Krawl Vortexes, also known as Dark Vortexes and Black Vortexes, serve as the primary mode of transportation for Krawl forces and appear in Spectrobes and Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals. Gameplay-wise, their uniform appearance allows for encounters with Krawl in the overworld without needing to model and animate individual enemies. Krawl Vortexes function like a type of Portal leading to a pocket dimension, each containing an arena far larger than the exterior of the Vortex would allow for.
Spectrobes[]
In Spectrobes, Krawl Vortexes appear as purple tornadoes roughly as tall as Rallen. They are mobile and will “bounce” off walls, making their movement unpredictable in tight spaces. Krawl Vortexes will sometimes follow Rallen if he gets too close, but they are slightly slower than him, allowing for a skilled player to avoid them.
Touching a Krawl Vortex initiates a battle, transporting Rallen into the spacious arena contained within. Here, Rallen and his Spectrobes can fight 2-4 individual Krawl units, with Property and species appropriate to their environment. When all Krawl inside a Krawl Vortex have been defeated, the Vortex will dissipate, returning Rallen to the overworld.
There is a special variety of Krawl Vortex found after completing the story, each located on a different planet. They allow access to Sequence Battles, endurance matches against many waves of Krawl in a row. These Vortexes are stationary and much wider than normal, indicating their increased Krawl carrying capacity. Defeating their contents rewards Rallen with a Geo and, by extension, an Ultimate Form Spectrobe. These Vortexes persist after clearing them, allowing for repeated runs through each Sequence Battle in pursuit of a faster completion time.
Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals[]
In Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals, Krawl Vortexes are color coded, indicating the Property of the Krawl within; green signifies Aurora Krawl, blue signifies Flash, red signifies Corona, and purple signifies a mix of properties.
There are now two varieties of standard Krawl Vortex: small and large. Small Vortexes act similarly to their previous incarnations, with the main difference being they no longer follow Rallen’s movement. Large Vortexes are roughly three times the size of a small Vortex and are surrounded by two ribbon-like appendages. Additionally, they can release an endless supply of weaker Krawl Dust units to attack enemies in the environment surrounding the Vortex. These Vortexes often contain multiple battles worth of Krawl, with anywhere from one to three separate fights required to exhaust the Vortex. Notably, small Vortexes will continue to respawn as long as there is at least one large Vortex present on the map. Defeating all large Vortexes on a map will allow the equipped Child Spectrobe to be released from the Prizmod, allowing for resource excavation, though the large Vortexes will respawn upon exiting and re-entering the map, (but the small Vortexes will stay gone).
Similarly to Spectrobes, a special type of Krawl Vortex can be accessed after completion of the story. This single Vortex appears like a spherical, swirling mass of black clouds, unique in comparison to any other Krawl Vortex throughout the series. Located in Krux’s Throne Room, this Vortex holds six different Sequence Battles, with each rewarding a different Geo upon completion.
Trivia[]
An object serving a similar resource-saving purpose exists in Spectrobes: Origins. Known as Dark Minerals, these grayscale Minerals serve as traps for the inattentive excavator. If collected, they spawn a number of Krawl in the surrounding environment to battle the player.