Players can choose from three classes each with a host of unique abilities ranging from the Assassin’s time-bending attacks to the Wizard’s elemental mastery to the Mercenary’s sweeping whirlwind strikes. Each class has five special abilities that can be upgraded by collecting treasure and finding hidden Soul Anchors that harbor the spirits of long dead heroes. By choosing to specialize in certain abilities, players customize characters to suit their play style and complement their friends’ characters.

Partying with up to three friends on a single Xbox 360 console or over Xbox LIVE, players can create chain attacks that combine their different abilities for devastating effects. Different class compositions in parties allow for a diverse and unexpected set of combos.

Certain Affinity’s president Max Hoberman tasked the development team to take everything they learned from their FPS work on Call of Duty and Halo -- strong action gameplay, addictive character progression and great encounters and environments -- and apply it to the action RPG genre.

"One of the reasons I started Certain Affinity was because I wanted to make a game like this – an action RPG with clever AI, fantastic physics and deep emergent gameplay that can be enjoyed with friends in the living room or halfway across the globe,” said Hoberman. “Crimson Alliance is that game, finally!”

The world of Crimson features labyrinthine crypts, ruined cities, deadly traps and hidden treasures, populated by elite mini-bosses and the devious minions they control. Each of the three main characters has their own motivations, revealed in a story-driven cooperative campaign of betrayal, foul magic and ancient secrets.