For When I Weep, Then I Am Strong.
"I'll see you in Purgatory."
Crystar is a Hack and Slash Action RPG developed by Gemdrops and published by FuRyu in 2018. The overseas version was published by Spike Chunsoft for the PlayStation 4 and Steam in 2019. A Nintendo Switch version (which includes all the DLC) was released in 2022, with NIS America handling the international release.
The game tells the story of a young girl named Rei Hatada, who ended up in Purgatory alongside her younger sister, Mirai, for some reason. While trying to escape from the abominations that resides there, Mirai is accidentally killed by Rei, who is forced to make a Deal with the Devil to revive her, in exchange for hunting down the lost souls wandering Purgatory.
A spiritual sequel called Crymachina was released in 2023.
Unrelated to the 1980s Marvel comic book The Saga of Crystar, Crystal Warrior or its associated action figure line from Remco.
Crystar provides examples of:
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Alcea, the knowledge of the events that happened in the other timelines, is what allows the heroines to make the right choices and reach the Golden Ending.
- Accidental Murder: Rei accidentally kills Mirai during the Final Boss Preview against Anamnesis.
- Ambiguously Bi: Kokoro has a boyfriend, but constantly teases Rei and Sen, calling them to be "her type."
- Animal Motifs: Each crest represents one, and it's displayed in the character's dialogue boxes: Unicorn (Rei), Dog (Kokoro), Lion (Sen), Bird (Nanana), Bat (Anamnesis) etc.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- After beating the game and starting again for a new unlocked story, the game only forces you to play a shortened version of the prologue before skipping ahead to Chapter 6.
- On the fourth go-around, you can access all the previous stages including ones that had multiple forms, allowing you to gain the last few memoirs.
- Back for the Finale: Arashi, Kyosuke, and the dragon from Chapter 4 return as bosses in the last storyline.
- Bandage Mummy: Kyosuke Tomasu is fully covered in bandages for some reason.
- Bedsheet Ghost: The most basic of Revenants have this look.
- Bilingual Bonus: In Japanese, 'Mephis and Pheles' would be pronounced 'Mephis to Pheles'.
- Bittersweet Ending: The first ending. Rei manages to obtain Revival and bring Mirai back to life, at cost of Nanana's Heroic Sacrifice and the memories of her friends. Also, Kokoro and Sen are last seen fighting each other, and their fates are left ambiguous.
- Blow You Away: Rei learns a pair of spells that summon tornadoes. They can interrupt attacks and send enemies airborne.
- Bolivian Army Ending: In the first two endings, Kokoro and Sen are last seen fighting each other, and the outcome is left ambiguous.
- Bonus Dungeon: Optional trials become available as you advance thought the game.
- Boss Bonanza: The final optional mission is a run against the game's bosses. Including all of the final bosses from each route.
- Bowdlerise: The PS4 version removed a frame of the opening movie that show Rei's butt.
- But Thou Must!: You have to sign the contract. Rei even lampshaded this:Mephis/Pheles: "Sign the contract!"
Rei: "I guess I don't have much of a choice." - Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: The lost souls wandering Purgatory are represented by blue butterflies.
- Chainmail Bikini: Kokoro wears one which exposes her midriff.
- Character Catchphrase:
- Nanana often says that things will be "fun and exciting!".
- Sen often finishes her sentences with "This is my justice!"
- Creepy Twins: The Demon Twins, Mephis and Pheles, managers of Purgatory who constantly stalk Rei for their own amusement.
- Deadly Game: The Revenant Princess once dragged a Bus Full of Innocents to the Purgatory and forced the passengers to kill each other, promising to return the survivor to the real world. In the third story, she traps the party members in a prison and forces then to fight each other to the death.
- Deal with the Devil: Rei makes a pact with Mephis and Pheles to revive her younger sister.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Rei befriends Nanana after beating her for the second time in Chapter 4.
- Degraded Boss: Unknown α and Unknown β appear as mini-bosses in the next to last mission in the fourth playthrough.
- Demoted to Extra: Yuri Minamo loses screentime and relevance with each new storyline. Just like Carneades and Hobbes, she is a level boss with a grudge against one of the heroines, and they interact a little before the battle. In the second story, Yuri is attacked by Mirai and is already insane by the time Rei reaches her. In the third story, only Parmenides appears (and she doesn't have any non-battle lines). She is also absent from the true ending path.
- Devil, but No God: We have Demons running around, but no Angels, let alone a God. Dialogue suggests a creator of some sort exists, but the details aren't gone into.
- Dirty Coward: Arashi Namba, Kokoro's boyfriend tries to convince her to sacrifice herself to Anamnesis to save himself, despite her being pregnant.
- Disney Death: Justified. Thelema's death is temporary because of the multiple timelines.
- Downer Ending:
- The second ending. Rei has to fight Mirai, the Revenant Princess, and they both die after a lengthy battle. Kokoro and Sen are last seen confronting Nanana, who went berserk due to the side-effects of the Cogs of Renewal on Revenants.
- The Bad Guy Wins in the third story, as the heroines were manipulated by the Demon Twins into killing each other.
- Driven to Suicide: Nanana apparently hung herself back when she was still alive.
- Dual Boss: Mephis and Pheles are fought at the same time during the last storyline.
- Dual Wielding: Sen dual-wields katanas.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Pretty much every female character is dressed in goth-lolita fashion.
- Emotional Powers: Tears can create Idea and purify equipment for use. Rei's empathy is also necessary to summon her guardian.
- The Empath: The three Executors have the power to see the memories and emotions of the lost souls by touching them.
- Equipment Upgrade: Sentiments can be fused together to make more powerful versions as well as customized with bonus stats.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The witch that sells items to you is simply called "Peddler".
- Evil Versus Evil: Anamnesis, the Revenant Princess (Mirai), and the Demon Twins are in conflict with each other.
- False Friend: Yuri was Rei's only friend in school until she died in the bus accident. However, when Rei reunites with her in Purgatory, Yuri reveals that she never liked Rei and was only being nice to her because of the teachers' insistence.
- Fighting Your Friend:
- Multiple times, depending on the playthrough. Kokoro's quest for revenge against Anamnesis pits her against Sen, who wants to protect her mother. The Cogs of Renewal cause Revenants to lose their memories, so Nanana goes berserk and turns on the party.
- In the third story, the Demon Twins successfully manipulate the party members into killing each other for their own amusement.
- Final Boss: A different one for each playthrough. The first final boss is Plato (Anamnesis' Revenant form), second is Aristotle (Mirai's Revenant form), third is Sen Megumiba, and the last (and True Final Boss) is Mephistopheles (the Demon Twins' true form).
- Flirty Stepsiblings: Mirai towards Rei, with treating her like a doting housewife.
- Forced Transformation: In Chapter 4, Rei, Kokoro and Sen are transformed into Nanana clones. They can still fight, but they all use Nanana's moveset, and it becomes hard to distinguish between them. The halos are a dead giveaway to the player.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The four party members: Rei is the phlegmatic (calm, introverted, empathetic), Kokoro is the choleric (extroverted, duty-driven, the heavy hitter of the team), Sen is the melancholic (stoic, serious, follow rules) and Nanana is the sanguine (lively, friendly, chatty).
- Freudian Trio: The three Executors. Kokoro represents the Id (for her personal vendetta against Anamnesis), Sen is the Superego (follows rules and has a strong sense of justice), and Rei is the Ego (acts as a mediator between them and wants to revive Mirai for her ego).
- Fusion Dance: Between Unknown α, Unknown β, and Thelema's soul during Chapter 5's climax. Also, Mephis and Pheles during the (true) final battle.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: The Executors have blue halos, while the Revenants have red halos.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: Rei has white wings, the Demon Twins have black wings, and Anamnesis have bat-like wings.
- Gotta Catch Them All: Rei is tasked with finding seven Ideas for the Demon Twins to bring Mirai back to life.
- Heel Realization: Mirai and Anamnesis catch on that they're the bad guys in the true ending and reincarnate in order to atone.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Nanana throws herself at the Cogs of Renewal to save Mirai in the first ending.
- Horned Humanoid: Epicurean, the first boss, is a gorilla-like Revenant with bull horns.
- Humanoid Abomination: Most of the Specters and Revenants inhabiting Purgatory.
- Improbably Female Cast: Every non-Guardian major character is female.
- Incest Subtext: You don't have to look very hard to get the sense Mirai's feelings for Rei are more than familial, particularly in how she's obsessed with keeping Rei all to herself.
- Infinity +1 Sword: Each character-specific ordeal boss will drop either a weapon or armor for them with higher stats than the next best gear. The catch is, like the other equipment, you need multiple copies of it fused together to get it as good as you can.
- Just Between You and Me: In the third timeline, the Demon Twins unveil exactly how they pulled off their plan and all the behind-the-scenes scheming just before killing Rei.
- Kick the Dog: Mephis and Pheles had Thelma killed just to get some more trauma and Idea out of Rei.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Losing soul fragments causes characters to forget specific memories.
- Leaked Experience: Characters not fighting get 80% of the experience points.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: The party splits up when climbing the two Towers of Grief.
- Level-Up Fill-Up: Leveling up restores HP and MP even if that character isn't the one currently being used.
- Load-Bearing Boss: After defeating Mephistopheles, the building begins to collapse and the heroines have to warp away to escape.
- Loser Protagonist: Rei is a depressed and antisocial hikikomori who relies on her younger sister to take care of her.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Anamnesis is Sen's mother.
- Mama Bear: In the aforementioned Deadly Game, Soma killed the remaining passengers in order to keep Sen safe.
- Manipulative Bastard: In the third story, the Demon Twins use their Voluntary Shapeshifting powers to turn the heroines against each other.
- Meaningful Name:
- Rei to her sister: Rei (past) to Mirai (future). As it turns out, this is also true for her other sister: Rei (zero, beginning) to Kuon (eternity).
- Anamnesis is the ability to remember things that happened in the past.
- Mephistopheles: The primary demons you negotiate with are a pair of sisters named Mephis and Pheles. They offer up contracts with provide the heroes with power in exchange for having to do dirty work managing lost souls for them. When they fuse into the Final Boss, they get the full name of Mephistopheles.
- Multiple Endings: Four endings. You get a different one for each time you beat the game.
- Named After Somebody Famous: The Guardians and some Revenants are named after real-life philosophers, such as Heraclitus of Ephesus, Diogenes, Socrates and Epicurus.
- New Game Plus: Subverted. After beating the game, you will restart at the prologue, but then the game will jump straight to Chapter 6 and the story will change each time, leading to different endings.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Anamnesis taunts Rei about this, claiming that, much like herself, Rei is trying to obtain Revival for her ego, and not for her sister's sake.
- Not Too Dead to Save the Day: During the Chapter 5 boss fight, Thelema's soul escapes from the monster and reveals a forgotten memory to Rei, giving her the courage to press on and recover her powers.
- One-Winged Angel: Revenants can turn into giant monsters for boss fights.
- Pet the Dog: Literal example. Rei can pet her dog while at home.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: Two in the first ending. One from Rei to Nanana and the other from Kokoro to Sen.
- Power Dyes Your Hair: In her Executor form, half of Rei's hair becomes blue. Sen downplays this trope, as only a small fraction of her hair changes from black to red, and Kokoro averts this, as her hair color doesn't change.
- Power Gives You Wings: When transformed, Rei gain angel-wings around her waist.
- Power Incontinence: The events surrounding the Wham Episode and Rei's deteriorating mental state eventually cause her to be unable to cry, rendering abilities requiring her tears inaccessible.
- Product Placement: Rei owns a Sony smartphone.
- Purgatory and Limbo: The game's main setting. Rei has to traverse it while dealing with lost souls like Specters and Revenants.
- Purple Is Powerful: Anamnesis, one of the most powerful Revenants, has purple hair and wears a purple dress.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Inverted with Sen Megumiba, who despite wearing black and red clothes, strongly believes in justice and is one of the heroines. Played straight in the third story, as she kills Kokoro to avenge her mother and becomes the Final Boss.
- Redemption Earns Life/Redemption Equals Death: A little of both. Anamnesis and Mirai both agree to end their current lives - Anamnesis to atone and Mirai to avoid keeping up her yandere behavior - and enter the Cogs of Renewal to be reborn.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Mephis and Pheles are named after the demon Mephistopheles, from German folklore.
- Reset Button: Subverted. Each time you beat the game, Kuon gathers another Idea and restarts the game, but things will be different each time. Only the Demon Twins are aware of the changes.
- Restrained Revenge: When they meet for the first time in the fourth timeline, Kokoro gets "revenge" on Sen by giving her a smooch on the cheek.
- Revenge: Kokoro wants to kill Anamnesis to avenge her baby and boyfriend. Anamnesis wants to kill Rei as revenge against the Revenant Princess for separating her from Sen.
- Scratch Damage: You always take at least one HP of damage regards of your defense stat. This means attacks can still knock you over and possibly interrupt your combo chain.
- Shadow Archetype: The Guardians are mirrors that reflect their masters' wills.
- Sheathe Your Sword: In the true ending path, Rei has to overcome her trauma of killing Mirai by refusing to attack her so she can free herself from the Demon Twins Crest. Same happens with Kokoro, Sen, and Nanana off-screen.
- Shoryuken: Kokoro's Ascension technique is this, complete with mid-air spin.
- Significant Birth Date: Thelema's. Rei parents choose a dog with the same birthday as their daughter (March 8th) as a Replacement Goldfish to Kuon, so Rei wouldn't spend her birthdays alone.
- Spin Attack: Rei's Spin Slash and Crescent Slash act like this.
- Take Your Time: Rei is told she's got forty-nine days to recover Mirai's soul, but that doesn't factor into gameplay in any way.
- Third-Person Person: Nanana often refers to herself in the third person.
- Together in Death: Mirai and Rei in ending B.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Rei only likes eating potatoes, and Mirai often scolds her for it. Sen's favorite food is ramen. There's a tinge of deconstruction in this as one conversation with Sen points out that Rei's potato-heavy diet is leaving her with poor nutrition and contributing to her lack of constitution.
- Underground Monkey: A number of enemies are recolored into stronger forms the further you go.
- Villain Teleportation: Both Anamnesis and the Demon Twins can teleport to evade attacks or to pull a Villain: Exit, Stage Left.
- Villainous Glutton: The villain from Chapter 3 is a death-row criminal obsessed with eating souls. Justified, as Mephis implanted his eating disorder as part of an experiment.
- Voice of the Legion: The followers of the Revenant Princess, collectively known as Bourkabi, speaks with a deep reverbal voice and screams "SOULS" while attacking.
- We Sell Everything: The Peddler that appears in every floor of Purgatory and sells uncommon items. One may wonder where she stores them.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Soma Megumiba, Sen's mother. It's implied that this is what caused her and Sen's father to divorce due to his more cynical dedication to upholding the law. She gets broken pretty badly when the Revenant Princess decides to play her game and the passengers start killing each other in a panic.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 5. Rei's impatience to revive Mirai causes her to distance herself from her friends, resulting in her losing her Emotional Powers and the ability to summon Heraclitus in the process. In the same chapter, Thelema dies, and Rei remembers having a twin sister, Kuon, who died at birth.
- World of Action Girls: Nearly every character is an Action Girl, including the four playable characters and most of the antagonists.
- Yandere: Mirai loves her "Big Sister Rei" and won't share her with anyone else, going as far as to mess with Rei's memory and is willing to kill anyone who gets in her way. In the second story, after being defeated, Mirai uses a sneak attack that kills herself and Rei, so no one else can have her sister.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: The Revenants inhabiting Purgatory devour wandering souls to gain enough power to return to the world of the living.
