Necromantic | PC Early Access Review
Early Access has been an interesting venture for me as a consumer. Some games are nearly completed and merely need some polish before their 1.0 release. Others feel more like they are in the alpha testing phase. When I first started playing Necromantic from Blinkmoon Games, I definitely thought it fell into the latter category. Thankfully, I held off on putting my thoughts on the game into a review, because the developer has already made significant improvements. Whereas the game was nearly unplayable for me a month ago, now I can’t put it down. It’s got its hooks in me, and I see a lot more potential than I did when I first started playing.
Here We Go Again
For well over a year now, I’ve been chasing that Vampire Survivors high. Many have tried to follow the formula of that game, but none have yet to come close to the magic that I experienced back in 2022. Although it has a ways to go, Necromantic is the one I’ve played with the most potential to get there.
The basic formula is the same here. You start a run, defeat enemies, pick up the gems they drop, choose from one of the available upgrades, and last as long as you can. The view is isometric instead of straight overhead. The enemies are much more detailed than other games of this kind. There’s actual textures, animation, and shading present. It reminds me of early Diablo games, especially with how dark the atmosphere is.
Full disclosure: I’m playing on my Steam Deck. I have no idea if that has anything to do with my issues with the game’s quality. I can’t speak to the PC version personally. With that said, I have some serious frame rate problems with this one. At its Early Access launch, the stuttering was so bad that it was nearly unplayable for me, even when I cranked the settings down as much as I could. Thankfully, improvements have already been made, and I’m finding it much easier to navigate. It’s still not perfect, especially towards the end of runs when large amounts of enemies slow it down significantly. But I’m confident that Blinkmoon will iron it out even more as it gets closer to full release.
Hogwarts Revisited
Necromantic is early enough in its development that there’s no story whatsoever. From what I can gather, the characters you play as are students at some sort of school to teach…something. I’m unclear if its wizardry, sorcery, necromancy, or a combination of all of the above. Before starting a run, you can wander around the courtyard interacting with professors as well as other students. This is also where you can acquire your permanent upgrades. You gain these by spending scrolls you find on runs or from knowledge you gain from books left behind by defeated bosses. I will say that the game could do a better job of teaching this to you. I found some instructions buried in a menu, but I had to figure out on my own how to get basic upgrades. I’m ashamed to say that took me several runs to actually nail down.
As for the mid-run upgrades, most are typical for what you’d expect from this style of game. Increase weapon damage/speed, acquire new magical abilities for extra damage, and allow yourself to regenerate health. In my experience, certain upgrades are necessary for survival instead of merely optional. So in essence, you’re given the illusion of choice, when in reality, there are structured builds you must figure out from playing.
It might be easy to call this game slow by comparison to others in the genre. I’m of the mindset that Necromantic takes a much more deliberate approach instead of a frenetic one. It takes a while to get going, but once you do, you’re locked in. I’ve yet to reach god-tier moments that made Vampire Survivors so memorable, but admittedly, I’ve only completed one run.
Necromantic Early Access Verdict
I’m so glad that I waited to put my thoughts into written form. I’ve completely turned around my opinion of Necromantic. It still has quite a ways to go, but I’m much more hopeful for this being a game I truly want to come back to at release. Its become very difficult to put down, which is exactly what you want from this style of gameplay. I’m looking forward to seeing more improvements. Could this finally be the one to scratch the itch I’ve been dying to satisfying all this time? I can’t wait to answer that question.
To hear me talk more about Necromantic, be sure to listen to our June 5th, 2024 podcast episode. You can hear that conversation begin around the 1:46:42 time stamp. Please keep in mind this conversation took place before the game was patched and well before this review was written.
This review is based on PC Early Access copy of Necromantic provided by Sandbox Strategies for coverage purposes. It is exclusive to this platform.
