Crypt of the NecroDancer. Got the moves?

‘Crypt of the NecroDancer’ is a new action, indie, RPG game but also classed as a rhythm dungeon crawler, developed by ‘Brace Yourself Games’ coming to Xbox One 10th of February but was released on other platforms last year in February as well. Straight away the title of the game should straight up tell any gamer what this game contains. Dancing, music and dungeons. If that’s what you got also, then you are correct. In Crypt of the NecroDancer you control ‘Cadence’ who is the daughter of a famed treasure hunter that has gone missing. She goes off to look for him but accidentally falls into a crypt owned by the NecroDancer, who steals Cadence’s heart and forces her to challenge his minions to retrieve it. Now you are forced to fight through the dungeon but your actions tied to the beat of the music. You must beat the Necrodancer.

This game has a very friendly look to it. It reminds you of the old retro games with that pixel like graphic style. So straight away you want to try the game. The rules and controls of the game are simple. Move, attack and doge enemies in tune with the beat for the best success. There is lots of music and the game even said that it has an award winning sound track plus 4 remixes of a track. So you have options but it gets better. This game has a fantastic feature. It grants players the option to instead import custom music from their MP3 collection. So groove and play to your own tunes. Plus if you have a dance mat connected by USB then you can link it up and get your moves on. We at X35 Earthwalker encourage movement and exercise. There is two player co-op where each player has their own health but share the gold and spells. This means you can show off your moves to a buddy of yours.

The enemies in the game are all dancing. Who ever said skeletons can’t dance. Literally, everything in this crypt seems to be effected by the music and tunes. You can only move or attack if they do the action on the beat of the music. Everytime you get it on the beat boosts your scoring multiplier. You don’t automatically take damage for missing the beat but it does reset the scoring multiplier and you may end up in the path of an enemies attack. As you go through the game, you will find new items, armour, treasures and weapons to use to your advantage. There are lots of weapons in this game like: a dagger, broadsword (which can hit multiple enemies), whip, bow, flail, rifle and much more. All having their own range, damage and mechanics. Find the one that best suits you and your situation.

There is a nice range of enemies that all seem to know how to have a good time, with their dance moves. The dungeon is split into 4 zones which each have four levels. The first three levels always have many enemies, an exit to find and a mini boss for you to overcome but the last level has a big boss who wants you dead. The last mechanic that gamers should be aware of is that you want to complete the level before the song finishes otherwise you will be sent to the next level automatically but miss all the rewards you would get for completing the level. From what we have seen, the game seems quite fun and the whole rhythm mechanic is a nice touch to a dungeon crawler. Music is always enjoyable and impacts the experience of the game, plus having the option to choose our own music is great. The flow of the game is definitely changed according to the song but flows well nonetheless. This game isn’t for every gamer though as you do at times feel restricted to the music and if that annoys you then it’s not for you.

Overall it seems like a fun game but only for some types of gamers. The developers ‘Brace Yourself Games’ made something nice. Regardless… you must never forget to do the ‘Earth Walk’!