History VideoGame / CryptOfTheNecrodancer

* '''Music/HatsuneMiku''': A collection of existing and remixed Japanese and English music tracks featuring the titular Virtual Singer.

A paid {{DLC}} update dubbed ''Crypt of the [=NecroDancer=]: Amplified'' was released into Steam Early Access on January 24, 2017, with the full release on July 12, 2017 for PC and consoles.[[note]]The DLC was included as part of the Nintendo Switch version, rather than a separate download.[[/note]] ''Amplified'' adds a fifth zone, new items and music, and new characters. A second paid DLC update, ''Crypt of the [=NecroDancer=]: Synchrony'', was released into Early Access on August 4, 2022, with the full release on March 13, 2024 for PC, [=PlayStation=], and Nintendo Switch. ''Synchrony'' added another three new characters, online multiplayer, full modding support (with select mods being included in the console versions), and new items and features. A third paid DLC update, ''Crypt of the [=NecroDancer=]: Music/HatsuneMiku Character DLC'', released on April 4, 2024 for PC and [=PlayStation=], with a Switch release scheduled for a later date. As the name suggests, this DLC adds the eponymous Music/Vocaloid to the cast alongside new music tracks.

A {{DLC}} prequel dubbed ''Crypt of the [=NecroDancer=]: Amplified'' was released into Steam Early Access on January 24, 2017, with the full release on July 12, 2017. ''Amplified'' adds a fifth zone, new items, and new characters. A second {{DLC}} dubbed ''Crypt of the [=NecroDancer=]: Synchrony'' was released into Early Access on August 4th, 2022, with the full release on March 13, 2024. ''Synchrony'' added another three new characters, online multiplayer, full modding support (with select mods being included in the console versions), and new items and features.

* '''Chipped Of The [=NecroDancer=]''': Another {{Chiptune}} remix by Chipzel, with an EDM spin, and currently set as Dorian's default soundtrack. Was originally an Platform/XboxOne exclusive until it was added on Steam in a later update ([[https://chipzelmusic.bandcamp.com/album/chipped-of-the-necrodancer Base Game]]) ([[https://chipzelmusic.bandcamp.com/album/chipped-of-the-necrodancer-amplified Amplified]]).

A {{DLC}} prequel dubbed ''Crypt of the [=NecroDancer=]: Amplified'' was released into Steam Early Access on January 24, 2017, with the full release on July 12, 2017. ''Amplified'' adds a fifth zone, new items, and new characters. A second {{DLC}} dubbed ''Crypt of the [=NecroDancer=]: Synchrony'' was released into Early Access on August 4th, 2022, adding three new characters, online multiplayer, full modding support, and new items and features.

* SkillGateCharacter:

* InexclipableTreasureChests: Treasure chests can be found all over the dungeons. These contain valuable equipment and items.

* DropTheHammer: As of ''Amplified'', a hammer can be used as a weapon. It's basically a combination of a broadsword and a longsword in that it covers both wide-range and long-range.

* GunsAreWorthless: The Rifle and Blunderbuss are bad at every leaderboard category (speed, score, survival). Because of the game's dance pad controls, tapping a direction with a loaded gun causes you to fire in that direction, meaning you can't move unless the gun is unloaded. Each shot also recoils you backward a tile, so you lose three turns for every shot (load, fire, step forward). Unless you can get every single shot to [[OneHitPolykill pierce]] three enemies in a row, this is a huge speedrun time loss. The Rifle and Blunderbuss cannot be enchanted with gold (causes enemies to drop extra gold), so they always lose to other weapons in scoreruns. Finally, they're hard to learn due to how rarely they drop, and you risk forgetting whether it's loaded or not (or the recoil pushing you into a different enemy/onto ice/etc.), making it bad for survival runs. Pretty much their only use is as a "meme" weapon for skilled but non-serious runs.

* '''Freestyle Retro''': A {{Chiptune}} remix by AwesomeMusic/JakeKaufman aka "Virt", currently set as Uncle Eli's default soundtrack. Was originally a UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita exclusive until it was added on Steam in a later update ([[https://virt.bandcamp.com/album/crypt-of-the-necrodancer-freestyle-retro Base game]] only, although the [=DLC=] tracks are available in the game files).

* '''Chipped Of The [=NecroDancer=]''': Another {{Chiptune}} remix by Chipzel, with an EDM spin, and currently set as Dorian's default soundtrack. Was originally an UsefulNotes/XboxOne exclusive until it was added on Steam in a later update ([[https://chipzelmusic.bandcamp.com/album/chipped-of-the-necrodancer Base Game]]) ([[https://chipzelmusic.bandcamp.com/album/chipped-of-the-necrodancer-amplified Amplified]]).

** The Phasing Dagger hits through walls, floors, and even 'supernatural' defenses like ghosts turning themselves invisible. Unlike the other three examples, there is ''nothing'' else in the game with this ability (contrast non-weapon damage buff items, the Ring of Frost, and conduits).

* ObviousRulePatch:

* ArrangeMode: The "Extra Modes" staircase in the hub area leads to a series of entraces to arrange modes, most added in the ''Amplified'' and ''Synchrony'' DLCs and some of which can be seeded.

A third installment in the series titled ''VideoGame/RiftOfTheNecrodancer'' is currently in development and is scheduled for a 2023 release. ''Rift'' sees the signature gameplay overhauled to function as a traditional rhythm game as opposed to a roguelike hybrid, and follows Cadence in the modern world, where she seeks to rescue her friends and close the titular Rifts that have been causing chaos in her life.

A spin-off sequel, titled ''VideoGame/CadenceOfHyrule''[[note]]Full title: ''[[OverlyLongTitle Cadence of Hyrule - Crypt of the [=NecroDancer=] feat. The Legend of Zelda]]''[[/note]] was released on June 13, 2019. A crossover with Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, the game has Hyrule under the spell of a mysterious court musician named Octavo. With Link and Zelda under a deep slumber, the Triforce summons Cadence (who had recently managed to escape the crypt), to awaken the heroes and help the duo to stop Octavo's army of monsters and the pulsing rhythm that controls them.

* ArrangeMode: The "Extra Modes" staircase in the hub area leads to a series of entraces to arrange modes, most added in the ''Amplified'' DLC and some of which can be seeded.

** Onyx weapons, added in the Synchrony DLC, deal more damage on consecutive hits, but reset upon moving. This is great for dealing large amounts of damage, but since most enemies have no more than 6 HP maximum, there are usually better options.

* PowersViaPossession: Inverted. Chaunter, a character added in the Synchrony {{DLC}}, gains the health and abilities of the creatures they possess.

* BladeOnAStick: Spears are one of the many weapons available to the player. They can attack an enemy 2 tiles away, or be thrown to hit an even more distant target.

** ''Aria Awakened'' makes the whole soundtrack a heavy metal symphony which explores various sub-genres: for example, if the majority of the tracks are PowerMetal, Coral Riff's theme leans towards FunkMetal, while Deep Blues and Frankensteinway's themes are closer to HardRock.

** Jake "Virt" Kaufman's soundtrack not only makes them more electro, but he invents completely new melodies to replace the normal ones.
** While she remains on the normal melodies, Chipzel's soundtrack still combines Chiptune with EDM.

* {{Chiptune}}: Jake "Virt" Kaufman's soundtrack, as well as Chipzel's who combines this with EDM.

** Standard end-of-zone bosses: Averted entirely with Deep Blues, Death Metal, and Fortissimole, who are fully vulnerable to attacks including one-hit kills. (Fortissimole stands on top of a wall where most attacks can't reach him and you have to get him off or destroy the wall first, but regular enemies can behave like this too.) Heavily downplayed with Coral Riff and King Conga. Coral Riff's head is invincible to everything except the Phasing dagger in phase 1, but attacking the head with anything skips to phase 2 where the head is vulnerable as usual. King Conga is similarly invincible for one hit only when he's angry, which only happens if you screw up his rhythm gimmick.
** Non-final story bosses: Downplayed. Dead Ringer is invincible to most attacks, and his 2 HP must be depleted by plot-specific means, but this can be bypassed by something that does at least 10 damage, including one-hit kills (which take off 1 of his 2 HP). Frankensteinway is surrounded by a shield that must be disabled or destroyed first, and then uniquely has 4 health bars, allowing it to at least temporarily resist one-hit kill attacks.
** Final bosses: Played straight. The [=NecroDancer=] is fully invincible to everything except [[spoiler:the Golden Lute]], [[spoiler:the Golden Lute]] is fully invincible to everything except [[spoiler:Aria's dagger]], and The Conductor is just fully invincible (instead you must destroy her power sources, which take damage unconventionally).
* CursedWithAwesome: Dorian, one of the playable characters, always wears a piece of cursed armor that he can never take off...which is one of the best defensive items in the game with no downsides that you would almost never want to take off anyway. (However, his other piece of cursed equipment is a standard curse.)

* DeathByMaterialism: Quite literal in the Monk's case. Having taken a 'Vow Of Poverty', he will die if he collects ''any'' gold. (However, the shopkeeper has mercy on him and will let him have one item per level for free.)

*** The rifle is especially notable, as it's unloaded by default. Once you load it, you can't move conventionally; trying to do so will result in you attacking, even if there's nothing to attack. (This will also blow you in the opposite direction.) You can load it up to three bullets, but you can't move normally until it's fully unloaded (though the aforementioned recoil means that you ''can'' move, albeit as if confused, [[RecoilBoost by attacking in the opposite direction]]).
** The Boots of Lunging let you leap four tiles with every move, and attack enemies in your way for massive damage. On the downside, actually controlling your character when you move four tiles per move is not easy. (Fortunately, you can toggle them on and off.)

** Almost all items and shrines have succinct descriptions explaining what they do to new players, but three items (the Ring of Becoming, Ring of Shadows, and Ring of Phasing) deliberately have just "???" as their descriptions. This makes sense for the Ring of Becoming, whose true mechanics would be a spoiler (see MagikarpPower), but is inexplicable for the other two because they can be given out by shrines with perfectly reasonable descriptions (Shrine of Darkness says "Turns out the lights" and Shrine of Phasing says "Become incorporeal"). A new player who happens to encounter the ring first who hasn't seen the shrine yet will have no idea what it does. (Slightly downplayed in that a new player is pretty likely to encounter the shrine first, due to how the new player progression system works.)

** The Electric Dagger's arc damage (see ShockAndAwe) inverts the dagger's usual downsides, potentially giving it greater range than any other weapon in the game. (Again, not overpowered as it has no range at all against enemies that aren't in clusters.)

* MaximumHPReduction: Cursed Wraiths deal no damage but effectively do this to the player by destroying all their empty Heart Containers and transforming any non-empty ones into Cursed Heart Containers. While this doesn't quite behave the same as an HP bar, one can think of it as reducing the player's maximum HP to 0 — now that the player's current health is 'above their maximum', all of their precious healing items instantly become near useless, and even the rare items that increase the player's maximum HP barely have any effect. Easily one of the most aggravating enemies for casual players and speedrunners alike. (On the other hand, if the player has no healing items (or is doing a MinimalistRun), they basically have no effect at all.)

** A Shrine of Peace refills your life and gives you an extra heart container, but takes away your weapon and replaces it with your starting 1-damage 1-range dagger. (Prior to the DLC balance patch, it gave two extra heart containers and took away all your items instead of just your weapon, making it too strong at the beginning of the game and too weak at the end.)

** A Shrine of Phasing gives the player a Ring of Phasing, but removes ''all'' their other equipment except bombs and spells, leaving them next to defenseless. (And incapable of winning unless you throw your dagger first or can find another weapon before the next boss, or are playing a character whose weapon can't be changed.)

* TrapDoor: Scattered throughout the dungeon. If an enemy steps on one, it disappears. If ''you'' step on one, you lose your multiplier, since it counts as missing a beat, but immediately go to the next floor. One will automatically appear under you if you spend too long in the level and the song ends. (This means that if you're playing as Aria or Coda, not finishing the level before the song's over is death by missed beat.) Worth noting is that if you use a trapdoor before you defeat the floor miniboss, you'll spawn in a tiny arena with wall-covered rocks, the miniboss of the previous floor, and some extra monsters to boot, and the walls will only open when you defeat the miniboss, so do so at your own peril. (Because of this possibility, using a trapdoor as Dove is also lethal.)

* '''Chipped Of The [=NecroDancer=]''': Another {{Chiptune}} remix by Chipzel, with an EDM spin, and currently set as Dorian's default soundtrack. Was originally an UsefulNotes/XboxOne exclusive until it was added on Steam in a later update ([[https://chipzel.co.uk/album/chipped-of-the-necrodancer Base Game]]) ([[https://chipzel.co.uk/album/chipped-of-the-necrodancer-amplified Amplified]]).

** The OC Remix soundtrack goes further as it offers a variety of styles by various artists.

** In Danny B's soundtrack, Zone 3's hot areas as well as the boss themes for Death Metal and [[spoiler:the Golden Lute]] are this.
** ''Aria Awakened'' makes the whole soundtrack heavy metal and also goes in various sub-genres: for example, Coral Riff's theme leans towards FunkMetal.

* WhipOfDominance: The Whip (attacks in an L shape, like knights in chess) and the Cat o' Nine Tails (allows one to attack while moving).

* '''Freestyle Retro''': A {{Chiptune}} remix by AwesomeMusic/JakeKaufman aka "Virt", currently set as Uncle Eli's default soundtrack. Was originally a UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita exclusive until it was added on Steam in a later update ([[https://virt.bandcamp.com/album/crypt-of-the-necrodancer-freestyle-retro Base game]]).

* '''The Melody Mixes''': An ElectroHouse remix by A_Rival, set as Melody's default soundtrack. ([[https://rivalrivalrival.bandcamp.com/album/crypt-of-the-necrodancer-the-melody-mixes Base game]]) ([[https://rivalrivalrival.bandcamp.com/album/crypt-of-the-necrodancer-the-melody-mixes-amplified Amplified]]).
* '''Aria's Ascent''': A HeavyMetal remix by [=FamilyJules=], currently set as Aria's default soundtrack. Another soundtrack called "Aria Amplified" was released with the "Amplified" DLC update, alongside a remastered version of the full soundtrack (Ascent and Amplified) called "Aria Awakened". ([[https://familyjules7x.bandcamp.com/album/arias-ascent Aria's Ascent]]) ([[https://familyjules7x.bandcamp.com/album/aria-amplified Aria Amplified]]) ([[https://familyjules7x.bandcamp.com/album/aria-awakened Aria Awakened]]).
* '''Freestyle Retro''': A {{Chiptune}} remix by AwesomeMusic/JakeKaufman aka "Virt", currently set as Uncle Eli's default soundtrack. Was originally a UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita exclusive until it was added on Steam in a later update. ([[https://virt.bandcamp.com/album/crypt-of-the-necrodancer-freestyle-retro Base game]])

* '''Chipped Of The [=NecroDancer=]''': Another {{Chiptune}} remix by Chipzel, with an EDM spin, and currently set as Dorian's default soundtrack. Was originally an UsefulNotes/XboxOne exclusive until it was added on Steam in a later update. ([[https://chipzel.co.uk/album/chipped-of-the-necrodancer Base Game]]) ([[https://chipzel.co.uk/album/chipped-of-the-necrodancer-amplified Amplified]]).

* '''Crypt of the [=NecroDancer=]''': The original soundtrack for all remixes, composed by Danny Baranosky ([[https://dbsoundworks.bandcamp.com/album/crypt-of-the-necrodancer-ost Base game]]) ([[https://dbsoundworks.bandcamp.com/album/crypt-of-the-necrodancer-amplified-ost Amplified]])

* '''[=OverClocked=]''': A GenreRoulette compilation remix by various artists of the OC Remix community, added in the ''Amplified'' DLC update. ([[https://ocrecords.bandcamp.com/album/crypt-of-the-necrodancer-overclocked Full album]]).
* '''Chipped Of The [=NecroDancer=]''': Another {{Chiptune}} remix by Chipzel, with an EDM spin. Was originally an UsefulNotes/XboxOne exclusive until it was added on Steam in a later update. ([[https://chipzel.co.uk/album/chipped-of-the-necrodancer Base Game]]) ([[https://chipzel.co.uk/album/chipped-of-the-necrodancer-amplified Amplified]]).