LogFAQs > #950472503

#29. Crypt of the Necrodancer (PC, 2015)
The king of rhythm roguelike dungeon crawlers, Crypt of the Necrodancer blends said previous 3 things into a fantastic experience. You play as Cadence, one of endless musical puns, delving deeper and deeper into a dungeon, cursed to move to the beat of the music. Basically, you move around the grid-like dungeon floors, killing enemies, picking up gold, opening chests, digging walls, going to shops, finding items/bombs/weapons/shovels/etc to help you- all your typical dungeon crawler stuff- to the beat. Each enemy also will move to the beat, and has their own unique attack and move pattern. For example skeletons always pause one beat and then move towards you on the next, red bats move around randomly every beat, armored knights dash into you after you clink off them leaving them vulnerable, etc. An enemy moving onto your space is considered an attack). You do have the option of not moving and missing a beat- which is not the worst thing in the world and often is a viable strategy to let an enemy move closer to you. Of course, missing a beat can mess with your rhythm and give enemies free moves which can hit if youre not careful. As you kill more enemies without missing a beat, your coin multiplier goes up and killed enemies drop more coins for use in the games shops (the Shopkeeper, Freddie Merchantry, is the star of the show with his incredible singing). Each level has a miniboss, kill it, and get to the next floor! Or take a shortcut but then you need to fight the miniboss in a tiny room before proceeding!

This games difficulty curve is incredibly hard at first. You will find it so difficult to be coordinated- trying to walk to the games great music, learning enemy patterns and how to effectively deal with them, how to escape tight situations, what the best items to prioritize are, and putting it all together -it can be overwhelming. But as you play over and over, since its so quick and easy to restart, youll slowly master enemies, then minibosses, and the bosses. Did I mention how everything is a music pun? The bosses really shine here too. I also love the DLC adding a new 5th floor with electrified floors (to your advantage) and the new boss Fortissimole, a rapping mole of course.

Anyway, this game is very addicting, tense as the pumping music is great for adrenaline, and satisfying to do well. Layer that on top of tons of different characters with different gimmicks, on top of the fact you can experiment with different weapons each time you play and you have excellent replay value. I love trying to figure out what the best strategy is with the pressure of a real-time beat breathing down your neck. It can get really chaotic if you don't deal with enemies swiftly and pretty sweaty, especially before you really get used to it, and even then once you get deep into a run, youll really feel it. Definitely one of the most innovative and challenging-but-fun-to-master games Ive ever played, and I love it. If you love rhythm games at all, you should definitely check it out.



Also check out the Zelda spinoff too, Cadence of Hyrule (Im impressed an indie game got a literal Zelda tie in) which is less a Necrodancer game with a Zelda skin and more a Zelda game with a Necrodancer skin.

Next up: A game featuring time travel, electric hamburgers, and a robotic alter-ego.

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