Does the dungeon crawler do it for you?
During this year’s Electronics and Entertainment Expo, I was able to play a demo of Necropolis at the Bandai Namco booth. Fast-forward to October and the game is available on the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One via download. Should you get into this game or give it a pass? Let’s get right into it!
The dungeon crawler is pretty straightforward to start but it feels like it will take a lot of practice to master. You can pick one of the two playable characters; each one has its differences. The Backguard is a quicker fighter and the brute is stronger. I found myself going with the Backguard more often because they’re faster and quicker to attack.
There is plenty to do in the dungeon such as picking up gems and weapons dropped by the enemies. It will also be interesting to see what weapons you can find that will be the best to use in combat. I was using the quicker attacking weapons because the more attacks you get in, the better chance you have for survival.
The game has a multiplayer feature that allows for you to team up with three of your friends to tackle the dungeons as a team. You’ll need your team to be on the same page to avoid getting attacked by a monster in the dungeon that none of you saw coming.
The fact that the dungeon has a different feel to it each time you play, you’ll want all the help you can get. The game keeps track of how many times you perish and the items you collect and trust me, you’re going to die in the dungeon.
The game also slips in humor through the writing when you start up the game and when you die. The short prologue before the game starts ends with a quick, funny one liner that gets you in the mood to fight and gives you a quick laugh.
As I mentioned before, you’re going to die, a lot in this game but that will allow you to practice. It will also give you the trial and error feeling dungeon crawler games are known for. If you get to a certain spot and then get stuck, you play through it again and figure it out.
At times, you’ll find yourself wanting to throw the controller through the window. It feels like the game’s difficulty ramps up too fast for the player to handle it. There are times when you can blow through enemies, no problem. Then you find yourself having a really tough time killing the next group. A challenging proposition is good for games but the difficulty needs to increase evenly, something I don’t think Necropolis does. I’m giving Necropolis for the PS4 a 8.0/10. I would like to thank Bandai Namco for the review code.
Score: 8 / 10
