There is no one who can stop her anymore. The fashion for roguelikes is unstoppable and has been accommodated for quite some time in practically all formats. A genre that a few years ago was rather secondary (and even marginal) that has come to capture the interest of developers, especially indie studios . That is why we are faced with a total saturation in which it is increasingly difficult to stand out and offer something that no one has done before. In the present case, Sword of the Necromancer, It is more or less the usual thing that only has an ace up its sleeve … which also, and in practice, is not so original nor does it bring a special interest to the games, at least in our opinion.
But before going into detail to analyze the details that surround the development of this work, we are going to review somewhat its narrative as well as its protagonist: Tama. This young woman is the heroine we control, a tough girl who agrees to take on the role of bodyguard for a well-born princess named Koko. In the attractive animation scene that serves to put us in background before controlling Tama, we learn that Koko has lost her life during the course of the mission. And precisely there begins our odyssey, which is none other than trying to bring back the soul of Tama’s girlfriend. But for that it is necessary to go through dungeons infested with monsters of all kinds, something that we have already done to exhaustion in numerous previous titles.
The anime-like intro scene is quite striking, being one of the highlights that the title presents in aesthetic terms.
Dungeons and resurrections
We are facing a roguelike and dungeon crawling style adventure that encourages us to go through a good number of dungeons that are generated randomlyand that remain in the gloom until we explore them. Some too basic and unattractive scenarios that are full of quite ugly creatures that we must eliminate. For this we can use a more than generous arsenal to which it is possible to have access as we go through the sets and find the chests that are there. Spears, greatswords, crossbows and other weapons allow us to destroy both beasts, weapons that usually have their unique attributes: power, range of attack, affinity to some basic element (light, fire, etc.). And as we move forward, it is possible to enhance them in the appropriate place that is near the altar where the body of the protagonist’s bride is located.
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The grace of the game lies in the Necromancer’s sword, which is capable of reviving all kinds of creatures to fight alongside us.
And we must be careful how we are equipped because, if we perish inside the dungeon of yore, we will lose all the objects that we carry with us and half of the accumulated experience. Of course, at least it is possible to manage weapons and objects in a trunk, a fundamental detail to avoid more frustrations than necessary. And as a final detail, the game is also capable of reading IR codes that allow us to redeem new objects, a curiosity more than anything else. However, once all this is explained, it is assumed that the great asset that this title possesses has to do with the sword that gives its name to the title and that Tama carries. Thanks to her it is possible to revive the monsters that we eliminateso that, immediately afterwards, they fight by our side. And as they do so, they gain experience and power. An idea that is not poorly integrated but, to be honest, it is not the first time that it is possible to enjoy the help of this type of allies in a title, nor does it contribute too much to the development of the game in general.
IR codes can be used to access objects. A curious function and little else.
What does throw a little more grace is the issue of the local double cooperative mode, an option that is enabled once we finish with the first final boss, which allows us to create a copy of the protagonist to be controlled by the second player . Therefore, it is a title that can be entertaining and even engaging for those who enjoy this type of adventure. But it is also necessary to highlight that it is not the best exponent (not even close) of the genre and that it does not contribute much to this style of productions . That is, because the actions that Tama can perform are the ones you all imagine (attack, dodge and dash, execute basic combos and little else), the level of difficulty is as challenging as usual in the genre and, in addition, it has not technically convinced us either.
We can open chests that hide a wide number of weapons, from greatswords to spears, bows and arrows, etc. And each one usually has specific attributes like affinity to light, fire and so on.
As it is also becoming a too common norm, the title uses pixel art to represent everything that has to do with its visual appearance. We love this type of retro aesthetic, but it is also true that this time the result is not the best we have seen in any title of the same nature. The sprites have seemed very bland, to the point that some monsters are even bland. A qualifier that we can use to qualify the appearance that the scenarios show, which are so predictable and emptyas uninteresting in general. The sound section is somewhat superior, with a dual dubbing in English and Japanese (with texts in Spanish) and merely ambient melodies that accompany the action well.
Technically we are before the umpteenth work that makes use of pixel art to represent its backgrounds and characters. It doesn’t stand out at all, really.
An entertaining roguelike, but little else
A new exponent of roguelike style games (and dungeon crawler ) lands trying to offer a more or less attractive idea on which the title revolves, which is none other than the fact of being able to summon fallen creatures to fight alongside us. . However, it is not the first time that it is possible to fight alongside monsters that we use as allies, and even less does it end up injecting some freshness into a style that is too much seen in recent times. Such is the amount of similar games that have appeared in recent months that it is almost difficult to distinguish one from the other , and in this case Sword of the Nicromancerdoes not achieve that goal. However, despite that it is an interesting title … as long as you like this type of offer a lot.
