With trends like greater accessibility and conformity on the rise, a game like Crimson Shroud prompts celebration. This year has seen few creative risks due to a struggling economy, but something of an enigma comes out of the East in the final days of the year. Crimson Shroud honors the table-top roots of the RPG with a miniatures-on-a-grid aesthetic and turn-based combat in which polyhedral dice play an integral role. As with table-top RPG warfare, compelling battles combine strategy with luck for a perfect challenge. Despite charming visuals, competent music, and fun battles, what really makes Crimson Shroud exceptional are the gaps — those things withheld from the player. The absence of combat information, clear goals, and even key narrative points imbues Crimson Shroud with that arcane atmosphere so rare these days. Inaccessible, strange, and idiosyncratic, Crimson Shroud is a brief, but delightful glimpse of RPG Elysium.