What happens when you combine the elements of a rogue-like
and a rhythm game? You get Crypt of the
NecroDancer. It’s this unusual, but interesting game where the player must
move in time with the tempo of the music. Failure to do so will result in being
stuck and vulnerable to attack. The game requires the player to not only move
to the beat, but to plan their attacks around traps, walls, and monsters. It’s
a difficult game which will require lots of practice to master. But how does it
accomplish its dynamics?
First, the game asks
for one rule to be followed: don’t move out of rhythm. If you keep up with the
timing, you’ll do fine. The monsters keep in time as well. They also have
animations that show when they will move to another space. But there’s more to
the game than simply moving around monsters and striking them during the
opportune moment; you need to find the exit of the level. Each level acts as a
floor of the dungeon. When you find the exit door and beat the Miniboss, the
door opens and you can continue. If the song ends before you find the door, you
continue anyway. You can also reach lower floors earlier if you find a
trapdoor, but they always put you in a room with several monsters that must be
slain first. If you’re well equipped, this shouldn’t be an issue. Otherwise,
play it safe and find the floor’s exit.
The game keeps things interesting with its random pickups.
Most useful are weapons that offer unique effects such as being able to strike
from two panels away instead of one, slicing across tiles adjacent to yours,
and the ability to throw the weapon across the room until it hits a wall. The
player can also acquire Spells to aid them, Armor to reduce damage, Food to
recover Health, and several other items. Most of these objects are found in
chests, but can also be acquired from the Merchant. He’s always found in a
small room surrounded by gold bricks. He also sings along with the song playing
in the level which makes it easier to find him if you get lost.
As customary to the rogue-like genre, rooms are random.
Every floor the layout changes, the monsters spawn in different locations,
different items are found, and traps are repositioned. The neat thing about the
rooms is the dirt walls that separate areas. The player has a spade that can
dig through those walls and potentially lead them to a shortcut. Most of the
time I just dig through walls to go to other rooms that have less monsters in
them.
What the game does differently than other rogue-likes is
how they handle perma-death. Players who die are sent back to the beginning,
but they keep any permanent upgrades such as Health. If they clear a Zone (the
collection of all floors plus the Boss), a new Zone is unlocked and left open
permanently. Progress is not saved with individual floors. Dying resets you
back to floor 1-1 or 2-1 (for Zone 1 and Zone 2 respectively).
Progressing through
the game unlocks additional characters, all of whom have their own playstyles.
The default character Cadence has to move in time with the music. Bard, the
other character unlocked at the start, can move whenever he wants, but monsters
move right when he moves. It can be fun to mess around with each and discover a
playstyle you like.
The most crucial things one can learn studying this game is
how rhythm and music play into a game. Observe how the soundtrack makes you
feel at specific moments and how the gameplay gets faster and more intense the
further down you go. It’s also a good idea to study the animations. They move
slow at first, but as the tempo increases, the monsters move faster. The frames
never increase or decrease, but the framerate changes based on how fast or slow
the music is playing. And finally, look at what the you the player have to do
in order to survive. You have to keep moving to retain your coin multiplier so
you can earn lots of Gold to spend at the Merchant. You have to keep in time
with the music or risk being immobile briefly. You also have to manage items,
slay monsters for Gold, purchase the right items, avoid getting hit, AND find
the exit door. It becomes necessary to plan a strategy not around maps, but
around what you have, what you can get, and how you get make the best of what
you’ve got. It will take lots of practice to get good at something like this.
That’s all the games I’m analyzing for October. Hopefully
you’ll try them out, if possible, and have a Happy Halloween!
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