Fun as hell, does the "rhythm action" thing brilliantly and is great as a roguelike with the variety of stuff you can find. You'll learn enemy patterns until they're ingrained in your mind, and there's always a strategy for each you can use. And the soundtrack, appropriately, is incredible.

The one downside is how it puts the ending to the story behind a character that demands you play perfectly with the worst weapon, starting with the hardest area. I don't mind challenge - this game as a whole is challenging after all - but there's such a ridiculously huge difficulty spike going from Melody to Aria that it just made me stop playing. Definitely spare yourself the frustration there and play all characters but Aria as they all offer better challenges/gimmicks.

Novelty and simplicity are Crypt of the NecroDancer’s greatest strengths. All you need to play is the arrow keys and yet this is one of the hardest roguelikes you will ever play, particularly if you dive into the unlockable characters. I’m nowhere near good enough to beat the game with Aria, but I still enjoyed trying to stay in the groove with Cadence and Melody. It should go without saying the music is wonderful. The singing shopkeeper is a delight, to the point where I wish he was playable. In any case, definitely check this out if you like rhythm games or want a new take on a roguelike.

Also, check out the crossover follow-up Cadence of Hyrule. Its lower difficulty and reduced roguelike elements make it a perfect entry point for the rhythm gameplay. Even if that’s not your cup of tea, the exploration is great and there’s an option to disable the rhythm if you struggle with that. Brace Yourself Games has earned my respect and I look forward to playing Rift of the Necrodancer after it releases!

This is one of those roguelikes that I don’t like but I didn’t know at the time when I played a lot of it about a year ago. I was trying to brute force unlocking things and trying to complete the game. I remember unlocking most stages with the default character, a couple of characters, lots of weapons/items and most progression systems (training areas, hearts, the chance to encounter items/weapons etc).

The game can actually be amazing but the RNG here is worse than other roguelikes. The rhythm based gameplay is also more punishing and invites you to make mistakes. Lastly, the trophies are incredibly hard to get if you’re trying to get 100%

This game should mostly be played by the ones seeking challenge and accepting the many deaths that come with it. Stay clear no matter how appealing the graphics and or gameplay looks in previews/videos unless you’re okay wish wasting money and shelving the game when you find out you can’t make it far.

Necrodancer is a very unique game in the rhythm game genre. It's a roguelike where every action you and the dungeon takes happen on the beat of the backing track. Enemies have predictable patterns and it's relatively easy to defeat them individually. The difficulty in the game comes from combining several of these predictable enemies together into a single encounter in an area with traps or environmental hazards.

Though it sounds like a gimmick at first, the "move on the beat" gameplay significantly ramps up the difficulty. You have a split second to consider your next move. Similarly to chess, making the wrong moves can leave you defeated before you've even realized it.