As the rogue Tama, you were given the task of escorting a priestess named Koko to a distant temple. Over the course, you fell in love, before Koko was cruelly killed and you failed your escort mission. Carrying the body of Koko to a nearby Necromancer’s crypt, you discover the Sword of the Necromancer, and begin a journey to gain enough power to bring Koko back to life.
Thus begins Sword of the Necromancer, a dungeon-crawler RPG that has heavy rogue-like influences. Think Hades, The Binding of Isaac or Enter the Gungeon and you’re halfway there, with the looks and dungeons of The Legend of Zelda making up the other half.
Sword of the Necromancer is out now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, Switch and PC.
We’re kind of smitten with this one. It might be because of the necromancy leanings: you can tame and ally with any of the monsters that you come across in the dungeon, thanks to your natty Sword of the Necromancer, and those allies can be levelled up further as you play. That’s kind of awesome, as traversing the dungeon becomes a kind of window-shopping, as you’re looking for enemies who might work better on your side. We’re not yet sure whether the bosses can be enlisted in this way.
Then there’s the sheer depth of the whole thing. Not only do you get to tinker with monsters, but there’s a full-blown procedural weapon generation system, so you get to min-max that too. With an intricate progression system that gifts you varying perks, this is going to be a wet dream for strategists and loadout junkies. The combat, too, looks more action-RPG oriented than the Legend of Zelda-stylings might indicate, so there might be a bit of twitchy gameplay to this one.
It’s co-op, thanks to a Flask of the Homunculus that lets you duplicate the main character, which is a welcome addition, while there’s more story than you’d expect from a rogue-lite game. You learn more about Koko and the Sword of the Necromancer in and between your dungeon-runs, and it looks like a lot of the story is delivered in gorgeous anime. We’re not wholly taken with the art style of the dungeons themselves, but these intermediary story bits don’t half look great.
Features:
- – Turn your foes into allies: use the Sword of the Necromancer to revive defeated monsters and make them fight alongside you.
- – Gather weapons and relics: each weapon is different from the others thanks to the procedural weapon generation system, which gives them various effects and attributes.
- – Fight with all your might: defeat your enemies using a variety of weapons and objects and dominating the fluid head-to-head battle system.
- – Level up: enhance your character by fighting enemies and upgrade your stats. Improve your summoned monsters by fighting alongside them.
- – Death is not the end: Each try gets you closer to the Necromancer. You will lose all your equipped weapons and monsters, but you will retain half the level you achieved in your run.
- – Learn the truth: Discover Tama and Koko’s past as you advance through the dungeon.
- – Local co-op play: Use the Flask of Homunculus to create a copy of the playable character and play with a friend in local co-op game.
We’ll have a review of this one as soon as we can, as it could well be a sleeper hit. Sword of the Necromancer is out now on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S and starts at £12.49 from the Xbox Store. It’s also out on PS4, PS5, Switch and PC.
Game Description:
What would you do to bring back someone you love? Sword of the Necromancer is a dungeon-crawler action RPG with Rogue-like elements where you can revive your defeated enemies to make them fight alongside you. Turn your foes into allies using the forbidden powers of the Sword of the Necromancer and help Tama reach the dungeon’s depths in order to gain enough power to bring Koko back from the dead. Gather a little army of monsters, equip yourself with weapons and relics and level up to take on the guardians that stand between you and your objective.