Necropolis Brutal Edition Review

Necropolis throws you in the brunt of it all. Every game starts with a look at a detailed control scheme which then leads to the actual dungeon-delving. The first couple of runs will most certainly end up in quick deaths until you get the hang of how to manage stamina. The combat is souls-like in the sense that it uses slow animations which require proper positioning if you want to end up dealing damage. Stamina gets drained with each strike, however, there’s also a catch: you have the option of using heavy attacks, which deal increased amounts of damage and are good against groups, however, not without tiring you out. Being tired involves having an always growing portion of your stamina bar greyed out and unable to regenerate until you consume food or potions for doing so. This makes you think about when to use those powerful attacks and has you relying on the standard chain for the great majority of each run.

You can also employ the use of a dodge mechanic that breaks away from any attack, regardless of how far into the animation you get, provided there’s enough stamina to do so. You can block every attack, in theory, however some damage does sometime get through, depending on the enemy. In truth, you can rarely know when you’re going to get attacked with one simple swipe or with one combo that’ll see you relieved of half your HP. This unpredictability makes you stay on your toes; however, it can also be the cause of much frustration. Enemies can easily swarm you, as there’s no limit to how many can attack you at once. While it’s refreshing to depart from one-enemy-at-a-time combat, when they gang up on you in a corner, the camera doesn’t help with figuring out what’s going on. On top of that, locking on to one of them is easily done, with a press of the TAB key, though, even the slightest mouse movement will move the target onto a different enemy, potentially making you miss your swing. This is fairly aggravating as being accurate does rely very much on this lock on mechanic.

An element that benefits the gameplay is friendly fire. Affecting both you and your teammates but also the enemies, you can sometimes use it to your advantage. One of the most memorable moments was having my teammate downed and my HP so low I would die in one hit. I lured the enemies after me so they would step over spike traps, then pause just until they initiated their attack animations. The bigger enemies in the back would clobber the other ones and after three laps around the map, I had killed the last enemy on a fair one-on-one while also getting to save my teammate.

There is a discrepancy between the enjoyment you get when playing solo and that of cooperative matches. Solo play tends to be much more difficult and is most likely to end up in a lot of frustration. Cooperative play, allows fallen players either to respawn without items and with a lower health percentage or to be resurrected by their teammates, which only incurs the health penalty. In solo mode, dying is often the end as, while there is a potion that resurrects you, getting the recipe and then the ingredients is down a much longer road than having someone press E next to your corpse. Add to that the targeting and camera issues and you’ve enough reasons to stick to co-op. That’s precisely what I ended up doing after a couple of single player runs, especially with the co-op being drop-in, very easy to use, very stable and a much more wholesome experience overall.

The friendly fire element also means you need to co-ordinate attacks with your teammates. When attacking the same enemy, using downward swipes is recommended or you could attack in turns and unleash a full combo. There are a good number of moments when the game truly shines making you forget about the combat that lacks oomph or the pacing of item progression which is one of the biggest issues I have with Necropolis. Dying a lot is a staple of roguelikes. In order to make it feel worth it, however, you need to make the player feel that the hundred deaths they went through gave them something in return.

The only permanent progression in Necropolis are codices (or, as the game insists on calling them, codexes). They’re bought with tokens of favor which are, in turn, obtained by doing certain randomly-assigned quests and by gathering gems, the total of which gets converted into tokens once you die. You can only carry one and, unless you choose to read guides on them, the game gives just a vague impression of what they do. This vagueness, while some may hate it, I found to be enjoyable because it adds to the overall mystery of the game. While some do more than others, codexes never feel like they do a lot. On top of that, the first floors will have you fighting the same enemies that drop the same items all the time. Environments may change, but tedium sets in very easily after a couple of runs. Using the same four swords over and over plus a lack of meatiness in the combat and dying from unfair situations, like having three gemeaters gang up on you when you’ve barely stepped out of the dungeon, doesn’t bring much accomplishment with it.

Finding new weapons and armor is always great, however, these moments are simply too rare. The developers have been introducing new weapons and armor since the game’s launch but, at least in the early game, you still run by the same exact items all the time. The new character added in the Brutal Edition update is, of course, the Brute. The Brute is slower, but more resistant than the Blackguard. Initially there’s little reason to pick the Blackguard over the Brute, however, in later levels, the Blackguard’s speed may end up being something you’ll miss.

With all its flaws in the gameplay department, Necropolis absolutely nails graphics and atmosphere. The weapon sounds leave something to be deserved, however, the Screamer’s screams still haunt me, despite them being relatively easy to dispatch. The music doesn’t intrude a whole lot, but when it does, it complements the dungeon delving in a great fashion. Graphically, the game uses quite a unique and rather minimalistic style. Screenshots will do it more justice than words. It plays around with monochrome environments, making even forests retain the feeling of being part of a prison which you must escape from. The enemy visual design also gets points, each of them being distinct and even re-skins of the same enemy having one or two details changed around. There’s also this fluidity in the animations that makes watching your character move through the levels a joy.

There’s not much story in Necropolis, not in the traditional sense, anyway. Instead, the Brazen Head, the figure that you encounter at the start of every level spews forth these things about mysterious figures every time you pass by it. Sometimes you’ll find things scribbled on the walls or even intricate murals. I personally enjoyed how they start of describing something only to turn to this self-conscious humor later down the line. The writers didn’t, however, just use the first half as an excuse to take a jab at other games that approach their lore too seriously, as people with a lot more time on their hands have started putting things together and finding actual meaning behind the large murals in each elevator room.

I always kept wanting to go back to playing Necropolis with its enchanting, mysterious world. Every time I did, though, I ended up feeling like there could have been more, like things could have had a different pace and, thus, I always stuck to short sessions. The Brutal Edition alongside the continued support did (and will hopefully continue doing) quite a bit for bettering the Necropolis experience. However, it will most likely take some more time before Necropolis becomes a full-on recommendation. That’s not to say the game is bad. Lots of bits about it are actually good, some are even great. It’s just preferable that you approach the purchase with a bit of research and, potentially, a handful of friends by your side.

Bogdan Robert, NoobFeed
Facebook | Twitter