Crypt of the NecroDancer

Crypt of the NecroDancer

Rhythm game with a twist

Rhythm games are a breed apart that have fallen to the wayside in recent years. What was a hugely popular interest for a time with Guitar Hero and Rock Band turned out to be a passing fad a few years later, and is now something of a niche genre that turns up from time to time. Indie gaming seems to have taken the reins, first with BIT.TRIP RUNNER, and now with Crypt of the NecroDancer, a well designed game that is similar to other games in some aspects, yet utterly unique in its execution. It is a combination rhythm game and modern roguelike, in league with the likes of The Binding of Isaac and FTL: Faster Than Light.

The Details

CotND sets the tone right from the title screen, with an intriguing introductory cinematic that starts with a narration by the main character, Cadence, who tells briefly of how she seems to be in a bit of a bind. She should have died, but didn’t, and it seems like a Necromancer (-dancer?) is the reason, though to what ends remains unseen. As the cinematic shows the villain stealing our heroine’s heart and replacing it with necromantic (necrodantic? ..ok I’ll stop.) energy, the music rises to a crescendo and the beat of the underlying music kicks in, in time with the beating of Cadence’s heart. This turns out to be relevant shortly.

As with most games nowadays, you get put in a tutorial straightaways to introduce you to the game, and it’s a good thing too -- this is not an easy game to master by far. You control your character with nothing more than the arrow keys (or whatever equivalent your input device offers) and move around in the four cardinal directions, exploring through the dungeon you’re in, fighting slimes, ghosts and other monsters, and utilizing various spells and weapons. The kicker though is this: there is music playing in the background at all times, and at the bottom of the screen is a red slightly-anatomically-correct heart beating in time with the music, as with the intro cinematic -- and everything in the game moves in time with this beat. Blue slimes bounce back and forth every second beat, skeletons move and attack every other beat towards you, huge stone golems move every 4 -- and if you don’t act in rhythm, you lose the coin multiplier you’ve been building up, and run the risk of being injured when you’re not paying attention.

Of course, this game is a modern roguelike too -- if you die, you’re dead, and your run is over. There is no save file to reload from once your health hits zero, giving you a real desire to keep your character alive that you don’t get from non-roguelikes (or games with an ironman/hardcore mode, like Minecraft and XCOM: Enemy Unknown). The upside to this is that while exploring the depths, you will run across diamonds, which you can use after a run to purchase permanent upgrades that apply to all future runs. These range from adding a new ring that can randomly be generated, to a new type of weapon powered by gold, to increasing your maximum health right off the bat. This, like in other modern roguelikes, has the effect of giving even a doomed run the chance of not being in vain, and is a big part of why I didn’t rip my hair out when losing while 3/4ths through a particularly good run.

There are a large variety of weapons, armor, trinkets, health items and spells to unlock and obtain in this game. I confess I haven’t 100%’d the game yet, so I can’t say for certain how many there are to get, but it seems like a lot. They aren’t as varied or as game-changing as the items you get in The Binding of Isaac, but it’s probably for the best that the items don’t drastically alter gameplay. As it turns out, simultaneously navigating a dungeon, dodging enemies’ attack patterns, juggling all the possible actions you can perform at any given time, AND moving in time with a rhythm that changes with each floor...is not a very easy task. It definitely takes some time to get used to the control by themselves -- let alone doing them in time with the music. Now I must admit, I’m a fairly rhythmic person myself, so I’ve managed to pick it up fairly quickly, and so I can’t really say exactly how hard it is to do so otherwise. My non-musically-inclined friends have found it nearly impossible to keep up with though, while my musician friends take to it with relative ease, so take that as you will. Either way, this is one game that will be hard to play on mute.

Elements worth praising

The music selection is, in my opinion, perfect for this style of gameplay. The synthesized techno/EDM plays nicely with the pixelly art style, and is an excellent soundtrack to bounce your head to, which I find helps me keep the rhythm.

The controls are simple and easy to get the hang of -- restricting all actions to the four arrow keys and various combinations thereof has the twofold effect of making it easy to make use of new items that require up+left (et cetera) without needing to remember a list of keybindings, and also allows this game to be played with a DDR-style dancepad. Yes, you heard me right -- this game supports dancepad controls. I don’t own one myself, but if I can get my hands on one you can bet I’ll be giving this a go. I’m not sure how good this game is to play with one, but I’m willing to bet you can get a workout with it!

The gameplay flows nicely, with the motions of early-level enemies being fairly easy to predict and move around once you’ve learned them, giving you the chance to try out the new whip you picked up, or the new fire ball spell you just learned. It also scales pretty well, with new enemies being introduced on each floor at the edge of your vision, so you can at least being to formulate a plan to deal with them. I never feel like I died to due to anything other than my own lack of skill, and each new run is another chance to improve that skill. The beat is different enough on each new level that it doesn’t feel boring and repetitive, and when you have to return to an earlier level after losing a run, hearing that same music as before might just put you in the right “I’ve got this beat beat!” spirit to move forward.

The gold and shop system is well implemented -- each floor has a shop surrounded by golden bricks, containing a shopkeeper and two or three items. The shopkeeper also, at certain parts of songs, sings with the music -- allowing you to determine if the shop is nearby by the volume of his vocalizations, which I find hilarious and fitting. Each enemy drops gold when killed, and when you’ve killed an enemy you start stacking a gold multiplier, increasing the gold you get from each new enemy killed. As mentioned above, this bonus wears off if you miss a beat -- and this feels like an appropriate punishment. You don’t lose health, you don’t lose items, nothing that will immediately kill you -- but you do lose the opportunity to get as much gold as possible, which can mean not getting that awesome titanium broadsword you were hoping to buy.

Elements less praise-worthy

Honestly, I don’t have a lot to complain about for this game. If there is something hideously broken and unfair, I haven’t seen it yet, and I really think this is an excellent game. That being said, I do have a couple minor things to nitpick.

The music, while both quite good and fitting for this style of game, is a bit on the short side, and so are the levels as a result. If you haven’t descended the stairs to the next floor by the end of the song, then you are dropped down a trapdoor and proceed to the next level, regardless of what you were doing. This puts a ticking timer on each and every level, and unless you know exactly how long the song is, you won’t have any warning as to when you’re running low on time until the rhythm meter at the bottom of the screen starts sending red bars instead of blue.

Playing this game with any keyboard other than a low-raised one is more than a bit off-putting. I started playing with my mechanical keyboard, and by God was it difficult to focus on the beat with my fingers clacking away ever-so-slightly out of rhythm with the game itself. That’s not the game’s fault though -- using the relatively silent builtin keyboard on my laptop removed this issue and allowed me to really enjoy the game.

I personally really enjoy this game -- I love modern and classic roguelikes, I love the pixelly art style, I love techno-EDM music, and I love pressing buttons in time with a beat and being rewarded for it -- but that comes with the caveat that I fulfill all of these things. If I didn’t love the kind of music they offer, I doubt I would have played this game much beyond the first few levels. Fortunately though, for those of you who don’t like the music and would rather substitute your own, you can! The game supports adding your own music in place of the score they provided, though I haven’t tried it myself. I fear though that this is going to be imperfect, as either this will allow a player to extend the time they have on a level or force a player to quit to the next level partway through a song. Neither of these is ideal to me, though the former is preferable, and so I have to point out that the style of music may be a barrier to entry.

It’s worth noting too that there is almost no story to speak of -- not that I’ve seen, anyway. There are brief interludes after you beat a boss the first time which carry Cadence’s tale onward, but they’re almost non-existent during the course of the game. As I mentioned before, I haven’t entirely finished the game, so there may well be much more to it that I haven’t seen, but if the game is consistent then I doubt it.

Final scoring

The gameplay is excellent. It keeps you coming back for more, with a great soundtrack that complements CotND and is of course central to the game itself. I do have to say though, although I personally enjoy listening to the same tracks over and over, I know many people that don’t -- and I can imagine it would be grating after some time. Since this is my own perspective on the game I won’t score it less for that, but it’s worth keeping in mind if you’re considering buying it. 9.0/10.0 for gameplay and music each.

The art style is great, perfect for this style of game, if a bit blocky at times. The enemies are varied in not only behavior but appearance as well, and it’s easy to distinguish them from one another. The in-game bestiary also has some higher-resolution images of each of the monsters in the game, which provides a nice touch. It works very well with the game, and gets an 8.5/10.0.

The story is fine -- no real problems with it, it does what it needs to considering the type of game, but there’s little explanation for what’s happening so far. The game may well deliver tomes of revelations later on, but from where I’m standing it’s lacking a lot of context. Story gets a 6.5/10.0.

By pure numbers, this game would get an overall 8.25/10.0 from me, but I won’t count its middling story against in, because in this type of game, the story that exists here is plenty. This is a fun game to play when you have some time, while still having enough variety to keep you entertained for hours. And of course the procedurally-generated nature of the game means that you’ll never play the same level twice (strictly speaking)! So my personal overall score is:

9.0/10.0
Highly Recommended

A very fun game, very musically creative, and a stellar combination of rhythm and roguelike that I don’t think has ever been done before. I look forward to seeing what else Brace Yourself Games comes out with, and to playing a lot more Crypt of the NecroDancer.

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The Talos Principle

The Talos Principle

Portal-less portal, with a god complex

The Talos Principle is a first person puzzler based upon reverse engineering different sections in the pursuit of shapes. You are given different tools, which you unlock with the shapes you are rewarded for completing the different puzzles put before you.

These shapes hold to the key to advancing through this games. Each color corresponds to something different being unlocked. The green shapes are used to advance to different areas and are also the easiest to obtain, mostly gained from really early scenarios in the game and tutorial puzzles used to teach you the in and outs of the different tools at your disposal. The yellow shapes are acquired from the “medium difficulty” puzzles. These shapes are specifically used to unlock the few gadgets you use to conquer this strange land. Lastly the red shapes, these are achieved from the more difficult of the standard puzzles. These red shapes are used to unlock different levels of the ominous tower standing in the middle of the three main puzzle “halls” you will be playing in. You are asked to not go up this tower by the disembodied voice that lays the story down in front of you as you traverse the many areas.

The story is vaguely explained by a bodiless voice known as “Elohim”. Which, as the game explains, is Hebrew for God. This voice acts as a godly being, constantly reminding you that you are just a creation of his. The story can be explored at your own will through the different terminals scattered through the many areas. The terminals act as a point of existential questioning, and light humor as you talk to the A.I. built into these little computers. You can also find QR tags spread throughout the game. These tags add a little more to the story, acting as messages from prior test subjects running through these puzzles. To be honest, at this time I have not tried to scan one of these QR codes using my phone, but I will have to if the story remains as vague as it has.

At the time of writing this, I have completed all of building A, some of building B, and just unlocked building C. I have gained a understanding of the different mechanics and wish to give you the good, the bad, and the boring.

The good

The Talos Principle has a lot of things going for it. From the stunning visuals, intricate puzzle design, and the minimalistic storytelling. The areas that you walk into have a way of putting you at ease. The initial area is some what of a tropical/summer vacation island, the location actually puts you at ease as you try and work through your first puzzles. At times I felt myself walking to the shore line of the island and just staring out at the endless sea. The game puts you in many different locations that, although don’t fit into the story, never make you look too far into it. You are just a test subject making your way through the maze laid before you.

The story is never force fed to you, other than when you finish a couple puzzles and your maker calls to you. This narrative is just a light form of storytelling, only giving you what you need to know, but allowing you to explore farther with the many computer terminals strewn about the areas. The Talos Principle likes to make you feel insignificant, like a lowly lab rat trying to fulfill its purpose. The voice of Elohim acts as Glados from the portal series, just talking to itself as you chip away at all the challenges. The story in this game is nothing to get excited over, although I am assuming it expands more as you progress. This isn’t for people who are story driven, although it does let you acquire more if you should feel compelled to.

The simplistic nature of the game is certainly a strong suit, although, don’t think that makes this game easy. Each scenario stretches your imagination and thought process to a new high as you struggle to wrap your head around each task. The game is simple in how you always know what you should be doing. There are three main buildings you will be working through, each with a hall filled with numbered doors. Each one of these doors is a portal to a new area with a number of different puzzles. One of my favorite aspects of the game is that you are almost always aware of what shape you are currently trying to acquire. There are signs everywhere reminding you if you’ve already completed a certain puzzle. The game has excellent level design, and keeps you from getting lost in the sea of puzzles you have to work through. If you are looking for a puzzler that you can slowly work your way through, with no pressure to find out what exactly is going on in the world, this is the game for you.

 

The Bad

There isn’t a whole lot wrong with The Talos Principle to be completely honest, unless that is, you hate feeling like another brick in the wall. You are constantly talked down to by Elohim, always called his child. As mentioned earlier, this only happens from time to time. You are mostly left to your own devices, in a very serene place.

I had quite a problem in the beginning with a bit of screen tearing. It was nothing too frustrating, I just had to turn on vertical sync and most tearing was dealt with. Every now and again the game will stutter for a second or two, but quickly resume play. At no point did any of these problems make me feel as if the game was in a rocky state, PC gaming is just PC gaming.

The difficulty of the puzzles does seem to spike a lot, at least for me. Throughout the years the colors green, yellow, and red have been hard coded into my brain to associate with difficulty. Green being easy, yellow being medium, and red being hard. For the most part, this is still true. I found myself sprinting through the green difficulty, and certainly struggling with the red ones, but the yellow tier I had a fluctuation of difficulty. At times I can figure out how to solve these yellow puzzles in mere minutes, other times it can take me hours. Many times I have had to come back to a puzzle, or even a whole floor, because I couldn’t figure it out on the spot. Although I do appreciate the challenge, I would rather have these challenges clearly labeled so, rather than being hidden within one difficulty. I think the “medium difficulty” puzzles should have gotten a tier system itself because of how often you have to do them, and just how extreme the difficulty spike can be.

The Boring

Have you ever played a game where you love almost every section of it, but there are those little things that just irk you the wrong way? Or maybe the smallest details that really tickles your fancy. Every game has them in my mind. The Talos Principle is no exception.

The mechanics are pretty solid for the most part, simple first person controls that use the mouse buttons to interact with your tools, space bar to jump, and shift key to sprint. The sprinting key is a must in this game, and actually adds a lot of speed to your character. I don’t know why other puzzlers feel the need to leave this simple function out, as if to force you to be as slow as possible. There are a couple things however, that don’t quite give me a fuzzy feeling. As you change your camera perspective you can actually hear a mashing of foot steps as you rotate. Now, it is nice to have audible foot steps as you walk, but not every single time you turn the camera. As you might expects, you turn the camera horizontally quite a lot in a first person puzzler. The constant mash up of stepping sounds can really drive you crazy if you are just trying to figure out the landscape, or even tool placement so you can move on to the next part. I don’t need something constantly reminding me that I am actually a solid entity moving on top of a solid surface.

When you think of a puzzler, a first person one at that, you know that there will be some form of boundaries keeping you from doing certain things at certain points. This game has them, no surprise. Each puzzle is encased in its own little section, protected by, for the lack of a better word, an emancipation grid. Because this game doesn’t really explain everything outright to you, I am borrowing portal terminology for this. Now these emancipation grids make it so you can’t bring anything from one puzzle to the next, makes sense. That is a staple mechanic you learn very early on. Another is something that stops you from cheating within the puzzle you are in. Throughout the puzzles you have these force fields. You cannot move through these force fields, but you can turn them off with either a jammer, or by triggering a laser receptacle if the puzzle calls for it. Now, when I am playing a game, I like to figure out all the different ways I can mess with it. See how easy I can make the challenge, or if there are ways to get around the rules that were placed before me. Now lets say I place a jammer in front of a force fields to deactivate it. I then cross the threshold of the force field, turn around, and try and take that jammer with me. Of course the game doesn’t let you do that, that would be cheating. What instead happens, is your character is pulled to the other side of the force field, and then picks up the jammer. This makes it so you can’t just skip parts of the puzzle. Again, makes sense. What doesn’t make sense about this though, is that it doesn’t happen at all times. You can walk up to one of your many gadgets at any time other than when it’s blocking a force field, and just pick it up without being sucked into its orbit. This confused me in the early stages of the game. One puzzle specifically had it so I had to pick one of the jammers up from an upper level so I could use it in the next bit of the puzzle. The prior mechanic which made it seem you would just be pulled closer to the gadget if you were too far away stopped me from figuring this out because I thought I would just be pulled off the ledge. A mechanic like this should be explained in some way, so it doesn’t become an issue later on for people playing.

Throughout the game there are challenge stars you can find and collect. These challenges are located in the most difficult to find places. These can be hidden behind false walls, or extra bends that you normally would think to look after just completing a puzzle. These stars are an extra level of challenge for the most die hard puzzlers, but to be honest, there really isn’t any logic behind them. A lot of the times, to solve these extra puzzles you need to think in extreme ways that were not thought possible by the game. There have been several where I actually had to half solve a puzzle across the map in order to get a laser from one puzzle, to the one I am working on in order to get my precious star. By far the hardest part about these added challenges is actually finding them. Sometimes you don’t even know they are there until you step on a box and look over the wall only to see a golden star chilling just outside your reach. That is when your brain starts to backtrack through the entire level to see if they are at all connected. I like this added challenge, but man they are brutal.

Fin

The Talos Principle is a excellent time killer, allowing you to leave and come back at your leisure. There is never any rush from the story to continue or complete anything, but it always calls you back for more. I call this a reverse portal due to the fact that you aren’t using your skills to directly get from point A, to point B. You are reverse engineering the security to gain access to geometry. This puzzler will warp your mind and cause you to think in many ways. Playing with lasers, jammers, boxes and fans will get you what you want. Just how far up the tower are you willing to go?

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