Parents' Guide to Crypt of the NecroDancer

As with other rogue-likes, Crypt of the NecroDancer is a fun yet incredibly challenging game where players will fight seemingly impossible odds. You'll need to use strategy to fight off each monster, avoid traps, and use all your gear and abilities to make some headway. You'll die -- frequently -- because of the hordes you'll face on each level. But the major wrinkle here is the rhythm mechanic, which governs the movement of monsters and your bonuses. If you strike in time, you can build up a combo, performing additional damage and getting extra gold from each kill. Get off the rhythm, and you may find yourself quickly surrounded and destroyed. This forces you to keep moving to keep time, breathing new life into a genre whose primary calling card is incredibly difficult gameplay. Plus, including customizable soundtracks boosts the challenge based on the track you use; faster-paced tracks could literally burn your keyboard (and nerves) to ashes!

But two issues hold NecroDancer from becoming an instant classic. First, the game runs out of unlockable items way too early. Some randomly generated levels produce far too many tradable gems that can be redeemed at shops. Once you've cleared the shelves (which can be done in a few short hours), the gem mechanic becomes a meaningless feature that you never have to collect or focus on again. The more serious flaw is the automatic reset of your character after the successful completion of a stage. Rogue-likes are supposed to reward your work with the maintenance of your progress, especially after you defeat a boss. In NecroDancer, you immediately start back at Square One for the next area you fight your way through, which is inevitably harder than the last. It can be really dismaying to have a powerful gear just to watch it be stripped away, leaving you to face monsters such as a dragon with only a dagger. These issues aside, Crypt of the NecroDancer makes music the star of a challenging genre, which many players should check out to test their skills.