Sketch Crawler

About

Sketch Crawler is a single player role playing game with fantasy and comedy themes. It was developed by Koan and was released on November 1, 2024. It received positive reviews from players.

Sketch Crawler is a deck-building roguelike RPG where players harness the magic of drawing to reshape creatures, spells, and environments. Adding colors grants new abilities, allowing for unique strategies in procedurally generated dungeons. Players can choose non-violent paths, creating a creative and endlessly replayable experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

90%

Audience ScoreBased on 134 reviews

gameplay6 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game offers exceptional creative freedom, allowing players to draw and customize nearly every aspect, from characters to environments.
The unique combination of sketch comedy and gameplay mechanics provides a fun and entertaining experience, making it enjoyable for those who appreciate creativity.
Despite its flaws, many players find the game charming and addictive, with a strong potential for artistic expression and personal engagement.

The game's visuals are criticized for being low-quality and reminiscent of MS Paint, which detracts from the overall experience.
Many players find the gameplay mechanics confusing and lacking clarity, making it difficult to understand how to progress effectively.
The pricing model and additional costs for editing features have led to complaints about the game's value, with some feeling it doesn't justify the price.

gameplay
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
52%
16%
The gameplay is characterized by its unique drawing mechanics and deckbuilding elements, allowing for a high degree of creativity and personalization. While some players find the mechanics confusing and the free-to-play waiting system frustrating, many appreciate the charm and strategic depth, particularly in combat scenarios. Overall, the game offers a blend of humor and tactical gameplay, though it may require some polishing for clarity and complexity.
- “Pretty funny because you can draw whatever you want, and the gameplay is fun; literally everything can be edited and changed in look.”
- “The semi-turn-based gameplay is wonderful; it lets you strategize and take your own pace.”
- “Absolutely love this game; it already has an extremely fun base shell, and I'm still discovering new spells and items, as well as mechanics.”
- “Trilogy fan who played them all and multiple mods, it is crushing to downvote this, but the gameplay just wasn't clear enough to make up for the incredible fourth wall-breaking creativity.”
- “My major issue with this game, and I mean super major, like if it's not fixed I cannot in good conscience support this game, is this mobile-game free-to-play style waiting mechanic on upgrading cards.”
- “90% of the gameplay is spent on drawing, but the RPG system is complicated enough to spend a lot of hours drawing cards.”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
46%
27%
The graphics in this game are widely criticized for their low quality, resembling poorly drawn MS Paint sprites that detract from the overall experience. While players can create and customize their own visuals, the simplistic 2D art remains a significant drawback, with many feeling that the lack of professional graphical assets undermines the game's potential. Despite the unique concept of allowing players to design their own graphics, the execution leaves much to be desired, leading to a mixed reception regarding the visual appeal.
- “I love the ability to draw whatever you want and use it as a weapon or spell, and it is just very comedic with nice visuals.”
- “This game has a unique and very cool concept where you can basically draw your own graphics and animations.”
- “10/10 fun quirky game where you can be the graphic designer for most of the game.”
- “The visuals in this game are a complete joke; it's seriously just a bunch of MS Paint sprites/images that look like they were lazily scrawled out over the space of a couple of hours.”
- “It's unclear if this is due to a lack of budget to hire someone who can create graphical assets properly, or a lack of talent. Regardless, the overall visual quality of the game is extremely low, enough on its own to deter gamers.”
- “While there are options to change the resolution for the game, all this does is scale up the simplistic 2D art assets used to make the game, which makes little or no difference to the graphics quality.”
humor
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by its crude and silly nature, allowing players to express their creativity through drawing and editing various elements. Many users find the gameplay amusing, particularly when it involves creating absurd or funny scenarios, such as drawing humorous images and experiencing the chaos that ensues. Overall, the game appeals to those who enjoy a lighthearted and playful approach to humor.
- “If you like making and experiencing stupid stuff and at least have the ability to draw a stick figure with a funny face, then this is the game for you.”
- “Great dungeon crawler that slowly gets infected with your little guys and idiosyncratic sense of humor.”
- “Very funny game where you can play with your creativity, change textures, and change enemies.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game's story is minimal and does not significantly impact gameplay elements such as monster stats or quests, which often feel simplistic and repetitive. However, it is praised for its educational value in animation and game mechanics, balancing lightheartedness with the seriousness expected in good fantasy storytelling.
- “Play this game, even if you don't/can't complete it, it's great education on animation, game mechanics, pattern recognition, and it is light-hearted while still keeping the seriousness necessary for good fantasy storytelling.”
- “Nothing... it doesn't alter the monster stats, your stats, the quests you're doing, or anything else.”
- “The game has not presented any meaningful quests to me.”
- “The quest mechanics are very basic, such as 'go pick this thing up and bring it back to me.'”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is in very early access, leading to some glitches, but the developers are actively addressing issues, which helps mitigate frustration among players.
- “The game is still in very early access, so don't get too upset about the glitches; the developers are quite active.”
- “I encountered frequent crashes that made it hard to enjoy the game.”
- “The stability issues are frustrating, as I often find myself getting booted out of matches.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be effective in progressing but often describe it as tedious, suggesting that while it serves a purpose, it can become monotonous over time.
- “The grinding feels endless and tedious, making it hard to stay engaged.”
- “While the game has potential, the repetitive grinding takes away from the overall experience.”
- “The amount of grinding required to progress is frustrating and feels like a chore.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is described as fun and engaging, with a fresh and immersive quality that enhances the overall experience.
- “The atmosphere is incredibly immersive, drawing you into the game's world.”
- “Every detail contributes to a rich and captivating atmosphere that keeps you engaged.”
- “The game's ambiance perfectly complements the storyline, creating a hauntingly beautiful experience.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with players appreciating its quality and contribution to the overall experience.
- “Good game and good music.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
Users express frustration over the presence of in-app purchases, questioning the developers' intentions regarding microtransactions and feeling that it may detract from the overall experience.
- “I noticed there are 'in-app purchases' listed on the Steam page.”
- “Do you plan on adding microtransactions, or is this just a waste of our time?”
- “Do you plan on adding microtransactions, or do you just want to waste our time?”
- “So I typed this, then just saw on the Steam page there are 'in-app purchases'.”