I've been playing this game obsessively for a couple months now, and still can't get enough of it. Learning the patterns of all the enemies is one of the most satisfying things I've ever done in any game. When you start out, you're just fumbling around, faceplanting into enemies and getting torn apart. If you practice enough, though, you'll be able to take on any situation without suffering so much as a scratch. Every part of the game is very doable with the default equipment, so you're never just screwed because the right items didn't drop for you. The weapons and spells that you can find all work differently and cause you to change your method of attack, but they're all pretty balanced. There are a ton of different weapons types with their own unique advantages and drawbacks, rather than traditional "tiers" of weapons (1 damage, 2 damage, 3 damage, etc.) And there's an instant replay feature upon death, where you can look and see what you could have done differently to save yourself (there's always SOMETHING). This is quite possibly the most well-balanced game I've ever played, and I adore it. Pick this game up right now if you can.

Edit: If you have any doubts, just look at how many hours I've logged on it ;)

Edited again, after launch day: Early access is over! The game is complete and it's AMAZING. I cannot believe how much better the game has gotten with time! The final area and extra bosses have been added, and they really went all-out with the monster designs for the last zone. And suddenly there are two entire new soundtracks to choose from? Yes, please! I cannot tell you how happy I am with how the final product came out. I still play this all the time :)

I found this game back in 2015 because FamilyJules did a metal soundtrack for it.

Over 8 years, 3,000 hours, lots of speedrunning and racing later, and I think this game is pretty okay!

Cadence is cute

Hard as balls, fantastic music, great gameplay, and a great premise in the story. It also has the side benefit of being completely unique, nothing else like it out there at the moment.

A game I keep cursing at, rage quiting, and yet keep coming back to. Truly rewarding, as the game gets better as you get better.

Can't recommend it enough.

Crypt of the NecroDancer is quietly genius.

It's exactly what you would imagine a game to be like if you were told it's a roguelike, but in real time, with the turns lasting as long as the beat of a soundtrack — because they are, in fact, set to a soundtrack. This kind of "X meets Y" high concept game (roguelike meets rhythm game, in this case) is easy to think up, but not as easy to turn into a good game, if the failed examples littering Steam are any indication. NecroDancer not only works, but works well — it's an astounding feat of game design, and it's likely you won't even notice that while you're playing because it just feels natural.

This is one of the few roguelikes that deserves the description "easy to pick up, hard to master", as most roguelikes are not even all that easy to pick up. NecroDancer has a tutorial that lasts all of 90 seconds, and contains everything you need to get started. Getting through the first set of levels will take a little more time, but can still be done in an hour or two. But make no mistake, the difficulty ramps up over a total of four zones (each with three levels and a boss level, for a total of 16 levels). And if you think that's the end of it, you're wrong — there's a separate story mode to play through all the zones in sequence rather than separately, and to unlock all the characters (each with their own gimmicks that change the way you play) you have to complete the game multiple times. This is a true roguelike in that the peak difficulty is insane and completing the game with every character is a challenge restricted to only a handful of demigods, but it's also a true roguelike in that it's fair and rewards strategic play and perseverance. And all that to a great beat!

I haven't even completed the third zone yet and I can already tell it will be many hours more before I chip my teeth on the really difficult parts, but I felt like I needed to get this review out before the current sale is over, even if my experience is incomplete. This game is almost certainly worth it at full price if you're into roguelikes, but at sale price it's a no-brainer. If it looks like anything you might like, buy it. Even if you can't make your way through it, you'll still get your money's worth for the time you're playing it.

I've played this game for last 4 months of its Early Access. It already looked very promising and awesome. With the release it took me only a few hours of playtime to confirm everything I was ready to write about.

This is a rogue-like rhythm dungeon crawler, as you've probably read on the store page. The genre is quite unique - its gameplay is a blend of turn-based combat but it's constrained by the boundaries of the "beats" of the music of the level (unlike a lot of rhythm games it's very forgiving on beat accuracy and there's a reason for that: it's quite action-packed, so when you have a few skeletons, fiery dogs and a dragon converging on you - you can't really follow the beats within 20% margin what is usual for rhythm games).

First things first: this is a rhythm game and its soundtrack wirtten by Danny Baranowsky is just pure essence of awesomeness. Randomly generated levels are extremely well done. When I say extremely I mean it. This game doesn't have unbeatable generations. It may be easier or harder, but it's a fair rogue-like, if you die - it's your fault. It's not like rogue's tale when you can be killed on first turn the moment you spawn. So you won't really be stomped by something you can't beat.

With the release the game has been augmented with some kind of plot which makes it a bit more beautiful than a rogue-like w/o a plot. Also this game even during Early Access didn't have any gamebreaking bugs. In 80h I never had a single crash or anything else that'd ruin my gaming experience, since technically this is kind of a day1 for this game - it's exremely polished, which is a good example what Early Access system should be used for and how.

With cutscenes you are being rewarded with when you complete "zones" with different characters, with easier and harder characters themselves, with a big variety of items, leaderboards, daily challenges - delivering beatdowns to the beat in this game is guaranteed to be one your best rogue-like experiences ever.

Updated 22/11 for Steam Awards

There have been plenty of rogue-like games in the last few years, but this is definitely one of the most unique and original. The concept is strangely brilliant, the art is great, and the music is awesome, so the whole package seems pretty stunning at first glance. However, when you look under the hood, it's not flawless...the concept may be amazing, but the execution is a little bit janky at times. There are times when I know that I'm 100% on the beat, and yet the game simply isn't registering that I'm on target, leading to my untimely death. I'm a musician, so I have a good sense of rhythm and timing - something seemed off here. There's just not enough precision to the mechanics, which can really sink you when you're facing a boss or going up against a big room filled with tough enemies. There are definitely a few frustrations that you'll have to deal with to get into a groove here. I would defintely still recommend this, despite whatever shortcomings it may have, because the idea is great and the development team has gotten pretty dang close to nailing it. There's also the ability to add in your own music, which is a fantastic feature...I pumped in some Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang, Biggie, etc., and then the game was really bumping and twice as fun. Get this on sale and it'll be money well-spent, as long as you recognize that there's gonna be a serious learning curve when it comes to getting into the game's idea of rhythm.

A rhythm game that makes you learn to deal with frustration with great patience, whether you're a beginner yearning for the game to be slower or a veteran begging for the game to be faster paced. This game has absolutely amazing soundtracks to dance to and plenty of challenging achievements to grab.

all i have to say: look at my hour count

"You've played for 1000 hours. Would you recommend this game to other players?"

I've never felt as strongly about wanting to play a game for 8 hours straight while also wanting to rip all the hair out of my head with my bare hands as I have with this game.

This game is pure evil and I love it.