I loved Crypt of the Necrodancer and didn't expect to buy this game until I saw all the glowing reviews. Turns out this game, which I initially dismissed as "DDR with a gimmick", turned out to be a lot cooler than it looks!

Rift of the Necrodancer is pretty brilliant. Unlike the vast majority of rhythm games, it's a lot more gamey than pressing the buttons at the right time. The challenge here is understanding and reacting to tons of enemies that have all sorts of tricks. Some have to be hit twice, some spawn other enemies when hit, some charge from multiple steps away, etc.

There's a surprising amount of variety here that makes each level fresh. It doesn't just challenge you by throwing more notes, but rather having different enemy types and trickier combinations. Tracks are really well-laid out that it's easy to get into the rhythm and forget you're even looking at enemies.

Despite being tough, Rift is pretty lenient too. You start with 10 HP which can be restored by hitting food items, as well as having an "ultimate" that lets you miss enemies without losing HP for a short time. The expectation here is to just SURVIVE the level, and the game gives you different tools to do that. A big part of winning on hard is knowing when to save your ult, or panicking and pressing it when you lose your rhythm. Again, it's a lot more game-y than just "press the buttons at the right time".

There's also Punch Out style boss fights and Rhythm Heaven style minigames. They're all pretty good. What's very interesting is that since there can be SO many combinations of enemies and types that still land the at the same time, there's something called Remix Mode where enemies are randomized in the track (but the timings are exactly the same), forcing you to sight read and understand harder patterns rather than memorizing them.

Would recommend to anybody into rhythm games. Really fun time.

I loved Crypt of the Necrodancer and didn't expect to buy this game until I saw all the glowing reviews. Turns out this game, which I initially dismissed as "DDR with a gimmick", turned out to be a lot cooler than it looks! Rift of the Necrodancer is pretty brilliant. Unlike the vast majority of rhythm games, it's a lot more gamey than pressing the buttons at the right time. The challenge here is understanding and reacting to tons of enemies that have all sorts of tricks. Some have to be hit twice, some spawn other enemies when hit, some charge from multiple steps away, etc. There's a surprising amount of variety here that makes each level fresh. It doesn't just challenge you by throwing more notes, but rather having different enemy types and trickier combinations. Tracks are really well-laid out that it's easy to get into the rhythm and forget you're even looking at enemies. Despite being tough, Rift is pretty lenient too. You start with 10 HP which can be restored by hitting food items, as well as having an "ultimate" that lets you miss enemies without losing HP for a short time. The expectation here is to just SURVIVE the level, and the game gives you different tools to do that. A big part of winning on hard is knowing when to save your ult, or panicking and pressing it when you lose your rhythm. Again, it's a lot more game-y than just "press the buttons at the right time". There's also Punch Out style boss fights and Rhythm Heaven style minigames. They're all pretty good. What's very interesting is that since there can be SO many combinations of enemies and types that still land the at the same time, there's something called Remix Mode where enemies are randomized in the track (but the timings are exactly the same), forcing you to sight read and understand harder patterns rather than memorizing them. Would recommend to anybody into rhythm games. Really fun time.