Rhythm-based spinoff collection? I am going to nod my head alongside to that.
Having solely dabbled in Crypt of the NecroDancer and Cadence of Hyrule, I wasn’t certain how Rift of the NecroDancer was going to land for me. As extra of a pure rhythm recreation, versus an motion or journey one, Rift does fall extra squarely into my wheelhouse. With segments that remind me of Rhythm Heaven, Everhood, and traditional Guitar Hero, I’m undoubtedly excessive on Rift of the NecroDancer as we await its early 2024 launch.
Protagonist Cadence returns in visible novel fashion cutscenes and an total beautiful presentation. The characters bop alongside to the music and interject throughout rhythm sequences, and it’s almost unimaginable to not nod your head alongside to the infectious soundtrack. With artists like Danny Baranowksky (who labored on the earlier two titles), FamilyJules, and Alex Moukala, the audio expertise is certain to be a legendary one.
The demo consisted of three Guitar Hero sort levels (Rhythm Rifts), a Yoga studio-set Minigame, and a Boss Battle. Whereas the primary Rhythm Rift was pretty simple and noticed me incomes an A rank, the problem took a large leap ahead with the following two. You have got three lanes with their requisite button to press on the backside, and a gradual stream of slimes, skeletons, and bats pouring down every lane that must be eradicated in time with the beat. Every monster requires a distinct approach to defeat, although. Inexperienced slimes solely take one button press to defeat, however blue slimes take two; purple bats will transfer to a distinct lane after you strike them the primary time; and when all three lanes are occupied on the identical beat, you have to press a fourth button to take all of them out.
The Minigame was quick however very harking back to these from the Rhythm Heaven collection. Within the Yoga one I performed, I wanted to match the actions of the teacher however solely after the pair of characters stretching with me moved first. It was a welcome change of tempo in comparison with the speedy Rhythm Rifts. Lastly got here the Boss Battle, the place Cadence picks up a guitar and has to dodge assaults (nearly like Punch-Out!!) earlier than retaliating along with her personal music blasts to deal harm and whittle down the boss’ well being. This explicit opponent fired chess items at me, so I needed to acknowledge their motion sample along with contemplating the audio cues. I liked the number of the gameplay and left the demo desperate to spend extra time with Rift of the NecroDancer.
As a result of I performed on a keyboard, it’s a bit difficult to know precisely how the expertise will translate to a controller, however given the extent of high quality seen in Crypt of the NecroDancer and Cadence of Hyrule, I’m not overly involved at this level. Whereas there may be an overarching NecroDancer storyline, I solely noticed snippets of it within the demo, so it stays to be seen how and why Cadence is moving into a few of these conditions. Nonetheless, Rift of the NecroDancer stuffed my mind with world-class tunes and satisfying rhythm-based gameplay, and I’m excited to get my fingers on the total model subsequent 12 months.
