Desert crypts: Crypt Keys and the Trial of the Spirit

Crypts are optional rooms on Desert levels. A Crypt Key opens the door to the Trial of the Spirit; inside, a random challenge runs for two minutes. Complete it and every enemy dies, the exit opens and a treasure room gives you a random passive equipment item. Fail it and you die, so enter with a charged Amulet if you want a way out.

Where crypts are

A crypt can appear on every Desert level except the first, where its entrance is collapsed, and the fifth, where you fight Desert Claus. Crypt Keys turn up in the Desert and in vendor stock; Bill, the Desert vendor, sells them most often.

The trials

Ask the Mysterious Statue which trial it holds before you start.

Trial	Goal within 2 minutes	What helps
Overcoming (elites)	Kill 3 to 5 elite enemies with large size, high damage and huge health while hordes harass you	Your highest single-target damage gun; elites have far more health than normal enemies
Overcoming (chickens)	Find and kill 10 chickens among endless hordes	Explosive or bouncing guns with large bullet size; Ass Wheel and Knee Pads to slide through crowds
Protector	Keep at least one of 2 or 3 altars alive	Area damage near the altars; allies or charm
Endurance	Survive while random enemies and a Corrupted Amalgamation attack	Movement speed and jump gear; the Amalgamation must stop to swing

The reward is always a random passive item, not loot scaled to the trial.

1.0 fixes and open issues

• Patch 1.0.1 fixed crypts generating badly, including ones half inside a pink sphere that could not be finished.
• Patch 1.0.6 fixed Desert crypts that soft-locked the game.
• A November report says healing did not work during an altar defence; no patch mentions it.

Achievements

Mind Archaeologist (clear 1 crypt), Tomb Sulfer (5) and Indiana Sulf (10) are owned by 8.8%, 1.7% and 0.9% of Steam players. Because each Desert level offers at most one crypt, Indiana Sulf takes several Desert runs; the Church shortcut to the Desert makes repeats shorter.