If you're an Emo Werewolf fan, you'll be more than a little familiar with his first upgrade that increases Emo's base DPS by 100% called "Liek Dis If You Cry Evry Tim". The mistake-filled title is not a typo but a variation and reference to a popular meme.

Liek Dis If You Cry Evry Tim



The origins of the original "I Cri Evrytiem' is a 'copypasta', or 'copy and pasted story', that circulated on Tumblr before being adopted by internet culture. It's transition into a popular lexicon was due to its comedic use to convey an ironic sense of sadness.



A quick visit to KnowYourMeme.com gives more details explaining how it quickly gained popularity among the most active online communities. It spread through Blogspot, YouTube and onto Reddit by August 2011.



As anyone who has read comments sections online will attest, poor grammar and spelling abound. The use of "I Cri Evry Time" became a favourite way to respond to trolls who seem to take to supergluing their CAPS LOCK button down and hammering their keyboards to convey their distaste at whatever the target of their ire was at the time.

As an emotional teenager, Emo the Werewolf naturally adopts 'Cri' in his every day communications. Just don't expect a straight answer from him as to why.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring...apart from a horde of unrelenting monsters intent on your destruction.

The Nate Before Christmas campaign will run from today until December 29th at Noon PST. In a fit of festive enthusiasm, Nate decided to find a some holiday decorations for his house. Unfortunately, Nate was kicked out of his village for a drunken incident involving an axe and the town Christmas tree in the main square.

Now Nate finds himself and his fellow Crusaders wandering the snowy winterland searching for redemption.

RoboSanta



As luck would have it, on his travels he'll have the chance to recruit two brand new Crusaders.

RoboSanta and Frosty the Snowman will "bring the heat" to the gang of Crusaders once you complete their objectives. However, they are going to make it hard going.

RoboSanta has a bolt loose and instead of the generous, jovial Saint Nick, we get a rotund, avaricious dude who debuffs his fellow Crusader's gold generation by 20% up to a total of 80%.

Frosty, the Snowman



Frosty puts his fellow Crusaders 'on ice', literally freezing a random Crusader and debuffing their DPS by 100% every 15 seconds. He'll also chill all adjacent teammates' DPS by 20%.

The remaining two objectives are Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Milk and Cookie Run. Rudolph will lead you on a mission to find the remaining eight reindeer and leave you with four slots for Crusaders by the end of the objective.

Rudolph, the Rednose Reindeer



In Milk and Cookie Run, you have to help Santa complete his present deliveries within 60 minutes. However, every 25 areas you'll gain more energy in the form of the "Milk and Cookies" buff that will accelerate monster spawn speeds for a few minutes.

Happy Holidays one and all!

This week we are releasing more objectives for you. We've added one new objective to World's Wake, and two new objectives to Grimm's Idle Tales. All three require you to have earned 2,500 Idols to access them.

Top Tier



In objective Top Tier, your merry band must reach area 350 with only half of the available Crusaders available to you as the team get split up. Everyone from The Bushwhacker to Merci, the Mad Wizard can be selected. Everyone from Jim the Lumberjack through Nate Dragon will be locked out.

But how will I reset? We hear you cry. Don't worry, Merci has taken Nate's reset ability for this objective.

Let It Go



Let It Go is the first of the two new objectives for Grimm's Idle Tales. A familiar-looking lady by the name of Elsa, who just happens to have some magical winter abilities is tagging along like a bad smell.

Elsa keeps freezing adjacent Crusaders every 10 seconds. The affected heroes have their DPS reduced for up to 15 seconds, but thankfully their formation buffs are unharmed.

I Like Potatoes



The final new objective is I Like Potatoes. An evil potato mayor has pilfered all your idols, and the only way to get them back is to mash him into a pulpy mess. You're going to have to finish the older objective Big Phoney Wizard first but once you do, don't forget your potato masher. Good luck

To say that the team at Codename is inspirational is more than just a charming way of saying we've assembled a team of kick-ass people to work on Crusaders. In artist Cory's case, he truly was an inspiration.

You may have noticed that there's one Crusader who happens to share a similar sounding name: Khouri, the Witch Doctor.

Khouri In-Game



When creating the various characters and backstories to the Crusaders in the game, we sometimes delve into our love of gaming for inspiration. It just so happened that Cory was undertaking a massive Diablo 3 campaign at the time and that passion for his favourite game seeped into the creative process in the studio.

The Office Witch Doctor



To describe Cory as a fan of the Diablo franchise would not do him justice. It would be similar to saying that teenage girls are just partial to Justin Bieber.

Cory's love affair with Diablo 1 started way back when it launched in 1996, then Diablo 2 in 2000 and then Diablo 3 in 2012. In total he's racked up 20 years of play. That dedication has paid off with his current main character being no less than a Level 70, Paragon 610 sporting all kinds of death-dealing voodoo paraphernalia.

Cory and his Diablo Companion



Just lately Cory has been playing Diablo on hardcore mode, a pursuit he describes as much more rewarding. The risk of losing all your progress keeps it far more exciting for this Sanctuary veteran.

It was around the time of the inception of Crusaders of the Lost Idols that the team were looking for inspiration to really differentiate the unique characters from one another.

While the team were creating concepts late into the night, their attention was drawn to Cory's exploits in Diablo 3 and that's how Khouri was delivered into this world of Crusaders of the Lost Idols.

Cory's Diablo Witch Doctor, 'Preyy'



Our Khouri is somewhat less terrifying than Cory's own creation in his favourite game but has become a firm fan favourite due to his contribution to the Crusade. Cory himself is also less terrifying and says he only practices his own dark arts on weekends which is a relief for the rest of the team.

If you're a keen-eyed player of Crusaders of the Lost Idols you've probably noticed we have a lot of fun integrating gaming and movie references. We do it for no other reason than it tickles us.

The whole team at Codename are ardent fans of both gaming and movie culture. Sometimes it reaches the point where an innocuous conversation in the office will quickly devolve into a cross-office debate about tactics and experiences in Fallout 4 or fan theories about Star Wars.

In Crusaders, one of the most noticeable references often called out by players is the 'arrow to the knee' text for the Washed Up Hermit upgrades.

The Washed Up Hermit



The 'arrow to the knee' reference became famous for most fans due to its inclusion in the awesome The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a game we played religiously when it first launched.

Arrow to the Knee in Skyrim

However, unbeknownst to most pop culture fans, the original inspiration for the now infamous meme was the popular 2007 novel, The Name of the Wind by author Patrick Rothfuss.

The book is the first in a series of fantasy stories that won several awards and is much-loved by members of the Codename team. The original passage is delivered by an innkeeper character:

“Took an arrow in the knee on my way through the Eld three summers ago. It gives out every now and then.” He grimaced and said wistfully, “It’s what made me give up the good life on the road.” He reached down to touch his oddly bent leg tenderly."

The Name of the Wind



The Washed Up Hermit's scraggly appearance and ranting should give players just enough pause to question whether he is a broken-down vestige of an epic adventurer or just a rambling, booze-fueled delusional old fart. We won't tell.

This weekend, on December 5th and 6th, Crusaders of the Lost Idols is nominated for Best Social/Casual game award at the Canadian Videogame Awards 2015. We're offering you an exclusive opportunity to attend the event.

As part of the celebrations, we have four pairs of fanfest weekend passes and tickets to the awards ceremony in Toronto to give away. That's four (4) winners who can each take a friend or family member.

Check out the official fanfest details here.

Check out the official Canadian Videogame Awards 2015 details here.

All you need to do to enter the contest is enter the sweepstakes below and follow the instructions. We'll randomly draw winners for the passes and tickets when the contest closes and that's it! We'll contact the winners privately to arrange the details.

Please note: Winners will need to arrange their own travel and accommodation to attend the fanfest and awards ceremony.

Good luck!

Click here to enter