Introduction
Dance to the beat, or attack to the beat. We will be looking at the Crypt of the Necrodancer. It turns out, next to racing I am really bad in rhythmic games, I got my behind handed to me so many times I can’t tell anymore.
I thought this was going to be an easy game just like Wizard of Legend but it turns out doing things to the beat is impossible for me. I needed some help with this review and luckily, I knew a friend who could help and loves this game!
First off, I asked if he could arrange me a file with all characters unlocked but not the upgrades or zones among other things. Luckily, He had a save file for me with all characters unlocked for review purposes. My friend also helped with some story elements and how the game works and more. You will need to dance and kill enemies, sounds easy but it is really hard. You play as Cadence and you will need to get your heart back from the Necrodancer.
What did I think of Crypt of the Necrodancer before playing?
I thought this would be an easy adventure like many games that I have slain before but this game had some surprises for me.
The game looked really charming and funny, the graphics are old school and if you do it well unlike me you get a lot of disco on the floor.
I had to learn a lot about this game but somehow this game did just not click with me when just beginning.
Even though I play all genres and usually I cruise through them with ease I learned after starting up this would be the same as racing. One of the few gaming genres I am not good in.
Story
You start the story as Cadence who falls into a crypt, the Necrodancer takes her heart while she is unconscious, she needs to dance to the music or otherwise her heart will stop. She travels through the crypt and finds one of the Necrodancer’s minions dead ringer, after defeating him Cadence finds out that the dead ringer is her father who was under the control of the Necrodancer. Together they fight the Necrodancer and defeat him with a golden lute. The golden lute has the ability to raise the dead and they use it on Melody, the mother of Cadence. A happy end you would think, right? A family reunited but alas the golden lute is cursed and Melody will need to keep playing forever to stay alive while the golden lute will slowly take away her humanity. The same thing happened to the Necrodancer. Melody sets out to find answers to this curse in a crypt. Melody finds the dead Necrodancer and resurrects him for answers but the Necrodancer attacks Melody. She manages to defeat the Necrodancer but he tries to flee, Aria the mother of Melody was also brought back to life and throws the Necrodancer in a crevice. Aria seems to have the answers to undoing the curse and takes the golden lute. She ascends the crypt and defeats the golden lute that transformed into a monster but she has to sacrifice herself so that Cadence, Melody, and her father can be reunited for good.
Gameplay
In the crypt of the Necrodancer, you will need to move on the beat and also attack enemies on the beat as well. If you stand in the wrong place you will get hit by enemies and death will come swiftly. You start with three hearts, this amount may differ with some other characters. I have showcased all characters to show you how they work but I am really not good at following the beat. Some characters even die when you miss a beat. You can upgrade hearts with diamonds that you can find in each run and in zone one compared with zone two where you will find more diamonds. The difficulty is really high but that is probably because of the beat but the game is fun to play. Among some of the upgrades are new weapons and more heart containers but you will also need to free some characters in the dungeon before you can access their shop. My main problem was that I could not continue to zone two after completing zone one with my collected items. There is an all zone mode but then you get fewer hearts and more enemies. This game is really not for me. I tried my best to understand the game mechanics and luckily my friend explained some of the mechanics along with the story.
There are many traps that can kill you in the dungeons, you can use a shovel to dig through dirt and find shortcuts or secret shops. You can buy or find new items in the dungeons. All weapons have a different attack range or damage multiplier. The best weapons are weapons that increase damage based on your multiplier. The multiplier works with your groove chain, to increase your groove chain you will need to hit all the beats and kill all enemies perfectly on the beat. This can make for some truly terrifying weapons unless you miss all the beats like me. Missing one beat, getting hit, or even trying to dig a wrong stone will mess up your groove chain. At the end of each zone you will find a boss waiting for you, these are usually very strong so make sure you have some armor. Armor can be used to mitigate some of the damage you take. If you are truly awesome you could use a karate outfit that increases the damage taken but also increases damage dealt. Combine this with a perfect groove chain and a weapon that uses a multiplier, you will be unstoppable until you get hit or miss a beat.
The main character is Cadence, there are a few other main characters for the story mode but some characters are also for challenging you or a different experience. I used the bard the most since this one had no beats but this did not take away I am still not good at this game. I managed to reach zone three but I get literally obliterated in this zone. There are just too many enemies to deal with when I am just starting with no good weapon to fend the enemies off or any armor at all.
I have tried with other characters but I just could not succeed. If I would take it slowly with Cadence the song would end and I would get forced to enter the next level!
Sound and Graphics
The sound is the most important in this game as you will need to listen to the beat, you can even add your own custom music to fight too! Maybe if you choose a longer song than you would have more time to take it slowly?
The sound is perfect in this game but I don’t think I will ever get better in rhythmic games!
The graphics are a bit old school but they fit this game perfectly.
What did I think of the crypt of the Necrodancer after playing?
I tried to give this game a real shot and I had a little bit more time due to some personal issues but I could just not find the right beat to match this game.
This was all due to my fault in not being good at this game. I did like the context of the game and I had fun with Crypt of the Necrodancer.
I used the bard for the most time of my gameplay and I did enjoy exploring some zones and testing the items that I found.
I liked the digging mechanic where I could just go into the walls and ambush the enemies but there was one enemy that would always destroy me.
The red fire dragon was unbeatable for me and no matter what I tried the red fire dragon always got the best of me.
My personal rating is a 6
Pros and Cons
Pros
– There are many different characters and they all have different mechanics to match your playstyle.
– The sound in the game can be altered with your own personal music.
– You can collect permanent upgrades and new weapons for the loot pool, you can also remove some items from the loot pool.
– There are loads of training options which is a really great option for casual gamers.
– There are great mechanics in this game like the groove chain.
Cons
– You can only play one zone at a time and not take your collected items with you to the next zone, this was a game-breaker for me.*
– This game can be hard for casual gamers or people who don’t feel the beat.
– Some of the characters are impossible to complete unless you are insanely good, never miss a beat? No way I will succeed with that.
*Maybe if I had my collected items, I could beat that blasted red fire dragon!
Maybe if you play an instrument yourself you might be better at this game, I would recommend this to people who have a good feeling for the beat.
I give this game a …drumroll…
7.5
Leave your own thoughts in the comments.
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review.
