Should I Play Crypt of the NecroDancer? The Roguelike That Makes You Dance

What It Is

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a rhythm roguelike developed and published by Brace Yourself Games (with co-publishing from Klei Entertainment). It launched on April 23, 2015 on PC, and later came to PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and mobile. It costs $14.99 on Steam.

You play as Cadence, a young woman who descends into a crypt to find her missing father. The twist: every action you take must be performed to the beat of the music. Moving, attacking, using items. All of it syncs to the soundtrack. Miss a beat and you lose your coin multiplier. Move off rhythm and enemies get a free turn. The entire dungeon pulses with the music, and you either learn to feel the groove or you die trying.

The game holds an 87 on Metacritic and an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam with over 26,000 reviews (95% positive). The soundtrack won the Game Developers Choice Award for Best Audio at GDC 2016. It has been out for over a decade and still has an active community running daily challenges and speedruns.

Why You Should Play It

There is nothing else like it. Plenty of games have borrowed the “rhythm combat” idea since 2015, but Crypt of the NecroDancer is the one that proved the concept works. Every enemy has a predictable movement pattern. Every dungeon floor has a tempo. The game teaches you to read both at the same time, and the moment it clicks, you feel like a genius.

The soundtrack is one of the best in gaming. Danny Baranowsky composed over 40 original tracks that range from chiptuned bops to intense metal boss themes. The game also includes five additional remixed soundtracks from artists like FamilyJules and A_Rival. You can even import your own music files and the game will generate levels that match the tempo. The music is not background decoration. It is the entire control scheme.

15 characters keep things fresh for hundreds of hours. Each character fundamentally changes how the game plays. Bolt moves at double speed. Monk dies if he touches gold. Aria has one hit point and plays at double tempo. The base game can be completed in a few hours, but mastering every character takes far, far longer. Add the AMPLIFIED DLC (with zones by Danny Baranowsky and new characters) and the Synchrony DLC (with online co-op and mod support), and you have an enormous amount of content.

It supports dance pads. This is not a gimmick. The game was designed from the start with USB dance pad input in mind. Playing with a dance pad turns an already unique game into a full body experience. It is one of the few modern PC games where you can literally dance your way through a dungeon.

Why You Might Not

The rhythm lock is not optional (unless you pick Bard). If you cannot keep a beat, you will struggle. The game does include Bard mode, which removes the rhythm requirement entirely and turns it into a standard roguelike. But Bard mode strips away the thing that makes the game special. If rhythm games make you anxious rather than excited, NecroDancer will feel more frustrating than fun.

The learning curve is steep. You need to memorize enemy movement patterns, learn which items synergize, manage your resources, AND do all of it to the beat. The first few hours can feel overwhelming. Every death teaches you something, but some players will bounce off before the lessons start paying off.

It looks dated. The pixel art is charming but simple. If you are coming from modern roguelikes with flashy visual effects and polished animations, NecroDancer’s 2015 aesthetic might feel bare. The art serves the gameplay perfectly (you need to read the grid quickly), but it will not wow anyone with screenshots alone.

Later zones get chaotic. Zones 3 and 4 throw fast enemies, environmental hazards, and complex patterns at you simultaneously. Combined with faster tempos, the difficulty spike can feel punishing. The game rewards patience and pattern recognition, but it demands both in large quantities.

My Take

I am not good at rhythm games. My first instinct when playing Crypt of the NecroDancer was to force my way through, mashing inputs without caring about the beat. The game punished me for it immediately. Missed beats, lost multipliers, enemies getting free hits because I moved out of sync. It felt like the game was fighting me.

Then something shifted. After a few runs, I stopped thinking about pressing buttons “on time” and started feeling the music instead. The grid stopped being a puzzle and became a dance floor. Enemies moved in patterns I could predict. Items made sense. The whole system clicked into place, and suddenly I was bobbing my head while clearing rooms without taking a hit.

I also tried playing with a dance pad, and it is a completely different experience. Your brain has to translate “move left” into “step left with your foot,” and that extra layer of physicality makes every room feel intense. It is exhausting, hilarious, and genuinely one of the most fun ways I have ever played a video game. If you own a dance pad or can borrow one, it is worth trying at least once.

The series is still going strong, too. Brace Yourself Games released Rift of the NecroDancer in February 2025, a full sequel that expands the formula with new mechanics and a deeper story. The original holds up perfectly on its own, but knowing there is more to explore afterward makes it an even better entry point.

Is Crypt of the NecroDancer for everyone? No. The rhythm requirement is a real barrier, and if you bounce off that mechanic, Bard mode alone probably is not worth the price of admission. But if you are willing to let the music guide you, if you can accept dying dozens of times while learning enemy patterns, you will find one of the most rewarding and original roguelikes ever made. Nothing else sounds, plays, or feels like it.