• News

Rift of the NecroDancer gameplay reveals a Rhythm Heaven-like spin

Brace Yourself Games showed gameplay for Rift of the NecroDancer, and it looks like we'll be taking Cadence on a new adventure featuring rhythm minigames.

TJ Denzer

August 24, 2022 11:30 AM

Image via Brace Yourself Games

4

In 2015, Crypt of the NecroDancer took the indie gaming scene by storm with a fantastic fantasy-fiction rhythm game adventure about dungeon crawling to catchy tunes. It has since been followed up with DLC and spinoff games like Cadence of Hyrule, but Brace Yourself Games has something altogether new up its sleeve. Rift of the NecroDancer has been teased before, but recently we got a full gameplay reveal, and it looks like Rhythm Heaven minigame fun has found its way to the NecroDancer universe.

Brace Yourself Games showed off a full gameplay reveal of Rift of the NecroDancer on its YouTube channel on August 24, 2022. Players will once again play as Cadence, but this time she is navigating a modern world as rifts tear most of what she knew apart and throw her life into disarray. Players will guide Cadence through an adventure full of rhythm minigames. In the recent reveal, we see something akin to a Punch-Out!! minigame, as well as a gymnastic rhythm game in which players match other athlete’s poses in time to the beat.

Rift of the NecroDancer was teased a few weeks ago as Brace Yourself Games showed off all-new DLC for the original Crypt of the NecroDancer. Even so, this is looking like an outlandishly different game from what we’ve seen Brace Yourself do before with Crypt of the NecroDancer and Cadence of Hyrule. Rift of the NecroDancer seems to take on a minigame style made popular by games like Rhythm Heaven and Elite Beat Agents. All the while, it looks like Rift of the NecroDancer will still interweave fun narrative and adventure into the experience.

Rift of the NecroDancer is available to wishlist on Steam now and currently holds a release date of June 20, 2023. Stay tuned as we follow this game for further updates and news leading into next year.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.