Crypt of the NecroDancer

I have mixed feelings about this one... but ultimately I wouldn't recommend. This is really sad, because I wanted so much to like and recommend this game... Let's start with the good: graphics and soundtrack are awesome! Now for the rest... The main issue for me relies on design choices, gameplay and how useless the tutorial is. This is a roguelike and I must say I am typically harder on these. I think it's Ok to be a roguelike, but not Ok to force deaths just to add more time to beat the game. This game is part of the latter. Many unavoidable one hit KO situations just to force a replay (including time limit), not to mention the necessary upgrades that you can only get after dying, and the RNGed items that you need to buy after death and hope that they show up in your next run. The tutorial is just: "you move with the beat, try to perceive enemy patterns". No word on those lights that flash, no word on combos, no word on items, no word on traps... I still have no idea what flashes are and what combos are for (other than money) and how to keep them going. The gameplay is a bit clunky, hard to actually see the beats while listening and navigating. Sometimes your movement, even when timed, will break the combo. Sometimes you will tilt even though you followed the beat. Then there's the game design: • They basically force you to die to buy upgrades and items that may pop-up to try to progress. Took over 1h to beat level 1 (consists of 3 stages) just going through this motion. Not really a fun experience. And you will need to find the items in the dungeon to actually have a chance. It's RNG reliant. • If the stage's music ends, you die. The issue is: there is no indicator that it's going to end. No bar, no timer, no music going faster, no sign that the music is ending. It simply ends and you die out of nowhere. If you find the ending and beat the boss, get out as soon as possible before the timer kills you. • Then there are the new things and how they are presented. Some examples: A) You can carry bombs and eventually you find a bomb icon. You go there thinking it will give you a bomb to carry, but no. A bomb will pop-up and if you don't immediately get away (not even a second for the bomb to flash as active), that's a OHKO. B) Or if you find an item, suddenly it replaces your current item without telling you what's the actual difference. C) You may find a tile with a skull, similar to the exit before you beat the boss, but it's actually a trap that will almost kill you in one hit. D) The list goes on... • Now let's talk about OHKOs situations. Those happen a lot with new things you don't know and bosses. Many times the bosses are just behind a door and will one-shot you as soon as you open it. There's no way to know whether the boss is there unless you find some RNGed item. Even if the boss is not directly there, a monkey might be, and then it will jump on you and hold you while the boss that's close comes and one-shots you. New things in the map are more of a threat than something fun to explore and find out. Just like the skull or bomb tile that I have mentioned before. • There are many DLCs, they are expensive, and you need them to be able to get all achievements. • Story is not well presented. For instance, you only watch the piece that tells you why you were at that graveyard after you have defeated level 1, which is already in the graveyard. Honestly, this could be a great game if they actually presented a good game design following a story mode and presenting new things and features in structured pre-designed dungeons. Leave roguelike as a bonus rather than the whole game. The way it is now just shows that devs didn't want to invest the time and think of a good game design. It's basically a time pitt just for the sake of not developing proper levels and introduction to new features. Everything is setup for you to die many times just so you can pour more time into the game. Not in a fun way...