Rift of the Necrodancer reveals a wild, rhythmic spinoff in its debut gameplay trailer
The sinister Necrodancer returns for a variety of rhythm duels, minigames, and boss battles.
After a stealthy announcement earlier this month indie developer Brace Yourself Games has now revealed gameplay from its next game, Rift of the Necrodancer. Protagonist Cadence is back, clearly, but this time around the setting is the modern world and there are mysterious space-time rifts to contend with.
Stop me if you've come to the same conclusion, but I blame a Necrodancer.
From the look of the trailer, Rift of the Necrodancer will center on a variety of gameplay rather than the rhythmic roguelike dungeon crawling of Crypt. It's billed as an action-RPG and fighter, but clearly incorporates the same kind of rhythm game magic you'd expect from Brace Yourself Games.
"The Necrodancer's back in a brand new rhythm game spinoff, featuring a whole new look, modern setting, and soundtrack!" said developer Brace Yourself Games in an announcement Tweet featuring the new trailer. That same trailer is also up on YouTube.
The central game mode in Rift is... Rift Mode. It's a lane-based "rhythmic battle against streams of monsters pouring out of the Rift!" There are also minigames where you "help Cadence overcome the challenges of the modern world" like, for an example from the trailer, Yoga. I think we can all agree that Yoga is a significant challenge of the modern world.
The trailer also has what looks like some boss battling on display. I don't know how it works but I do know the music it's set to is great. Can't complain about new Necrodancer music.
Oh, and there's now a Rift of the Necrodancer Steam page, where its release date is TBD.
The original Crypt of the Necrodancer released all the way back in 2015, but got a huge update earlier this year. Chris Thursten gave it an 87 on release in our review and I would argue that it has only gotten better since—I mean, it has mods now, and several big chunky DLC to feast upon.