%
3%
The music in Flynn: Son of Crimson is widely praised for its fantastic, well-produced, and fitting orchestral soundtrack that enhances the game's colorful pixel art and varied environments. Many reviewers find it enjoyable, melodic, and memorable, often describing it as a key highlight that complements the gameplay and atmosphere, with some noting Celtic influences and dynamic arrangements especially during boss fights. While a few consider it less memorable or somewhat generic, the consensus is that the soundtrack significantly enriches the overall experience.
- “The music in Flynn is simply amazing, it felt so upbeat and melodic which made it all feel very heroic in a nostalgic sort of way.”
- “The game's graphics are beautifully designed in a medieval fantasy world and are complemented by a phenomenal soundtrack that ranges from serene and beautiful to fast-paced music during epic boss fights.”
- “What an excellent game, the OST is magnificent (my favorite thing about this game), the pixel art is amazing and the gameplay/fight is really well done.”
- “Clunky gameplay, ugly pixel art, forgettable music.”
- “Also, the soundtrack is the most generic thing I've heard in a while and that's terrible.”
- “The music, while orchestral to some extent, is too jovial and takes centre stage above all other sounds for some reason.”
graphics
110 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
72%
25%
3%
The game's graphics consistently receive high praise for their beautiful, colorful pixel art style, detailed animations, and visually engaging environments that complement the game's tone. While some note that the visuals lack advanced effects or originality and occasionally suffer from overly dark scenes, overall the art style is considered a standout feature, greatly enhancing the immersive and enjoyable experience.
- “The game’s graphics are beautifully designed in a medieval fantasy world and are complemented by a phenomenal soundtrack that ranges from being serene and beautiful to having fast-paced music during epic boss fights.”
- “The crimson cherry on top is the beautiful pixel artwork making the game a treat for the eyes the entire time you play.”
- “Graphics are the pinnacle of pixel art, colorful and detailed.”
- “My main gripe with the visuals is that there are two parts of the game where it gets so dark that you can't see much.”
- “So there's no flipped assets that I could see, everything is handcrafted to look bad on purpose, and a lot of effort was simply wasted on a game that looks like a garbage reject from the 1990s, an era we moved on from because 3D graphics cards got invented.”
- “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
humor
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor is generally described as funny, charming, and kid-friendly, with amusing animations and entertaining dialogue. While some find the humor and writing engaging, others feel the overall story lacks depth and fails to provide significant comedic impact.
- “The animations are funny and cute, exactly how a cartoonish family-friendly game should be.”
- “The art and the animation are all really well done and the writing is funny and charming.”
- “It's funny and enjoyable to play, and I'd say fairly kid-friendly too.”
replayability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
Replayability is generally seen as low due to the game's extreme linearity and lack of meaningful secrets or varied exploration, with most players quickly obtaining all collectibles. While the short length and straightforward design limit replay value, some suggest that optional challenges or rewards could have improved it. Overall, the game offers limited incentive for multiple playthroughs.
- “Replayability: 8/10”
- “A better route, in my opinion, would have been to make them optional, but giving out a special item/collectable at the end that could grant the player access to some kind of reward later on in the game (which would also have spiced things up in terms of replayability, by the way).”
- “[Doesn't take all that long to unlock everything then there isn't much replay value, could use less linearity and more challenge]”
- “These levels are exceptionally linear for a platformer (to the point where you can't even go back to a prior screen) and offer zero replay value once the one collectible in the level is obtained.”
- “No replay value because it's very linear with undercooked short explorations and uninteresting dialogues.”
- “There aren't many secrets to find, just one special item per stage that I usually was able to find with ease, which kills replayability.”
character development
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The character designs are generally praised for being appealing and well-crafted, with standout boss designs and charming illustrations. However, some find them somewhat generic and forgettable within the fantasy genre. A notable criticism is that the silent protagonist limits deeper character development, leading to a less engaging narrative for some players.
- “The character designs are quite lovely; I am very fond of the bearded gnome-y dwarf-y things.”
- “It's music, character design, and art style are incredible, and that was my selling point.”
- “Great character design and illustrations.”
- “My only critique is that it's a bit on the generic fantasy side as far as character designs go, but that's a very minor downside.”
- “Once again the silent protagonist thing ruins character development for me and there are so many plot holes.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
83%
Grinding in the game is generally seen as tedious and repetitive, with combat feeling boring due to enemies having high health and offering minimal rewards. However, the absence of grinding for achievements and the availability of good grinding spots help balance the experience, making progression manageable despite the effort required.
- “Attempting to fight all of the various creatures on each level can get tedious as they have a lot of health and it gains you very little in the way of leveling up your abilities so I just started avoiding most of the monsters, unless I had to fight them.”
- “The controls are fine but the actual fighting was boring and grindy and the puzzles were middling.”
- “It makes the grind easy but still makes you work for those victories in battles despite having good grinding spots.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect is characterized by a wholesome and joyous energy that resonates deeply with players. However, moments of unexpected challenge, like instant failure from simple actions, add a surprising and sometimes bittersweet emotional layer.
- “There is such wholesome, joyous energy in the composition.”
- “The fact that it's a new IP is almost heartbreaking.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game features a well-crafted atmosphere with beautifully drawn visuals and exquisite animations. Each region's ambiance is thoughtfully designed, providing smooth transitions between levels, complemented by a strong and appealing art style.
- “The game has a nice atmosphere, it's well drawn and the animations are exquisite.”
- “The atmosphere of each region was perfectly arranged, and the transition from level to level flowed together naturally.”
- “I enjoy its atmosphere and weapons a lot and the art style is very good!”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The optimization is decent, offering good performance and polish, but the price-to-performance ratio is not very favorable.
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game demonstrates good stability with no reported glitches, providing a smooth experience despite some users' hesitations about investing time.
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Monetization in Gamemaker Studio is often associated with producing low-quality, retro-style games primarily aimed at quick profit rather than quality, leading to a reputation for shovelware and cash grabs.

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79%Critics’ scoreBased on 14 critic reviews

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2h Median play time

3h Average play time

6h Main story

9h Completionist

1-8h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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Frequently Asked Questions

Flynn: Son of Crimson is a casual role playing game with fantasy theme.

Flynn: Son of Crimson is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam Deck and others.

The main story can be completed in around 6 hours, while the entire game is estimated to take about 9 hours to finish. On average players spend around 3 hours playing Flynn: Son of Crimson.

Flynn: Son of Crimson was released on September 15, 2021.

Flynn: Son of Crimson was developed by Studio Thunderhorse.

Flynn: Son of Crimson has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its replayability.

Flynn: Son of Crimson is a single player game.

Similar games include Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, Islets, Death's Door, Dust: An Elysian Tail, 8Doors: Arum's Afterlife Adventure and others.

Flynn: Son of Crimson

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