Crypt of the Necrodancer | Review — The Retro Perspective

Disclosure: The author of this article was given a code for the game through Brace Yourself Games for the purpose of this review

Developer: Brace Yourself Games
Publisher: Brace Yourself Games
Platforms: PC (review platform), Mac

"Indie"...In the music industry it has become a genre in itself, despite a lack of defining characteristics. The game industry has fared a little better with its appropriation of the word, though the near constant barrage of side scrolling platformers under the indie banner in recent years has caused me to approach the genre with increasing skepticism. In this writers opinion it is a travesty that fun, yet simple and derivative games like Braid and Thomas Was Alone can receive much more positive reviews across the board than intensely unique experiences such as Yakuza 4. It's all a matter of opinion, of course, but if we want more creativity and originality in the game industry, we should try to keep our nostalgia in check. Depending on your perspective, this may make me the right person to be writing this review or the wrong one, but I will of course try to approach this roguelike/rhythm game hybrid: Crypt of the Necrodancer, without bias.

Crypt Of The Necrodancer begins by asking if you would like to go through a calibration process, which is great for those using certain sound cards or TVs with high input lag. A short cut scene introduces the story; though quite simple, it ties the story in with the musical themes in an interesting way. There's a short gameplay tutorial which, along with the aforementioned cut scene, has some really good voice acting. The gist? You must move in one of four directions to the crotchet beat of the 4/4 soundtrack. Move towards an enemy and you attack, move to a square at the same time as an enemy and you take damage. If you keep moving without missing a beat, your coin multiplier goes up, which means more gold from enemies to spend in the shop. Each enemy has certain movement patterns which you can memorise and exploit to groove your way to victory. The first stage ensues and I am treated to my first death relatively quickly before being dumped into the games 'lobby.'

At first this lobby confused me, twelve doors (most of them locked) and twelve sets of stairs with no true explanation of what they are, you're just expected to try them which is fair enough. Naturally, I tried the 'Story Mode' staircase first but at this stage in the game it is pretty much an impossible task to complete, what you're actually meant to do is progress through zones 1, 2 and 3, collecting diamonds to spend on the upgrades offered in the shops found in the lobby. It took a while to get into the flow of the game but this worked out as a positive thing as I felt it gave a feeling of progression to the repeated attempts at zone 1. Early game progression was given another boon by the lobby doors that were unlocked by finding characters within the three floors of each zone. They have been trapped in cages by the Necrodancer so the corresponding key will also need to be found, or bought from one of the shopkeepers hidden on each floor. They will then be permanently added to the lobby as a new upgrade shop or a trainer allowing you to brush up your skills against a particular enemy.

Crypt of the Necrodancer has just come out of early access but unfortunately, some early access roots still show. Firstly, the story which got off to a good start is spaced out far too much. There is no voice acting outside of the very short cutscenes at the beginning of each new zone, and the "hello" greeting of each shopkeeper. This, in addition to the large amount of times a player will probably attempt each zone before succeeding, means all story context is lost very quickly. Secondly, the games interface leaves a lot to be desired. Most actions can be done with the up, down, left, right keys, which is great...except when you need to use the games menu. You cannot use a mouse and it was not made clear at first that I could use the right button to accept rather than enter. In fact, the game tells you very little about anything at all. When I was unceremoniously dumped into the lobby the first time I was presented with so many options I missed out on spending some gems. (they disappear when you enter a stage) The Janitor who resides at the bottom of the lobby can apparently remove unwanted items from the game, a very useful ability. However, nothing I do in that room seems to do anything at all. There is no explanation, just some nonsensical text hovering next to him.

Being a roguelike game, the levels are randomly generated and all weapons and gold are lost upon death. The quick restart button is really useful and gives you a new random map immediately without having to go back to the lobby. Weapons that are bought in the lobby are then placed in the chests within the levels, all the weapons are satisfying to use but unfortunately I quickly discovered perhaps the most fatal flaw in the game's design. The vast majority of enemies cannot attack more than 1 square away, the spear can attack from two spaces away, an otherwise incredibly challenging game becomes a joke after getting the spear, or some of the rarer long-range weapons.

A brilliant aspect of the game is how distinct each zone is, sometimes requiring a mix up of tactics. The enemies react to the environment just as your character does, falling into the various traps and being damaged by a dragons long-range fire breath. The third zone is probably my favourite if only because it is split in to two distinct areas (fire and ice) and the music actually dynamically changes as you go back and forth between these areas.

For me, the enemies that have the most challenging movement pattern in Crypt of the Necrodancer are those that moved slowly such as the golems who wait for 3 beats then move. There is a visual cue, but without some sort of audio cue for the golem I found it easier to try to ignore the music, which I didn't want to do. I always subconsciously count the beats of the bar so the anticipation of the first beat was causing me to move too early or too late for golems, especially ones moving on the third beat. I feel the game would have massively benefited from adding more pronounced audio cues to the monsters as they came into visual range or even better, incorporate each enemy into the soundtrack when onscreen, a la LocoRoco Cocoreccho.

Keyboard users have the option to rebind keys which I'm sure most will do as the default up, down, left, right keys assume you will be using your right hand to direct movement. My wrist began to ache after only a short time of hovering my hand over the right side of the keyboard, you might opt for the more comfortable wasd position as the left hand seemed more natural. I switched to my Razer Nostromo which worked perfectly. The game also has controller and dancemat support. It feels a bit strange to hold a controller in both hands, only to use one thumb for the D-pad, always good to have the option though. Unfortunately due to budget and time constraints, I couldn't get my hands on a dancemat, though I'm sure this would be a fully functional way of playing. Dancepad veterans who are used to playing frantic games such as Dance Dance Revolution may find this game to be incredibly basic and slow though.

Another much appreciated feature is the option to add your own music to the games levels. The beat mapping is not perfect but it works pretty much as expected. Unfortunately I couldn't get all of the songs I wanted to work (Godspeed You! Black Emperor was perhaps inappropriately long) and the game gives no indication of whether a track has worked until you enter the level and, in this case, hear the original track instead of the custom one.

While Crypt of the Necrodancer comes dangerously close to being repetitive, it's (mostly) fair balance between gradual upgrades and increasing enemy difficulty keeps it fresh, at least until you've seen all there is to see. The incredibly strong melodies of the soundtrack mean you don't get tired of hearing the same tracks a lot and the merchant found on each level sometimes sings along in a hilarious midi voice which is always a treat.

I should probably say more about Crypt of the Necrodancer's soundtrack. It's great! A nice blend of synthesized, electronic dance and guitar led rock - tracks that are reminiscent of 8 bit, yet still have great production. Though I cannot really criticize the soundtrack, I must say I was expecting more variety from it in terms of the genres used. As a massive fan of Nobuo Uematsu, I suppose my standards are just way too high but if ever there was a Crypt of the Necrodancer 2 I would certainly expect some more time signatures at least, if not, a smörgåsbord of musical genres.

So there are some missed opportunities with Crypt of the Necrodancer, such as time signatures other than 4/4 and perhaps some unpredictable genres (a waltz track would have been a no brainer). Some more complex button combinations for those Dance Dance Revolution fans or at least a few non randomly generated levels for the story mode to feel more coherent. But at a price point of £10.99, any sort of fan of rhythm games or roguelike dungeon crawlers can't really go wrong here. There is more than enough actual gameplay content to make up for its leftover early access flaws. I don't find the replayability of the game to be too great but I do understand why some people would keep coming back for a shot at a higher score, or just to boogie on down.

Crypt of the Necrodancer | Review

Pros:

Cons:

EXPLORE

SUPPORT

FOLLOW