Developer: Brace Yourself Games
Publisher: Brace Yourself Games, Klei Entertainment
Genre: Action, Indie, RPG
Price: $14.99
Where to buy: Steam
Remember when DDR was a thing? You know, Dance Dance Revolution? Well think of that, toss in some dungeon crawling from old school games like Siren the Wanderer, Rogue, Dragon Crystal, and Nethack. Then you will have a very lively infusion of some insane visuals, and a classic vibe of game play enjoyment. By default the story is set around a woman named Cadence. Cadence is the daughter of Melody and Dorian. Her uncle is Eli on her father’s side, and her grandmother is Aria on her mother’s side. Cadence goes to the Crypt of the NecroDancer against the wishes of her uncle Eli in order to search for her father Dorian. Dorian, who is also Eli’s brother, went to the Crypt two years prior to the events in the game to find the Golden Lute. When Cadence arrives at the Crypt she begins digging for an entrance when suddenly the ground beneath her splits opens. Cadence falls into the Crypt, striking her head on a rock as she lands. Fatally wounded Cadence lies motionless on the floor of the Crypt until the NecroDancer appears and steals her heart cursing it to forever beat to the music. The NecroDancer takes Cadence’s heart and heads to his lair deeper into the crypt. Cadence awakens shortly after sensing that something is wrong, but ventures deeper into the crypt determined to save her father and lift the curse from herself. The story itself is not amazing, or new to the world of gaming, it does give you a fair enough purpose of why on heck you are adventuring into a catacomb of flashing floor titles.
The game play itself is two different beasts in its own right. To my pleasure it is like half lemonade, and half iced tea. The two flavors just go together pretty well and are refreshing. While I am catered to using game pads in most games of this genre, I would suggest using the keyboard. The arrow keys or if you map it out to your number pad . Why you ask? Well, the movement in this game would be a bit awkward at first. The directional keys are okay, but in a game like this I would recommend the most hand room as possible. Attacking is automated to the direction to which you move your character. This being the direction of each enemy in range, depending on your weapon. Each and every single enemy in the game has a certain pattern to which it is weakest too. So that is why I would say make sure your hand is comfy, because your right or left hand is going to be at work constantly. Another feature added into the game, which was amazingly appropriate was adding a dance pad. So for all of those DDR fans who have some old USB pad laying around, this might revive your stomping ways once again. The game has a rhythm system with a heart at the bottom of the screen corresponding to your movement. You move in sync to the lines on the screen, basically. Whenever you are going on to attack a skeleton for example. You must monitor its movements. Then take it on once its arms are down, meaning it will not have its follow up attack phase. Things like that tattletale sign most of the monsters in the games attack patterns. Much like a real time role playing game. Every title you move, a enemy moves in response. The music aspect flows with your movements, and if you chain attacks, and movement. In turn grants you a coin multiplier. The coins in the game are used for the store keeper within the dungeon levels.
The graphics in the game are super charming, every ounce of the game comes alive and works great to the games benefit. Using the throwback graphical style to games like Siren the Wanderer, the most sense in the design choice if actually applied as such or not. The opening cut-scene features a great art style as well. Including most of the boss introductions if you come across them. Examples below.
The soundtrack itself, just toss some garlic bread with it and call it the main course. I was given the extended soundtrack along with the original. I sat down and synced up all of the tracks together to certain levels to what I felt sounded good. If anything you enjoy great music from video games or at all. Just buy the music from the game, it’s fantastic. All of it! However for this review I simply tested out various songs from different styles of genre to see how the game fared in difficulty, and or if the music even as a impact on the game. After playing around with the game with some thrash metal, all the way to mellow progression tunes, I was not feeling too much of a difference. It did set a good ambiance, or a upbeat, intense vibe. Just not quite game changing on my end. Simply something quality to listen to while moving about. If you would like to buy the soundtracks, they are here(composed by Danny Baranowsky), and here(Extended).
Playing through the game was challenging, in a fun and good way. Where I was not cheaply punished for the game screwing up or sort. Where if I died, it was my own fault (or a freaking red dragon came out of left field like a wrecking ball smashing my face in). The scale of difficulty is pretty even. From 1-1 to 2-3 you begin to feel the pinch in your hip that is for sure. I found item discovery was cured quite easily by farming and carefully collecting diamonds. Diamonds can be used to exchange to Merlin, as well as the dungeon master offering permanent items you can find along the dungeons you go through.
The lobby is your main base of operations allowing you move to various zones if you’ve unlocked them. Aside from your store fronts, you also have training grounds where you may practice against enemies if you feel unsure about them. Below that are weapons you discover among the zones you visit, as well as if you unlock the Weapon master, when you free him from his cage in a zone.
To the right is the Bossmaster, and the Codex. Same to the Beastmaster, you can instead battle bosses to learn their weaknesses, and see effective measures in taking them down. Below the Bossmaster is the codex where you may learn about tactics and the games mechanics in terms of strategies.
The main room of the lobby in the game is where all the magic happens. From here you can pick out where you wish to go, as well as pick out what character you wish to play as.
Mods my friends, oh yes my friends, tons of mods to behold. From original themed ones, to classic video game characters like Link down to those adorable slimes from Dragon Quest/Warrior we all grew up to love. This part of the game while the shining gem also is sort of disappointing. Now here me out the concept of being able to set up new skins for the game is awesome! But not being able to have achievements is not so awesome. I originally assumed these are transmuted where you may apply a skin to a already placed character and just use the same tricks they had, just with a Mario outfit, or something of the concept. It is not a backbreaking issue in the slightest if you just want to enjoy the game. If you are a achievement junkie on the other end who enjoys some custom bling on their character you might be out of luck. With the mods come custom dungeons that users create that you may subscribe to (for free I assure you). I tried out a few to my rage. Whoever made the Chaos room was one sick son of a .. you get the idea.
In closing:
Every flavor was calculated into something that could show a bright future for this game, and or any sequel. Providing a clear freedom for the modder community to expand among the canvas, this game provides. Down to the basic nostalgia fan favorite video game characters all the way to niche anime chibis running rampant on the Steam Workshop. If you love a good challenging rhythm game and addicting roguelikes, then sir, or madam, Crypt of the NercoDancer is for you! – Recommended!-
