Rift of the NecroDancer

so, i got this game last year around a month after its release; i had really no prior experience with rhythm games at all, but something about the style of it and the mechanics of the notes just seemed appealing to me. i've held off really reviewing rift because back then i didn't really have much meaningful to say due to my lack of experience. but now, i've gained experience with some multiple rhythm games, as well as becoming generally quite consistent with the impossible difficulty even to the point where i can etch my name occasionally to around top 100 spots on multiple charts. i guess that part is kinda lowkey bragging, but i digress! i do feel i have a bit more meaningful to say now, so, lemme try doing that. the way the notes work in this game is i think what makes it stand out the most from its contemporaries by far. every single note has their own unique functions and interactions, and there's many times where some of the patterns feel kinda like puzzles to be solved while also keeping yourself on time. what really helps here actually, which seems to not be too common in many rhythm games? (i could be wrong) is the inclusion of practice mode, which allows for you to set a mark on a specific time in the song so you can practice any given pattern over and over again if you'd like, or alternatively go through an entire track without fear of failure, slowing the speed so you can read easier.. it has so many different and useful functionalities, but not so many that it feels outright overwhelming to interface with. on the topic of reading, i feel that is another thing which this game does expertly, and which the uniqueness of every note significantly helps with. because they all look so different and have extremely distinct functions, it makes just glancing at the map so much easier to anticipate what pattern the game expects from you - at least in my opinion. but i will admit, it can all be a bit overwhelming at first.. however! even having said that, i feel the game does a great job of introducing enemy variety through every map on the lower difficulties, so you can familiarise yourself more intimately with what functions to expect from any given enemy, and then testing that knowledge whenever you feel ready to do so by bumping up the difficulty, or alternatively, utilising this games unique built-in feature of a 'remix' mode, which puts in randomized variations of notes whilst attempting to match the flow of the song. remix can be kinda hit or miss sometimes, but it's a pretty awesome and extremely unique feature which is so fun to mess around with and helps a lot with building up your sight-reading abilities. as far as the actual songs in the game go, the base game has a good variety built into it overall, and personally for me, i feel that all of the DLCs released just add to the game in so many ways. the people who map for this game are so so talented and incredible at what they do, honestly; so much so that it makes me very certain that more or less every track added to the game has its own place, as they tend to present unique or different challenges each time, instead of just.. being another track to play for the sake of it, if that makes sense. this does extend to the community-made maps put out on the workshop as well! hell, some of the official mappers for the game even put up their own projects sometimes, and even those who aren't on the team still put out some incredible work with their own unique visions. so.. are there any problems i have with the game? not really! though i'll say there's a few things i wish were in the game. an ability to 'playlist' songs, so you could just go from one track straight into another would be wonderful, coupled with a random button that puts you onto a random song. but that's my own personal preference i guess, as i tend to enjoy doing one-shots on songs; as in going from one song to the next and so on, as i don't tend to just grind out one single song on repeat. so for me at least these features would be some really nice quality of life to have. one thing not so personal of a wish though i think, would be the ability to alter or switch cadence's portrait in maps, which i do believe is doable with mods, but is not in the game currently, and is only done in a select number of maps. outside of these really tiny nitpicks though, that's about all the negative critique i have. all in all, i love this game. it was my first rhythm game, and is one of my favourite games of all time. the journey i've had of starting out on normal and being intimidated by the most simplest of notes and patterns, to mastering hard mode, then trying my hand at one of the 'easier' impossible maps for the first time when i was still new and insta-failing on the first literal 5 seconds, to now being capable enough to sight-read and almost first try any given impossible map.. it's unforgettable to me. i've always been someone to get stuck in pvp grinders, so - to me, this game is such a comforting reminder of how real one's capability to improve and get better at something really is, you just have to keep trying. uh- anyways, that's all i've got. thanks for reading, please give the game a try. thank you.

rift of the necrodancer is a fun rhythm game that has a lot of charm, and i would recommend it. HOWEVER. i have a lot of gripes with it as well, so i'm just gonna list things off as they come to my head pros: - has community maps (and an active community) - don't need previous game to enjoy story - art is amazing - has music custom made for the story that doesn't feel like it's custom made for the story (this one is kind of hard to explain, but you can really tell this is the case in games like adofai) - story is fun, characters are likeable - difficulty customization is good, you can skip songs if you want - has rhythm heaven mini games that are very well done - hatsune miku!!!!!!!!!!! - can remain f2p after initial purchase, not like musedash or djmax where you have like 3 hours of songs before you have to buy songpacks - the art is Good. enough i'd say it a 2nd time, maybe even a 3rd time. did you know the art is good? cons: - you cannot ghost tap. i have lost an insane amount of combos to this. to be quite frank, i think the game is far too lenient on its judgments, getting the lowest accuracy rating (which i think is "ok") won't break your combo, but god forbid you have twitchy fingers because you're ♥♥♥♥♥♥ if you double click! changing this to punish bad accuracy and allow ghost tapping would make the game feel a lot better to play rather than fudging my way through it - the calibration sucks ASS. especially because the calibration test literally doesn't correlate to the actual gameplay and is just a reference to the previous installment. all times i've tried using it, my video calibration is pretty accurate to other game's calibration, the audio calibration however is always off by ~150 ms somehow, rendering it useless. - this game is so much different than other rhythm games, that if you have thousands of hours in other rhythm games, it makes this one Very Very difficult. this can be seen as a pro, but in my case, it is a con. there are so many note mechanics and some are super hard to read and deviate my mind from like, what i'm used to...? (changing lanes every beat, notes going in reverse while others don't, etc.) i understand that it's kind of the entire gimmick but i'm still allowed to complain about it lol. the game is very unique, so this bulletpoint is more ambiguous than negative - the downscroll moves beat by beat instead of a consistent down stream movement, this causes the notes to approach the judgement line in slightly weird way that may make your timing feel weird. this also prevents you from being able to set your scroll speed independently, but this is not unique to this game so that's just kind of a personal gripe i have. allowing you to set it to the song bpm or have a universal scroll speed like osumania would be awesome sauce tl;dr, game is good. it's weird but in a very charming way and it is easy to love. entertainment value will probably be lessened if you play a lot of other rhythm games, or maybe i'm just having an insane skill issue

feliz kirkaniversario!!!!!

Interesting take on the rhythm formula that is actually not fun to play. All the enemies and their colors and auras and variations plus everything bouncing make sight reading a massive pain in the ass. Hit this slime 2 times, hit this slime 2 times with a delay in the middle, hit this slime 3 times fast. Hit this bat and reappears on another lane. Throw in enemies that are off-beat on top. Now we just mix em all up and throw handfuls of them at you. More like pattern memorization than rhythm... The music is cool. The visuals LOOK cool. The gameplay is doodoo.

Crypt of the Necrodancer is one of my favorite games despite the fact I'm terrible at it. I thought this one would be a slam dunk but I can't get into it at all, despite desperateily trying so. In theory it's a rhythm game, in practice it's a real time puzzle where you have a second to figure what the notes are, and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ am I bad at this puzzle. I don't have fun playing this, I just feel like an absolute moron. I actively question myself if I'm brain damaged. The last game that did that was Baba is You.

Oh god my hand holy jeez ow owie owww 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Wish I'd felt up to trying this game in the return window. But not because the game is bad. I do recommend this game, but I can't actually play it myself very easily. Despite having several colorblind options the beginning slime enemies are two close in color for me personally to tell them apart, especially when they're paired together. So I unfortunately can't even pass the first failable level mostly because I can't tell them apart. Still, the music is fun and it's very satisfying to take out the enemies I can reliably. I just can't expect to make any progress in it without a nearly perfect run up until my pain points.

This is perhaps my favorite rhythm game and one of my overall favorite games of all time. While it's easier to pick up than the original Crypt of the Necrodancer, it is so much harder to master. The skill ceiling is so high that after a year and a half of near daily play, I'm still somehow managing to improve my personal records consistently. Some would call it a Guitar Hero clone, but it's so much more than that. What sets Rift apart from other rhythm games is that you literally have to think several steps ahead. It's not just about rhythm, it's about predicting WHERE the notes will be when you hit them. In that sense, it's almost as much a puzzle game as it is a rhythm game, and it really scratches a certain itch in my brain. There are few things I can think of that are more satisfying than finally cracking a song after you've struggled with it for hours, and when you really get a good combo going, it feels amazing. The base game's alright on its own, but the true beauty is in the workshop. That's what keeps me coming back every day. If today the workshop suddenly stopped in its tracks, you'd still have literal thousands of songs to play, and a lot of it is just as well-charted as the official content! It's quite possible that we may never run out of content for this game, and it is super fun to work your way up the leaderboards, or even just go for all S-ranks. If you like music and you want a game that makes you think and that you can strive to constantly improve at, you owe it to yourself to play Rift of the Necrodancer.

This is genuinely one of my favourite rhythm games. It just oozes style and has such a stellar look about it. But on top of that, it's also one of the few rhythm games I've played that genuinely has a new take on the genre. Instead of basic notes, each note is an enemy with different patterns after hitting them, causing them to move about the board or need to be hit multiple times. It turns each song into a puzzle of sorts. It is genuinely very challenging at higher difficulties and I do think it suffers a bit from the tracks being hard to sightread, therefore requiring you to practice and learn patterns on a per-song basis. However, mastering a track in this game is truly second to none in satisfaction. On top of its standard rhythm mode, it also has a story mode (I have never touched it, sorry), Rhythm Heaven style minigames (they're pretty fun) and Punch Out!! style rhythm boss fights (they're very fun!). It also has Remix Mode that you can enable for ANY song that shuffles the enemies on the board while keeping the beat of the original track. I find this mode exceptionally difficult and don't play it much, but if you truly master the game it increases its longevity. And finally, if you find that you've mastered every song, DLC included, and can clear Impossible Remix tracks with ease, never fear: There is a constantly growing Workshop of custom tracks you can dip into as well! The quality of them varies, of course, but the cream tends to rise to the top of Popular if that's your concern. Otherwise, just look for some songs you know and have fun! Maybe make some songs, yourself, if you're up to it! I highly recommend this game to any rhythm game fan. There's a lot on offer here, and it was clearly made with love. It's gonna have a bit of a learning curve, but I promise it's worth it!