Love, Debt, Stardom, or Ruin—What’s Your Story in Crypterion?
Rise from Rags to Riches, Forging Your Path on the Edge of Human Colonization
Genre-Bending Sci-Fi Visual Novel Crypterion Leaves Early Access and Launches April 29, 2025
[IDAHO] March 25, 2025 — Roencia Game Creators, in partnership with the independent publishing platform indie.io, are delighted to announce that Crypterion will leave Early Access and launch in full on April 29, 2025, on PC via Steam. A blend of multiple genres, pushing the underlying visual novel engine to its limits, the game offers a unique, original story set among the stars, in a system where anyone can rise to the top with a bit of luck, determination, and the right crew.
Players step into the shoes of one of millions of colonists who land in the Rimshot System. This remote place attracts people from every settled region of space, due to the Iclantian Comets: These relics of a past civilization offer untold riches to those who can crack their mysteries. However, that’s one side of the coin: With millions of people and countless interests descending on Rimshot, opportunities await in every corner. You just have to reach out for them.
Crypterion is built on a visual novel engine, but stretches the engine to its limits, offering a open world experience with unprecedented freedom. Set across six planets, players can pursue wildly different careers, from interstellar trader to television star, and make over 250 meaningful decisions that shape their story. Dialogue evolves based on everything from a player’s romantic status to what color they said they liked during a chance encounter. Entire backgrounds and scenes change based on branching choices—some of which players may never see in a single run. And failure is never the end: even a stint in a debtor’s prison offers new ways forward.
Crypterion’s full release brings a wealth of new content and incorporates not just the expanded content added to the game with updates, but also a slew of new additions. These include a third ending, new secrets to discover (ever wondered what the spaceship cat is up to?), new puzzles to solve, events to experience, and countless quality-of-life tweaks to expand an already burgeoning game that pushes the limits of what a visual novel can be.
This feat has been made possible by the work of a single developer, Eldon Harris, supported by his family. His sister lent her voice to the hauntingly beautiful “Pretend to Love,” a song featured in both Crypterion and his earlier game, Omni Link. His mother designed the visual style of the galaxy map’s planets. His brother helped code the more technically complex systems, such as the dynamic marketplace and stock exchange, as well as systems that prevent encounters from repeating. Crypterion also includes features that reflect the game’s community roots: players can submit content for bounty boards, ask questions of in-game characters on live TV, or even share music to be featured in the in-universe jukebox all through the official Crypterion Discord or the Steam Community Discussion Board.
“Bringing Crypterion to 1.0 definitely makes me want to echo Bill Murray’s line from Groundhog Day: ‘It’s the end of a very long day,’” says solo developer Eldon Harris. “Yet through the years, the words from Galaxy Quest—‘Never give up, never surrender’—kept me going. As a one-person team with limited resources, it was the players cheering me onward that made all the difference. I poured my heart into Crypterion, hoping to create moments of joy, accomplishment, and genuine human connection. Now it’s your turn to explore, make bold choices, and leave your mark on the Rimshot System. Whether you’ve been here since Early Access or are just discovering Crypterion for the first time, thank you for being part of this journey.”
Development spanned more than five years, including its time in Early Access, and weathered its fair share of challenges. During the pandemic, Harris balanced a full-time job while building the game in every spare moment, refusing to cut corners. At one point, he lost six months of work after writing new crew-based encounters. Ultimately, he rebuilt the entire system from scratch, introducing anomaly events that appear only if the right crew is present. These narrative events now stand as some of the most personal and rewarding content in the game, core pillars defining Crypterion’s final 1.0 experience.
Crypterion launches full on PC via Steam on April 29, 2025. What began as one developer’s passion project, with support from his family and community, has grown into a sprawling, personal sci-fi sandbox. The full story is nearly here, but players can already jump in now during Early Access to start forging their path across the Rimshot System. The game will see a price increase at launch, so it’s the perfect time to dive in, explore, and be part of something built with care, persistence, and heart. Follow Crypterion on Steam to stay connected with the journey.
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