NecroDancer takes a young woman through randomly generated dungeons... Dungeons in which she must move in time with the music to stay alive. In her travels, she occasionally comes across people in cages, whom she attempts to free where possible. In return, they graciously supply her with items such as armor, weapons, rings, recovery items, and more, which she will need if she ever wishes to see her father again.

As I've said above, this game is dungeon crawler with a twist: moving in time with the music. The enemies, which are diverse and build upon each other, are also restricted to this rule. If you miss a beat, you'll likely lose a chance at making a move that would put you in a more favorable position. In addition, if the song ends before you reach the stairs, the game drops you to the next stage immediately.

I've only played the game on keyboard and the controls are simple enough. Something to note is that there are many usable items in NecroDancer, which require you to press two keys at once to use them, which can be frustrating if you mess up. It might be easier with an 8-way d-pad on a controller. There's quite a few different unlockable characters you can play as, including the bard, who can move whenever he wants with no regard to the music. There's also a co-op mode that I haven't experienced.

Where this game really shines is that you can painlessly add your own music to play alongside. You can do this by picking the specific level you want to add a song to, choosing an mp3 file from the window that comes up, and the game will pick the pace of movement for you. I've had fun with songs with a consistent beat so far, and I'm looking forward to experimenting with adding different genres in the future.

NecroDancer looks great, with its 16-bit art style. The way enemies move in time with the music is fun, because literally all of them can't help but dance! There's an option that's on by default that makes the dungeons look like a dance floor by alternating the colors of the floor tiles.


Pros:
*Endless replayability, with randomly generated levels and the ability to add songs
*A co-op mode
*A great soundtrack
*Challenging movement that makes you feel good when you get it down


Cons:
*It's difficult to use items when playing on keyboard
*The odd movement can take some getting used to

9/10