Harebrained Schemes, those behind Shadowrun Returns and the recent two million dollar Battletech Kickstarter, have been powering away at Necropolis for a while. It’s an action-roguelike from the over-the-shoulder perspective. It’s also absolutely gorgeous, with my favourite artstyle and overall aesthetic of any game in development. Finally I, and hopefully all of you too, will get my hands on it come March 17th, with pre-orders opening February 2nd. There’s also multiplayer now, as up to four players can co-op their way through its deadly traps.
Have a play of the best RPGs while you wait.
If you’re unfamiliar, here’s the trailer that completely sold me on it last year:
That’s a day one soundtrack purchase if ever I’ve heard one. Put funk in your game, indie developers, and you’ll win my heart. Pairing it with some of the best art I’ve ever seen in a game helps too, I suppose.
Anyway, the new-news is that you and up to three friends will get to go adventuring through its ‘procedural death labyrinth’ come March. Word is you’re all attempting to escape from an ancient dungeon built by an archmage to keep his various monster pets in. Naturally, they’re not too pleased to see you. Thankfully, you can exploit their natural infighting (the best thing Doom did that later games failed to copy, I’ll have you know) to gain the advantage, or just get incredibly good at it.
They’re pushing the Dark Souls die-and-die-again methodology though, so don’t expect to be an immediate expert. I’m hoping they’ll at least ease us in, so we can appreciate all that style before getting to the triumph or frustration stage.