Crypt of the Necrodancer is one of my favourite indie games from the last decade. It melds dungeon-crawling action, roguelike mechanics, and rhythm-based movement to make a wholly unique title, ticking a lot of boxes for me in the process.
Developers Brace Yourself Games then teamed up with Nintendo to work on a spin-off of arguably my favourite franchise of all time, The Legend of Zelda. Cadence of Hyrule took the best parts of Crypt of the Necrodancer, threw it into an open-world Hyrule, and struck gold in the process.
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With Rift of the Necrodancer, the team had the perfect opportunity for a three-peat—take the learnings from the first two games, iron out any flaws, and create the ultimate rhythm dungeon crawler. Instead, however, it opted to take the series in a whole new direction, combining Guitar Hero-esque action with a visual novel story.
Show Me The Dungeons
Taking away half of your original unique selling point is a bold move. Crypt of the Necrodance is so beloved because of that dungeon-crawling/rhythm-focused hybrid that, within the first few hours of the game, I felt myself yearning for it back.
I figured to start, I’d dip my toes into Rift of the Necrodancer’s story mode, which is, rather bizarrely, tucked halfway down the menu in a smaller font than many of the game’s other modes.
I’d opted to go into RotN without looking at anything about the game, and its pretty, hand-crafted, almost visual novel-esque cutscenes with frantic rhythmic gameplay took me by surprise, and its biggest twist was an interesting one— instead of hitting notes, I was whacking enemies that I’d become familiar with in the series’ first title. It was a slow-burner with plenty of highs and lows.
After playing through the tutorials in which I was introduced to the game’s 37 different enemy types, their three different movement patterns, and a range of traps that could be laid on the track, I was thrust into the first of Danny Baranowsky’s fantastically funky musical pieces that’d made its way from Crypt into Rift.
It felt a little hollow playing a Guitar Hero-like game using just three buttons of my PC’s keyboard.
Using the left, right, and up arrows on my keyboard, I was battling hoard after hoard of enemies that came towards me one beat at a time, trying to remember what I’d learned in the tutorial a few short moments ago.
My thoughts about the intro perhaps surmised my feelings of the first few hours of the game overall. The music was great, and it was challenging, but it all felt a little hollow playing a Guitar Hero-like game using just three buttons of my PC’s keyboard. It’s more complex than that, though.
A Visual Novel x Rhythm-Based Video Game
After almost each of Rift of the Necrodancer’s songs, I was greeted with a cutscene. Each one was beautifully animated, but it often broke the flow of the game and the fugue state I’d got myself in as I was frantically pressing buttons in synchronicity with the beat.
The story saw series protagonist Cadence, plus a bunch of new and returning characters from previous titles, unceremoniously taken from their universe and placed into the human world. Here, many of them had taken up human jobs to pass the time and pay their bills, which they did in between ‘rhythm rifts’, which the game uses to segue you into your next track.
The stop-start nature of the mode was frustrating at first, but as time went on, the characters endeared themselves to me, and I found myself equally content reading through the next scene as I was rocking out through the next track. It’s undoubtedly the most complete story of any rhythm game that I’ve ever played.
While I eventually became happy to spend my time between Rift of the Necrodancer’s story beats and its gameplay, the same can’t be said for its unnecessary minigames.
About halfway through each chapter, you’re subjected to a unique rhythm-based challenge, and although only a small element, they’re comfortably the weakest part of the game.
Across my journey, I partook in a yoga class, made burgers, did breathing exercises, and entertained on a children’s TV program, none of which particularly added anything to my experience. Each one felt slow and obtuse compared to the fast-paced action of the standard rhythm games. It reminded me a little of Battletoads (2020)— great when it focused on its strengths, but unnecessary minigames gave it real pacing issues.
The Real Rythmic Action
For most, Rift of the Necrodancer won’t be about the story mode, instead, it’ll be hunting down high scores on what are likely to be highly competitive leaderboards.
As of launch, RotN has 35 songs, each expertly crafted for the game. Legendary indie musician Danny Baranowsky, who’d previously composed for games like Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac, Cave Story, and, of course, Crypt of the Necrodancer, soundtracks much of this game with his signature funky rock.
Baranowky’s music is perfectly complemented by tracks from the likes of Alex Moukala (Avengers Endgame, John Wick: Chapter 2), Jules Conroy (Five Nights At Freddy’s), and Josie Brechner (Blossom Tales). It’s a fantastic ensemble that, together, has created a truly eclectic soundtrack comprised of rock, metal, and electronica tunes.
For budding musicians, of which I am certainly not, there is also a fully-fledged track creator that can be shared for others to play, meaning that within a few months, there will be innumerous tracks to dive into.
Brace Yourself Games clearly meticulously placed every single enemy on the game’s Guitar Hero-style tracks.
Not just content with an epic soundtrack, though, Brace Yourself Games meticulously placed every single enemy on the game’s Guitar Hero-style tracks. Just when I thought I’d got into the rhythm of crushing the slimes that came my way, an errant skeleton or harpie would interrupt my flow, keeping me on my toes. It meant I could never get comfortable or be complacent, but it oftentimes made things very, very tricky.
I’m something of a Guitar Hero enthusiast myself, who, in my heyday, would spend hours beating most songs on expert difficulty. 15 or so hours in Rift of the Necrodancer, and I was still stuck on medium, at best.
The multitude of enemy types, combined with their three different movement patterns (on-beat, off-beat, to their own beat), meant there was far more for me to get to grips with than five simple colours coming my way. Sure, it was only played on three lanes, as opposed to five, but there was just a lot more for me to process during each song. I’m not ashamed to say that there was one song in the game’s closing chapter that I was stuck on for a very long time, on easy.
Initially, I was a little bitter that Rift of the Necrodancer wasn’t just more of what made me love the series in the first place. Truth be told, I still am. But after I loosened myself up and accepted this new approach for the series, I had fun.
It’s a really competent rhythm game with great music, tons of content, and another strong concept from Brace Yourself Games. You’ll no doubt face frustrations with some of the story mode’s decisions and the game’s overall difficulty spikes, but if you just want to rock out and chase some high scores, you’ll have a blast. I’m already looking forward to seeing the players who pull their dance mats from deep within their closets to tackle hordes of skeletons and beat the game’s most challenging songs with ease.
Reviewed on PC
- Released
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February 5, 2025
- ESRB
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E for Everyone
- Developer(s)
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Brace Yourself Games, Tic Toc Games
- Publisher(s)
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Klei Entertainment
- Truly excellent soundtrack
- Really interesting ideas for a rhythm game
- Tons of content to get stuck into
- Can be very difficult
- Some weird pacing issues in the game?s story mode