While I wait in vain for a developer with the vision to combine the football management sim with the sidescrolling shoot-'em-up, I can take some comfort in the fact that Brace Yourself Games are attempting something equally mad and innovative in Crypt of the NecroDancer , a "hardcore roguelike rhythm game" that...wait, let's just rewind a bit first. NecroDancer turns the randomly generated dungeon into a hazard-filled dancefloor only slightly less dangerous than the real thing. You'll still explore, fight monsters and collect bags of treasure, but you'll do so while shaking your hips and furiously tapping your toes. It's Michael Jackson's Thriller mixed with Dungeons & Dragons - brand new teaser trailer after the break.
Well. I dance about as well as a particularly uptight broom, but even I was nodding along to that awesome trailer. I particularly like how the skeletons and zombies dance too, while they're milling about looking for brains to feast on. Coder Ryan Clark emailed me with the following description, which just about gets away with using so many exclamation marks:
"Crypt of the NecroDancer is a hardcore rhythm-based roguelike game. Can you survive this deadly dungeon of dance, slay the NecroDancer, and recapture your still beating heart? Or will you be a slave to the rhythm for all eternity? Players must move on the beat to navigate procedurally generated dungeons while battling dancing skeletons, zombies, dragons, and more! Groove with the game's epic dance soundtrack, or select songs from your own MP3 collection! You can even play with a DDR dance pad to really shake your bones!"
A roguelike played with a DDR dance pad? I have a feeling that could fit the genre (and its grid-based nature) like a single glittering sequin glove. Crypt of the NecroDancer is coming "2013", which if I'm not mistaken is the year we are currently in.
