“Crypt of the Necrodancer” puts a little “unh tss” into your dungeon crawl. “Crypt of the Necrodancer” is finally out of beta! That means more levels, more items, more characters and more “wub wub” then your poor little ears can handle without turning to jelly.

“Crypt of the Necrodancer” is a rhythm based rogue like dungeon crawler. Which is a lot of adjectives that work together a lot better in reality than on paper. In the game, you play a character who journeys through a series of randomly generated block based dungeons collecting loot and killing monsters on your way to the boss. After you beat the boss the best thing ever happens, you start back at the beginning and you get to do it again!

The main difference between CotN and normal rogue like games is the addition of the heartbeat. Your character in CotN has been cursed by the Necrodancer to dance or die. The player has to move and attack to the beat of the music which can be extremely difficult at times. Failure to move on beat means losing your movement and probably getting eaten by something far larger and pointier than you.

The full release brings with it 4 zones to travel through (each containing 3 randomly generated levels and a randomly determined boss), 10 playable characters that dramatically change gameplay by introducing mechanics unique to each of them, hundreds of unlockable items, a level editor and a soundtrack by Danny Baranowsky that is as hilarious as it is catchy.

The gameplay is extremely entertaining, and is very good at giving the player that urge to play “just one more level” due to the brevity of the individual instances. The addition of the heartbeat gives the game its unique edge and its primary source of difficulty by forcing the player to think about how they are moving (read: dancing) in relation to how their enemies are moving (read: boogying) and punishes them severely for stepping out of turn.

The graphics are cute imaginative and really push those 16-bit graphics to the limit with vibrant colors and creative character design. Although simple, they give the game a lot of character and push that idea of a light hearted romp through the disco dungeon.

For 15 bucks, this game is a must buy. The amount of entertainment you will get out of this is remarkable and you’ll find yourself coming back to it again and again. Keep digging deeper and always keep the beat.