Crypt of the NecroDancer (that’s right — not Pokemon Go)
Hey guys, I’m not dead!… anymore, at least. So, for the past few days, the mobile gaming industry has been dominated by Pokemon Go, a Pokemon game (duh), which, unlike most games, requires you to go outside and walk around. And, of course, almost everyone writes reviews on it. “Oh no! But who will review an actual game?”- you might think, and that’s where I come in — with a review of Crypt of the NecroDancer!(I probably will write about Pokemon Go later, but not now, just to prove that game reviewers don’t have a hive mind). Alright, let’s get to the review.
Crypt of the NecroDancer is a dungeon crawler/roguelike/rhythm game developed by Brace Yourself Games. It might look like your run-of-the-mill dungeon crawler, but it’s not. First of all, it’s combat is not “press a button until one of combatants dies”, but all of the monsters have custom movement patterns and no character has big amounts of HP, except bosses and mini-bosses, so battles are actually fun.
Second of all, you have to play the game in sync with the music, which is tricky at first, but extremely satisfying when you get used to it. And, boy, that’s some good soundtrack, which is no less than expected, since it was composed by Danny Baranowsky, who also composed the soundtrack for Binding of Isaac. It also has a lot of new ideas to offer besides these two. Crypt of the NecroDancer is a roguelike, but also has permanent upgrades. You can collect coins, which can be spent on items you lose when you die, but there are also gems, which can be used to buy upgrades like a bigger health bar, or new items in the dungeons, which will last forever. While playing, you will also find prisoner NPCs, which you can release with a gold key. In return, they can help you (i.e. practice on mini-bosses or buy spells)… But no amount of gems will buy you pros and cons.
The Pros
- The game is so original, some may have trouble defining it by genre.
- Great soundtrack, and it’s on Spotify too, so that definitely deserves a point.
- Each monster has its own pattern and abilities.
- Each character also has its own abilities (i.e. one item in every shop is free, but instant death, when picking up gold).
- Some findable items are game-changing, like glass weapons, which deal more damage, but break into a 1dmg glass shard, when you get hit.
- The game uses pixel art, but not to be “retro” — it actually looks quite impressive.
The Cons
- Some characters make the game nearly impossible — it’s not a con for me, but it may be for others. And… that’s actually all the cons I could find.
