A work of science fiction, it casts the player as an interstellar explorer on a quest to save Earth from Ozgar, a malevolent alien conqueror.

It was a central piece in the effort by the publisher's parent, Cryo Interactive, to penetrate the North American market; the title proceeded to sell above 500,000 units in that region alone by 2004.

Locating a device known as the Crystal Key, the player accesses these portals and travels to a desert planet, a jungle-themed world and the Arkonians' underwater city of Suralon.

[3] By April 1999, Earthlight had signed with publisher DreamCatcher Interactive to distribute The Crystal Key and was set to release the game that year.

[10] The Crystal Key was among several games that DreamCatcher used to push its corporate strategy in the adventure genre at the time, alongside Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy and The Forgotten: It Begins.

[15] The title was a central piece in the effort by DreamCatcher's parent Cryo Interactive, which bought the publisher in March 2000,[16] to expand its international reach.

[17][15] In the United States, The Crystal Key debuted on PC Data's computer game sales rankings at #14 for June 2000, with an average retail price of $18.

[17] The Crystal Key continued to sell in North America during 2001, when PC Data reported 29,539 sales by March,[24] 49,478 by June and 67,099 by year's end.

[1] Saved game glitches and numerous crashes were likewise reported by Darcy Danielson, the reviewer for Just Adventure,[4] who followed Silvester in criticizing The Crystal Key's disk swapping.

[4][6] Danielson also concurred with Peterson on the game's limited sound design,[1][4] which IGN's writer considered to be a core problem that held the title back from greatness.

[1] Despite these issues, Danielson felt that The Crystal Key was "quite a find" and shared Peterson's positive view of its graphics and puzzles, and his belief that it suited both novices and experienced players.

[7][2] The latter writer praised the music, concurred with Peterson and Danielson on the puzzles and summarized The Crystal Key as "a very fun, satisfying game" for Myst clone fans.

[32] It was among a slew of announcements in preparation for the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3),[33] and Marek Bronstring of Adventure Gamers called it one of the publisher's "top titles premiering at the show", alongside Traitors Gate II: Cypher.

According to John Matheson, Earthlight sought to overcome the problems that had affected The Crystal Key's production pipeline and give its art team more room "to be as creative as possible".

The game's plot builds upon that of the original, and casts the player as Call, who seeks to stop the minions of Ozgar and save the world of Evany.

[8] Initially developed by Earthlight and set for a winter 2003 release,[35] Crystal Key 2 underwent "many years" of production and took longer than The Adventure Company had wanted, as Benoît Hozjan of Kheops Studio later remarked.