The Crimson Diamond on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Follow amateur geologist and reluctant detective Nancy Maple to the ghost town of Crimson, Ontario to investigate the discovery of a massive diamond in this retro-inspired, EGA text parser mystery adventure!
The Crimson Diamond is a adventure, mystery and indie game
developed and published by Julia Minamata.
Released on August 15th 2024 is available in English on Windows and MacOS.
It has received 541 reviews of which 530 were positive and 11 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.1 out of 10. 😍
The game is currently priced at 12.49€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified The Crimson Diamond into these genres:
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows Vista or later
- Processor: Pentium or higher 1.2 GHz
- DirectX: Version 9.0
- Storage: 250 MB available space
MacOS
- OS: macOS 10.14 and newer
- Processor: Intel and Apple Silicon
- Storage: 237 MB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
(Follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42150626-Jarl's-Game-Treasury/]my curator for more reviews like this) This is probably the best adventure game I played in a while. It has just the right puzzle difficulty, lots of optional content you can miss (but can still complete the game without), a gorgeous visual style that looks just like the EGA classics, and good writing with a solid plot that keeps you guessing. If you like classic adventure games, you'll enjoy this game. Even if you're not used to the text parser, this is pretty easy to get into as it has a tutorial and a very lenient parser that rarely makes you guess the exact word. Let's start with the parser, because that's the core element of the gameplay. Just like the first couple of Sierra adventure games, and the text adventures that came before them, you perform actions by typing them into a command bar. Want to open a cabinet? Type "open cabinet". Pick up a lamp? "Get lamp". Older text adventures often had issues understanding your inputs because the parser was very limited and required specific phrasing. But since the 80s, a lot of progress has been made in making text parsers more user friendly, and I can happily report that this game includes all of them. It understands all the common abbreviations (l for look, x for examine, o for open, etc - common actions like "open door" can be abbreviated to "o d", for example), and it's very flexible in what verbs and nouns you can use. For example, words for furniture (cabinet, cupboard, wardrobe) can usually be used interchangeably, and while the game uses British spelling, you can use US spelling and it will work without issue. It's a very good and beginner-friendly parser that even newcomers to text adventures can easily get into. When it comes to puzzles, I found them generally on the easy side, at least when it comes to the main investigation, but the game expects you to keep your eyes open, pay attention, take notes, and explore at your own initiative. This is its greatest strength and what makes it into my favorite adventure game I played in a while. You always have multiple things to investigate, but not all of them are necessary to complete the story. It's easily possible to miss things and still progress the game, and reaching the best ending requires you to go and investigate more thoroughly even when you already have all the necessary clues. This gives Crimson Diamond a high amount of replay value for an adventure game. The story starts simple but becomes more complex as the game goes on. You play as Nancy Maple, a young woman working as a geologist at a museum. When a diamond is discovered in the belly of a fish near the town of Crimson, she's sent to examine the geology of the region and determine whether it natively contains diamonds or the fish swallowed it elsewhere. She spends the night at a lodge owned by a grumpy old man who doesn't want to host any guests; but an explosion at the railway bridge prevents the visitors from leaving, so everyone has to stay for longer than expected, and as the days pass, more and more odd things keep happening. It's a very classic mystery story told in a sincere tone that feels very refreshing in this day and age. Every character is well-written and has a distinct personality. As you start investigating the odd events by collecting clues and eavesdropping on conversations, every single character appears suspicious. The game does an excellent job at throwing ambiguous clues at you which you have to make sense of yourself. Even the characters who turn out to be your allies by the end appear suspicious at the start. Everyone is hiding something, and it's up to you to figure out what! It's a very well constructed mystery and a joy to explore. I didn't know who to trust until about chapter 4, and even then I wasn't sure if they were still hiding something from me. There isn't just one thing to investigate, but several different crimes and secrets, most of which are optional. There are even a bunch of red herrings that can lead you to wrong conclusions! By the end, when Nancy goes on the train back home, she'll reminisce about the days at the lodge and think about all the things she didn't manage to figure out, giving you hints for your second playthrough. I solved all the major mysteries but there were a couple of small things I missed, so I'll definitely give it another playthrough eventually. If you like adventure games and/or mystery stories, you have to play this game. It's quite excellent, and of all the detective-focused adventure games I played recently, it's the one that feels the most detective-like. A lot of the stuff you do is actual investigation: taking fingerprints, examining footprints and comparing them to shoe sizes of different characters, gathering clues and confronting suspects, etc. The fact that the game allows you to come to the wrong conclusions and still get to the end puts the cherry on top. It never holds your hand, the degree to which you solve the mystery is all up to you! Highly recommended. One of the best classic style adventure games out there.
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I've never played text-parser games before (I'm too young to have played them when they were popular) and I enjoyed Crimson Diamond tremendously. I'd even go so far as to say it might be better than point‑and‑click games! It makes you think more and requires some creativity, which in turn makes the whole experience more immersive and rewarding. You can't just click everything or combine random items - you have to type in a specific verb. You have to use your imagination. And I love it. I had worried that text‑parser games might be too obscure or confusing, but that turned out to be completely untrue. There were literally only one or two moments when I struggled to find the right words for what I needed to do. There are plenty of shortcuts (like “o d” for “open door”) and QoL features that prevent typing from becoming tedious. The graphics are great too - lo‑fi but beautiful and perfectly readable (I'm a sucker for good pixel art). The story isn’t wildly original or mind‑blowing, but it does the job nicely, keeping you interested and looking forward to what’s coming next. There are also lots of secrets and multiple endings, depending on how much you manage to uncover, so If you want to see everything, you’ll end up replaying parts of the game. The world (especially me) needs more well‑designed text‑parser adventure games like this one!
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When I picked up the Crimson Diamond I thought the text-parser will be a hassle and wear out it's welcome, but once I got into the meat of the story I was too engaged to even complain that it refuses to accept the word use for normal item interactions and You have to figure out specific verbs for each interaction. It would be even more enjoyable if I hadn't broken my space bar playing Hades earlier this year. :) While I missed some things (there is a lot going on in the game) I managed to get the main mysteries solved, so the difficulty level is just right. At 9h to 100% it's also a substantially lengthy game. Thoroughly deserves it's overwhelmingly positive status and is a must play for every point and click (and type and enter :P ) fan. Hope to see more of these passion projects in the future.
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My partner and I grew up playing Sierra adventure games like King's Quest and Laura Bow, so we were excited to try this out since it's very much in the same style. We were not disappointed - we had a fantastic time! It's a detective game very much in the Laura Bow style, but with the benefit of much-needed quality of life features (you can press Ctrl-A to pre-type "Ask about", for example, and you can toggle between traditional Sierra-style movement and a more intuitive "hold button to move, release button to stop" movement system), and with the benefit of 40 years of game design and narrative design insights since those old games came out. For example, this game is much more forgiving, and prompts you in a natural way when something seems reasonable, so you don't need to read the designer's mind. This was the first Sierra-style game that we've played where we didn't need a walkthrough to make it to the end and solve almost every mystery (though the online hint system which comes included in the game was extremely helpful, and allowed us to double check our findings). This meant we spent 98% of the game feeling like an actual detective, making brilliant deductions and solving puzzles that actually make sense! I can't count the number of times I exclaimed "AHA!" with deductive triumph. (The remaining 2% was a small amount of struggling with the text parser; when there are 10 types of rock or crystal in your inventory it can be confusing to specify which rock you want to use on that other rock.) There are also some really nice review features at the end of the game: the game tells you more or less what you missed or could have done better, but in a way that feels very natural, so you're encouraged to play again and solve more of the mystery. In all, I was really impressed by the design of this. It proved to me that there actually IS something kind of magical about text parsers (at least until you start having to fight them). This game isn't just a knock-off from those adventure games of yore; it surpasses them. The world feels deep and rich and alive in a way that is quite different to modern fully-3D games. There's also a really sweet final scene if you get one of the better endings, which was very moving. I didn't expect to care about the various characters in a murder mystery, but I actually got really invested in their lives and struggles. We have one request for the next game: more save slots!
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Not just a love letter to classic adventure games, but a really clever and charming game in its own right. I grew up on text parser games and I still have a massive soft spot for them, so any game that actually goes to the trouble of including one in today's modern gaming landscape is pretty much guaranteed to get my attention. But the text parser in the game goes above and beyond what you might expect. It's designed in such a way that it pays attention to context like where exactly you're standing in a room, or what you have or have not accomplished so far in the game, and responds accordingly. It understands a huge variety of words and is very smart about figuring out what you're trying to do (a little TOO smart, in some cases, as it can sometimes overcompensate for user error and accidentally reveal things you might not have been looking for). The one thing it very intentionally does NOT understand is the verb "use", which I think is a stroke of genius. No, you don't get to fall back on a generic command--you have to be specific! This game is so smart, in fact, that it's easy to overlook things--which is part of the fun, because it's a mystery game. There's a ton of stuff to investigate and figure out, and there's no shame in not finding all of it. I'm a pretty detail-oriented person, but my first time through I somehow managed to completely miss an entire line of investigation revolving around the fate of one of the characters, which caused me such distress (because I liked that character so much) that I immediately had to restore to an earlier save point and redo a large chunk of the game to correct my mistake. And let me tell you, it paid off in the end. Add to that the absolutely stunning EGA art, lots of really interesting and well-researched information about a large number of subjects, and a cast of characters you'll either love or love to hate, and you've got yourself an intriguing, satisfying, and very replayable gem of a game. Yes, pun intended.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Crimson Diamond is currently priced at 12.49€ on Steam.
The Crimson Diamond is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 12.49€ on Steam.
The Crimson Diamond received 530 positive votes out of a total of 541 achieving an impressive rating of 9.08.
😍
The Crimson Diamond was developed and published by Julia Minamata.
The Crimson Diamond is playable and fully supported on Windows.
The Crimson Diamond is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
The Crimson Diamond is not playable on Linux.
The Crimson Diamond is a single-player game.
There is a DLC available for The Crimson Diamond. Explore additional content available for The Crimson Diamond on Steam.
The Crimson Diamond does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
The Crimson Diamond does not support Steam Remote Play.
The Crimson Diamond is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Crimson Diamond.
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 22 April 2026 07:20 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 27 April 2026 10:59 |
| Steam price | 29 April 2026 12:47 |
| Steam reviews | 29 April 2026 10:04 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Crimson Diamond, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Crimson Diamond
- SteamCharts - Analysis of The Crimson Diamond concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Crimson Diamond compatibility
Game modes
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Online players
1
Developer
Julia Minamata
Publisher
Julia Minamata
Release
15 Aug 2024
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