A convergence of everything I hate: Crypt of the Necrodancer

No, not really. But we'll get into that.

Crypt of the Necrodancer is one of those titles that gives you the "why didn't anyone think of that sooner" sort of feel to it. One of those weird mashes of two genres that feels entirely obvious, yet somehow, isn't all that common. The weirdest thing is how visually evident the combination is, how just looking at an eight second video of this game almost entirely explains what you're seeing in action. Even the title feels completely obvious. They changed one letter from what is so well tread it is a trope at this point.

Essentially, it combines a mediocre roguelike - that's not a complaint, there's limitations because - with a rhythm game. The rhythm component follows the beat of the soundtrack. I'm not exactly certain how the story works, but it sounds like you're just as enthralled to the magic of the dungeon as everything else inside.

The game procedurally generates relatively simplistic dungeons, has a huge variety of spells and items and floods the screen with monsters who just like you are enslaved to the beat. Everything moves with the beat, or in my case, mostly doesn't since I am completely terrible at either exclusively this game or rhythm games. I'm not certain which.

But either way, this game is something of an experience for me.

Let's get that out of the way, or this out of the way, first: This isn't really a review. Why not? Because this game is basically unplayable to me. I don't know if having tinnitus this year messed up my ears, or if I could just never handle a beat or whatever, but I can't keep my taps going in this game. Unless I close my eyes and completely focus on it, I can't keep it going. As such, yes, I have over two hours of playing a game I can't for the life of me make any progress in.

That might be more valid than a review in general.

Gameplay is deceptively simple. Crypt is, as I said, focused on moving to the beat. Enemies also move to the beat, and have specific patterns which you need to learn through trial and error in order to defeat them. You and they both automatically attack along set parameters as you move; although in the case of the hero you can equip different weapons, which changes how you strike. The game is actually a lot like playing chess, except to a beat, and with a throbbing disco light floor. So... Like chess if chess were any fun.

Some of the usual roguelite elements made their way in; there's random loot, random dungeons and two kinds of currency You don't level and there isn't the usual bullshit colored potions you have to click to figure out crud either. You can spend currency to get permanent upgrades, either the sort you find in the dungeon or the actual more powerful kind. So, I guess in a way you do level a bit, but you need to acquire enough in one run to get an upgrade. There's sort of this cumbersome moment where you go to restart and it tells you to spend the upgrade currency, which they probably should have figured out a work around.

Crypt of the Necrodancer is a pretty traditional level of pixel art; it's nice looking, but the top-down design doesn't really allow for much in the way of graphical flair. The game's lighting engine is a bit limited, and I feel like it could be a great deal more interesting visually with some proper lighting, especially given its slight "dance club" feel. I always compare pixel games to Terraria, which used lighting to make really sharp shadows and darkness, and this game could use that too. I like the individual sprites, but this isn't setting new standards or anything. It's just merely cute and easy on the eyes.

Everything grooves, though, which will make you smile.

The audio, of course, is fantastic. The music tracks - I mean, those I've heard, we'll get into that - are all really good. Even the lobby music is really catchy. When you go near the shopkeeper in the dungeons, he starts singing to go along with some of the music too. It's awesome. The oddest point I really like? When Cadence enters the stores in the lobby, she gives a little 'hello' to the vendor. It just sounds so on point I smile every time. Basically the game needed good audio and it in fact has fantastic audio.

Oh, and the game oddly also has the ability to dig, which feels a little out of place but it is kind of cool. I don't know if that's a more roguelike sort of thing, but you can discover hidden rooms, and some bosses will smash through the dungeon to charge toward you. This is seriously the sort of thing other roguelikes need and don't have. I mean, this game is mediocre as a roguelite, but it still has a ton of good ideas on how to be as good as it can at doing so.

If the game has problems - which from my perspective is hard to evaluate - I would say first and foremost it really doesn't seem built around the idea this is your introductory rhythm game. I guess that's a fair assessment, but I'm really bad at this game and replaying the first 2-3 levels just loses all its spark in an hour or two. I mean, yeah, I don't think most people are as bad at this as I am, but it's frustrating to just replay the same tracks and same tileset repeatedly. I kinda feel like they didn't plan around the game being difficult for people. But not everyone has played rhythm games, and when you have a genre fusion like this, it seems like you should account for players who are coming from the other genre.

I also find the bit where it replays my death when I'm restarting a total unnecessary kick in the pants as a newbie. I guess you can put the rhythm game into the roguelite, but you can't scrub out all the douchebag roguelite elements. I always wonder if this genre is predicated on a user base that enjoys abuse. I think a replay feature is a good idea, but I don't think it should pop up every damn time.

I mean, basically, when all is said and done the game is - ultimately - unplayable for me. After two hours I could maybe vaguely string a couple taps together, but trying to hold the beat while planning for enemy moves just didn't work. I think my record for highest multiplier was whatever the red number is, but my average was zero. I don't think I can recommend getting or avoiding this game, although, if you've never played a rhythm game I would think hard as to whether or not you think you can be any good at them. Even the dumb heartbeat marker at the bottom of the screen doesn't even really bother to explain when you need to click. It's just kind of vague. Which is REALLY brilliant when you're doing the calibration thing, lemme tell you.

Less roguelite, more rhythm game might have been helpful. I don't know. I'm a bit disappointed, because frankly, people described this as an easy rhythm game to get into, and it really doesn't feel like it. But, like I said, it could be a problem with my ears or general lack of musical sense. I still had fun with it anyway, but past the 2nd hour I was starting to find I just couldn't stand the frustration. Yes, you can play as the bard, but that's not very much fun.