Rift of the NecroDancer is the long-awaited follow-up to cult classic hit Crypt of the NecroDancer – this time in a more traditional rhythm game format. Cadence is back and has been mysteriously transported to a world that looks a lot like ours. Developed by Brace Yourself Games, Rift of the NecroDancer offers 35 original songs to learn and conquer, a story mode with boss battles and Rhythm Heaven-style minigames, and a whole bunch of style.

The core gameplay of Rift of the Necrodancer is the Rhythm Rifts – standalone songs, more reminiscent of games like Guitar Hero or Osu than the original. Enemies travel down a segmented track towards you, moving one square per beat, and you have to hit the corresponding button when it reaches the end. But Rift delivers its own unique spin on this formula, giving each type of enemy a specific movement pattern.

Green slimes require only one hit to kill, while blue slimes require two consecutive hits. Zombies will jump between the three tracks, requiring you to mentally jump ahead and figure out where they’ll land. Skeletons with shields require two hits on the beat to kill, and harpies will dash forward two spaces at a time. There’s also food coming down the track, which you can hit to replenish your health. You’ll need that to survive, because every time you miss a monster you lose an HP point – and you’ve only got 10.

The Story Mode is pretty minimal, and really just serves as a vehicle to carry you between the Rhythm Rifts of the game. Cadence and her friends (who each get a dedicated section of the story) have been mysteriously transported to a modern-looking world, plagued by attacks from Rhythm Rifts. It’s up to her to figure out what’s going on and find a way back home.

You work your way through a list of cutscenes, Rhythm Rifts, minigames, and Boss Battles that tell the story in order. The cutscenes are pretty basic visual novel fare, and are cute but not particularly inventive. The minigames, though, are the star of the show here. Clearly inspired by the cute antics of Rhythm Heaven, you’ll tackle challenges like making burgers, pulling yoga poses, and orchestrating a photoshoot to the beat.

Diving into the Rift

Within the Rhythm Rifts, the different enemy patterns are the core concept of the game – and it’s a genius move. What could have been a simple cosmetic layer instead becomes a mechanic that fundamentally changes how you play. The core loop of a game like this is usually something like this: pick a track, work your way up to high difficulty, then slowly grind it out and memorise each section until you’ve perfected it. In Rift of the NecroDancer, however, tackling a new track for the first time feels more like a battle than a rote learning exercise.

It gains a push-and-pull feeling to this first-time exploration that becomes quite addicting. You’ll start out feeling in control, dealing with enemies easily. Then suddenly, an electric guitar starts shredding out of nowhere and you’re barely keeping afloat, drowning in skeletons and zombies. Down to just a few health points, you manage to snag some food to heal yourself, and wonder if you’ll survive the next heavy section.

Swamped with monsters

Predicting enemy patterns becomes much harder though – nigh on impossible – when the screen fills up. As with other games of this type, on harder difficulties you end up getting completely swarmed with notes (or in this case, enemies). This is where reactive play goes out the window and you have to start memorising.

This was a real bummer the first time it happened. That feeling of reading the board and surviving by the skin of your teeth is replaced with the realisation that, yep, this is still one of those games. For some people that’s the entire point of the genre, for others, it’s the point at which they stop playing.

Part of the issue is that with so much visually going on, you’ve got little to no chance of keeping on top of it the first few times you run a hard track. As the game layers in more and more enemy types, off-beat notes, and modifiers (like fire, that speeds up anything that moves through it), things get out of hand pretty fast. The sheer volume of visual cues, some of which block out others, can be overwhelming.

It feels like there’s more that could be done here, that they’re on the cusp of something that really works. The longer you play, the better you get at reading what’s coming towards you. Still, it would be a far more rewarding experience to get pulverised by a track if you felt like you knew what was going on. The lower difficulties manage to avoid this for the most part by just having fewer things on screen, so there’s still plenty here for more casual players to enjoy.

Once you’re in the groove though, you’ll find a tonne of depth to the tracks on offer. Each has its own special challenge for you to tackle, and of course, the leaderboards for you to conquer. Rift of the NecroDancer has also launched with full Steam Workshop support from the get-go, and there are already a whole bunch of fantastic community-made tracks you can play. With enough people playing and creating, this game could have a very, very long shelf life.