Krampus (game)

*Note: This article is about the game. This is the article for the character: Krampus (character)*

**Krampus** is an online webgame created by Ukrainian game developer AleksandrCG. It was released on July 12th, 2022 as a HTML game on Crazy Games which could only be played on PC. On April 10th, 2023, the game got updated with a variety of changes to gameplay, as well as mobile support. It got updated once again on April 22nd, 2023.

## History

Krampus was released on July 12, 2022 as a HTML game on the online gaming website "Crazy Games". It was normally played by many people, some of which even did speedruns on the game. On December 8th, 2022, a speedrun.com page for Krampus was created by a user (THIS.). There were a number of runs (around 15) which are now removed from the page after the first update.

On March 8th, 2023, an official Discord server was created by a speedrun moderator (pokebell). Many topics were discussed on the server, such as glitches, speedruns, theories, and even the developer himself. Eventually, on April 1st, one of the users came across Alexandr's Discord profile on the Crazy Games page and got to talk to him. Alexandr joined the server on the same day.

On April 7th, 2023, Alexandr updated the game and sent a desktop version on the server for people to play. Eventually, the update got on Crazy Games on April 10th, along with a leaderboard for players to compete. On another server, a couple of streams by Alexandr were made on a new update for Krampus, which eventually got in on April 22nd, 2023.

## Gameplay

The goal of the game is to find 5 items scattered around the house to place them on the dishes on the pentagram tips in the starting room which will activate a spell that kills Krampus. In the meantime, Krampus will wander around the house searching for you.

The 5 items you'll need for the spell is: a rat tail, a horseshoe, a skull, a horn and an incantation. The items are listed in the hint paper on the table at the second room after the starting room. You don't need to collect them all in order, just collect them in whatever order you like.

After you've collected an item, bring it to the starting room and place it on a dish on the pentagram. Again, it doesn't matter which dish you have to put the item on.

While you do your mission, remember that you are hunted by Krampus. As said before, Krampus wanders around the house searching for you, occasionally stopping by if at a dead end, about to take a turn, choosing which way to go, or inspecting rooms. To hide from him, you can use closets or beds in certain rooms. After opening a closet or going under a bed, you're automatically sent inside it, unable to move or do anything until exiting the closet.

If Krampus sees you, he will begin chasing you while also focusing on the quickest way to get to you. He will eventually stop until you're far away enough from him. Dropping items also lures Krampus in, which is exactly what the hint paper tells you.

Once Krampus catches you, you will be forced to face him as he laughs maniacally before putting his mouth into your face and the screen fading to black as he does so. After this, you will be sent back to the starting room. If Krampus caught you with an item in your hand, you will be sent back to the starting room with that item in your hand. At times, this can be useful since it helps putting the item on the dish more quickly.

As you explore the house, you will face off various puzzles that you need to accomplish in order to gain access to the items you need for the spell. These items involve some current items and some new ones in order to remove blockages to other items for the spell.

If Krampus spots you attempting to hide in a closet or bed, he will not be fooled easily. He will simply run towards you, get to you and kill you. Another thing to note is that if you drop an item, Krampus will run towards the item and inspect it. This is noted on the hint paper at the beginning of the game.

On your way, you will see some gates blocking downstairs ways that you will need to go in order to complete the ritual. If you go to the hallway, there is a door next to the stairs. At the end of the room is a switch. Simply click on the switch and all the gates will open. There is also another switch in the crack in the wall, which opens a gate to a new room, the old mine.

Once all 5 items have been placed on the pentagram, the pentagram will set ablaze, meaning that the spell has been activated. The next thing you'll need to do is either lure Krampus in with the lock (you can drop the lock from the door as well), or simply wait for Krampus to come in the room. After Krampus steps into the pentagram, he will fall on his knees, scream and disintegrate.

The pentagram will slowly return back to normal after Krampus' death. You will then notice a golden key laying on the ground; the key Krampus has been keeping around his neck the whole time. All you have to do is grab the key, go to the exit door, take the golden lock off and click on the door. This will end the game with your time showing in the end, where you can submit your name, click OK and go back to the title screen and play again.

### New updates

- Difficulty system added:

**Practice:** Krampus isn't in the house, meaning the player can explore fearlessly. Practice mode times can not be submitted to the in game leaderboard, but can be summited on the speedrun.com leaderboard.

**Normal:** Just like the game is now.

**Hard:** Krampus is almost as fast as the player and a red tint is around the screen.

- New items added:

**Hatchet:** Used to cut down boards blocking the wall crack which contains the rat tail.

**Switch:** A different switch which opens a gate to the old mine.

**Pickaxe:** Used to destroy the stone piles blocking the rooms in the basement tunnel which contains the skull.

**Suspicious picture****:** A picture on the upstairs floor which can be taken off the wall.

**Shovel:** Behind the suspicious picture.

**Silver key****:** Under a pile of dirt in the basement tunnel.

### Update(6/20/23)

Hard mode is one life only

Sprinting has been added to practice and normal mode.

Made it so you respawn at the starting location when you fall off the map.

Made the out of bounds blue, instead of black.

Some bugs have been fixed.

## Controls

WASD/arrow keys - Movement

C - Crouch

LMB - Interact

RMB - Drop items

Shift - Sprint (not available anymore)

Esc - Pause the game

## Speed-running

In the early stages of the game, speed-running was actually quite popular with the majority of players. Speed-running was much easier back in the first versions of Krampus because the game was less complicated to beat and you had the ability to sprint.

Now, players have a slightly faster walk and no sprinting. In the early stages of the game, two players stood out from the small group of speed-runners.

Bombasnow was the best speed-runner in the game by a long shot. He always was leaps ahead in the speed-running picture, he mostly always held the world record.

A bit less known, BoDkInZZ was the second best speed-runner in the game. Usually obtaining a record that was close to Bombasnow. Before hatchetless and silver key skip was discovered, the best time was held by Bombasnow, 3:10, and BoDkInZZ had 3:14.

A spreadsheet showing the progression of the in-game leaderboard since may 25th 2023 can be found here.

## Trivia

### General

* The first version of the game: https://pussy-killer.itch.io/krampus
* The game was originally meant to have a second ending where the protagonist would escape through a tunnel in a trolley they had to fix by finding certain parts. It was later removed and replaced with the current version of the game due to time consuming developing. It is possible to get into this room in the alpha version of the game using glitches, but the trolley does not have any collision.
* A secret spot behind a pile of stones in a tunnel in the basement (the one where you get the skull) was meant to have an item in there but it was scrapped. It was later revealed that there was a small dirt pile behind the stones which can be dug out with a shovel and a silver key can be obtained.
* The game was meant to include hiding under beds, but the feature was scrapped due to a bug. It was eventually returned in a new update.
* A difficulty system was added in the new update.
* Both Krampus and the player respawn facing the same direction after the player is caught.

### Bugs

* In the old version of the game, there was a glitch where you could walk through the doorways. In some of the doorways, you could fall out of the map and enter the black boundaries. The glitch was fixed in the new update.
* Occasionally after Krampus would catch you, the game would freeze and Krampus would reset his animation in order to do his idle animation for the rest of the game. It commonly happens on Hard Mode.
* Hiding under the bed on the upstairs floor will warp you down to the bed on the starting room. After this, you cannot hide under that bed anymore. It's also possible to walk through this bed.
* The doorway glitch is still somewhere in the game. After opening a door near the kitchen and aiming at a precise spot near the doorway, shutting the door will clip you through the doorway and thus you can go inside the crack in the wall. This is an important yet hard to perform speedrun tactic which skips you easily to the hatchet. There is presumably more doors with the same setup.
* It's possible to hide under the bed in the starting room while getting inside a closet. On some occasions, you can even clip through the floor and end up all the way down in the basement without having to get the metal key. A video of this can be seen here.
* In the new update, there used to be a debug feature that AleksandrCG forgot to remove where if the P key was pressed, the pentagram would instantly activate and you can kill Krampus early in the game. This was fixed due to many people cheating to get short speedrun times.
* Getting caught by Krampus as you leave the skull tunnel or rat hole will make you unable to stop crouching and will make Krampus be stuck doing his idle animation in his spawn location until you enter and exit either one of those then get caught by Krampus.
* If the player achieves a time of more than 60 minutes upon completing the game, the minute counter will still go above 60 rather than just have the hour counter appear.

## Easter eggs

* In the new update on June 20, 2023, there is an easter egg if you clip through the door in the dining room and walk forward. You will see a small building connected with a bridge. If you open the door, you will see a small room with a yellow text written on the wall saying "NikolaProGamer Museum" with 5 pictures of fanart done by the same user hung up on the walls. There is also another room on the walls which the player can access through a hole, which leads them to a disco ball and a disco stage with a miniature model of Krampus dancing to loud upbeat music playing in the background. A tube of blood can also be found in this room.