Rift of the NecroDancer – PC Review

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9 years after their critically acclaimed beat-busting dungeon delver, Brace Yourself Games teams up with Tic Toc Games and returns with a sequel that puts a new spin on a familiar mechanic, NecroDancer style. And here I am, an avid fan. Let’s rock! Rift of the NecroDancer fully leans into the rhythm genre and transports Cadence and co to a strange new world: ours. After dispatching a strange purple slime, crypt explorer Cadence is sucked into a strange rift which drops her into the present day. She soon discovers she’s not the only one mysteriously jettisoned and now working a day job, not to mention more strange rifts opening and turning regular folk into monsters from the Crypt. Using teamwork and sick guitar skills, Cadence and her friends must get to the bottom of this otherworldly phenomenon. Perhaps even master… perfect Instagram photos! *gasp*

An open rift in the background with the cast of characters positioned around it. The protagonists stand in front with the bosses standing behind them.
Meet the crew!

Gameplay/Pros

The bulk of Rift’s gameplay consists of, well, rifts! Instead of digging through a decrepit roguelike dungeon, you take on preset ‘Rhythm Rifts’. A fretboard appears before you with arrow keys at the bottom. Enemies will make their way down the fretboard in time with the beat and must be dispatched with the keys when they reach you. If you were a Guitar Hero/Rock Band aficionado back in the day, the memories will come flooding back. Each enemy is taken from the original Crypt of the NecroDancer complete with their movement patterns: green slimes take one hit, bats move position when hit and harpies zoom towards you. Learning these in a new setting is extremely fun with every mastered section feeling intensely satisfying. Missing an enemy will lower Cadence’s health, but food items peppered throughout the song will top it up, with no penalty for missing them – win-win!

A Guitar Hero style fretboard with skeletons and armadillos standing at different points and arrows at the bottom of the screen. An open rift is in the background. The protagonist stands to the left looking excited. The antagonist stands to the right looking upset.
Guitar Hero who?!

After a tutorial on these, the world’s your oyster in terms of options. You can dive straight into the 35 tracks available with a choice of difficulties: Easy, Medium, Hard or Impossible. If a song proves tough, you can use Practice Mode and various speed settings to master tricky sections and learn enemy formations. A Daily Challenge gives you a different track each day to test your skills. Or if you’re looking for a real challenge, the iconic Shopkeeper returns with specific trials such as Perfect Only runs or a missed note means it’s all over. All of these are well-designed and never feel unfair or unbalanced. Shopkeeper Mode can also be enabled before a song which will have his signature bombastically operatic and ridiculously autotuned vocals play over the track – it’s still just as hilarious! 

Slice of Life With a Side of Girl Boss

Story Mode lets you play through Cadence’s episodic journey to returning home. Between Rhythm Rifts, visual novel cutscenes show some of Crypt’s much-loved characters redesigned and finding their way in the modern world. These are interspersed with fun slice-of-life minigames such as a yoga class and a social media photoshoot. Though some take a little more getting used to than others, they’re all equally entertaining and break up the full-on nature of the rifts nicely. Even messing up is worth it to see the hilarious results.

A polaroid photo of a male cartoon character striking a sexy pose. The word Perfection! is underneath it and hearts representing social media likes.
Vogue got nothin’ on this!

Each story chapter ends with a boss encounter which switches up the mechanics a little more. The fretboard is replaced with circular directional icons that must be tapped at the ideal moment to dodge blows. A yellow marker then opens up the opportunity to land a fierce counterattack. One boss in particular adds another extra layer which I won’t spoil but is extremely clever and instantly became my favourite! It’s well worth replaying them on harder difficulties too as this removes the dodge markers and has you rely on either sharp reflexes or memorising the patterns. Who knew chess was so intense?

The protagonist stands opposite a boss surrounded by giant chess pieces. A lightning bolt flashes horizontally across the image, hitting the boss.
Cadence takes Queen – CHECK!

A Glutton For Punishment

People familiar with Crypt of the NecroDancer know the depths of its difficulty and the sense of accomplishment upon mastering it. Rift continues this staple, but with the mechanics and roguelike variables stripped back, the brutality ramps up much more quickly. Even on Medium, some tracks are immensely difficult and it’s hard to fight the urge to forgo a higher difficulty, especially on tracks that aren’t your faves. “Gitting gud” only goes so far and, bosses aside, the satisfaction of mastery isn’t always enough to entice you to turn things up a notch. In the end, I reverted to Easy in Story Mode for some tracks and went back to them individually later on. 

Thankfully it never truly feels like you’ve failed if you finish a track with a low grade, nor does it limit or punish you for dropping down a difficulty. A welcome mercy! But there is still a slight undercurrent of something missing – a little itch that Crypt’s dungeon-delving element scratched well. 

Graphics & Audio

Trading pixels for pencils, Rift opts for a cartoony hand-drawn style which lends itself nicely to the genre switch-up. Character redesigns are quirky, endearing and very on point with their pixelated predecessors. Different art styles are utilised during the minigames, from rounded and chibi-like to cardboard cutouts – all work to squee-inducing perfection! Whether bopping along to the beat or static with singular standout movements during cutscenes, their animations are beautifully slick. This care also extends to the gameplay visuals: input feedback is snappy with enemies satisfyingly combusting upon impact and vibe power electrifying the fretboard.

A visual novel cutscene inside an office. Two characters stand to the left looking worried. One character stands to the right looking weary. A speech bubble reads: "...so I'm not the only who was brought here. Interesting."
We’ve got a lot to talk about…

But how’s the soundtrack, I hear you ask? Well, a rhythm game will struggle to keep you hooked without a solid score. If there’s one to expect from a NecroDancer title, it’s fantastic music. And once again the soundtrack is nothing short of superb, naturally. Danny Baranowsky and Jules Conroy (aka FamilyJules7x) return, now joined by a team of first-class composers that provide a score to die for. Josie Brechner, Alex Moukala, Sam Webster and Nick Nausbaum work their magic with blistering beats from various genres. Orchestral rock anthems stand alongside pulsing EDM bangers, and smooth blues with pumped-up dance. Every track melds with the rhythm combat perfectly while standing out as beyond-catchy bops in their own right. Conroy’s ‘Matriarch’ and ‘Overthinker’ and Brechner’s ‘Glass Cages (featuring Sarah Hubbard)’ now live in my head rent-free!

Final Thoughts

Though there are occasional pangs for the dungeon-delving days, Rift of the NecroDancer dives fully into the rhythm genre and comes out in a blaze of glory. With a killer soundtrack, a winning art style, and plenty of different modes to keep things fresh, you’ll be rocking on long after the rifts are closed.

A Thumb Culture Gold Award for this brutal but bopping musical masterwork!

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

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One thought on “Rift of the NecroDancer – PC Review

  1. Once again your reviews never fail to miss the mark. This gives the gist of the game without spoiling it. I loved the comparison to the original game showing how it differs & improves etc.

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