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[Lime]

Steam store link (OST as the preorder bonus)
PS4+X1 later this summer

Death with Friends trailer

ArsTechnica preview

The other big difference from the Souls world: fully procedural levels. Harebrained decided to make its Necropolis fully randomized because they wanted a Souls-like game where permadeath was a primary feature—meaning, instead of mastering pre-defined levels and monster placement and seeking out restorative "bonfires," players had to prepare for random, increasingly difficult chaos every time they died. Still, players accumulate a currency of special "tokens" that carries over from session to session, which can be used to purchase "tomes" that unlock certain power-ups. Those tokens can also be blown to unlock certain rare treasure chests—which could contain valuable armor or weapons, or just junk.

A complete run of the game contains seven levels, each larger and tougher than the last, which are all made of pre-built parts that fit together like a neat jigsaw puzzle. The game's opening levels are total snoozers—all flat-floored caves with easy-to-track enemies—but later levels introduce some incredible 3D layouts, full of branching paths, high-up vistas, and beautiful design that gets a lot of mileage out of the Unity-powered engine's impressive draw distance.

Harebrained isn't reinventing the Dark Souls wheel with Necropolis by any stretch. Instead, what it has done, at least based on my preview time, is isolate and pull out a new kind of "fun factor" in its brutally hard play by making it easy to put friends into the mix and scale the challenge accordingly when they show up. I appreciate the single-player mode's challenge and play-it-again roguelike appeal, especially now that I've seen more of the impressive, later level designs that its modular system can invent on the fly, but I already see myself planning multiplayer parties based on this bad boy, and I cannot wait for the game to launch on Steam, PS4, and Xbox One "this summer." E3 has yet to begin, but I already have a best-of-show contender on my mind.

Idigitaltimes preview:

Harebrained Scheme Games is taking a slightly different approach, meshing the core Souls combat with mechanics popularized by Spelunky and Diablo to create a procedurally-generated, multiplayer adventure, Necropolis.

When I say Necropolis makes use of the core combat mechanics of the Souls franchise I mean it’s literally a duplicate of the standard Dark Souls control scheme. Your shield is controlled via the left shoulder/trigger, for parrying and blocking (respectively), while quick and strong attacks are mapped to R1 and R2. Players can lock-on to an enemy, or change their current target, using the right analog stick. Dodge is mapped to the circle button and careful management of your stamina is practically a requirement.

Bleeding Cool preview.

“Its basically Dark Souls meets Spelunky” was how this game was first described to me, and I have to say it lives up to that comparison. Necropolis is a roguelike third-person action game in which you (and up to three friends, or none) play as a thief trying to find the exit to a magical dungeon that reconstructs itself every time you play. It also reconstructs itself when you die, for that Dark Souls-esque punishment factor.

All items are randomized – a red potion might heal you on one run and then paralyze you the next. Scrolls affect your enemies, which is nice, but are similarly randomized. All of the descriptions are fluff, so you have to actually use your equipment in order to learn what it does, and that will all change the second you die.

 

[TheSpoiler]

And then everything was fucking Dark Souls.

Okay, good luck. I hope they can attach what makes DS a quality game, because some of this stuff sounds needlessly annoying.

 

[BrokenFiction]

Really looking forward to this. 1) because it's Harebrained, 2) I haven't seen one negative thing out there on it. All the previews have been very positive.

 

[charsace]

I want this badly. Getting on Steam and hoping to team up with ppl here.

 

[Hesemonni]

So is there loot in this game which carries over to the next dungeon?

 

[dreamstation]

Any idea if the console versions will have local co-op? Loving the art style and the gameplay looks great. Would be a day one if there's local co-op!

 

[Spman2099]

Looks beautiful. I will definitely give it a go.

 

[TheRazielim]

Implying Souls combat on its own is actually that good without the variety of equipment, not to mention the meticulous level design.

Indie tier trash.

 

[bloodyroarxx]

Oh wow this looks neat. After all the wonderful work these guys have done with Shadowrun and Battletech (I hope) I will definitely support their original work.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Implying Souls combat on its own is actually that good without the variety of equipment, not to mention the meticulous level design.

Indie tier trash.

jesus christ hahaha

 

[Hesemonni]

Implying Souls combat on its own is actually that good without the variety of equipment, not to mention the meticulous level design.

Indie tier trash.

Who shat on your cereals this morning?

 

[Messofanego]

I'm in just for the art.

 

[TheRazielim]

Who shat on your cereals this morning?

My cereals were fine, thank you. I am just pretty tired of the watering down of the roguelike genre with shallow games like this.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Nom nom nom. Bought this a while back, because the core ideas seem really tight. Glad they've got a concrete release date, I'll get way into it when I finish DS3.

 

[More_Badass]

My cereals were fine, thank you. I am just pretty tired of the watering down of the roguelike genre with shallow games like this.

Thankfully it's not a roguelike. It's a roguelite. There are still good ole' classic roguelikes for you to enjoy. Go check out Cogmind, Caves of Qud, Ultima Ratio Regum

Always a good thing to see a genre mature and diversify with games like this. Imagine if first person games never moved past Doom or Wolfenstein. No Half-Life, no Portal, no Deux Ex or Thief

 

[Lime]

My cereals were fine, thank you. I am just pretty tired of the watering down of the roguelike genre with shallow games like this.

Have you even played it?

 

[Ryne]

Looks good, not a fan of the Dark Souls type of gameplay, but it does look like a fun game. Wishlisted, will buy it a year or two down the line when it's cheaper just to give it a go.

 

[erragal]

My cereals were fine, thank you. I am just pretty tired of the watering down of the roguelike genre with shallow games like this.

So you finished Caves of Qud already? Right? What about Hieroglyphika? Also, your entire statement was disingenuous as roguelikes have always been extremely indie/hobby projects. Harebrained at this point is a tier 3 developer; barely qualify as ' indie ' given the consistent quality of their output.

 

[Zombine]

I was always under the assumption that "rogue like" is just the genre, and the mechanics are what make the game unique. you can have Roguelike shooters, puzzle games, platformers, ARPG's (like this game), etc.

Goes for any genre really.

 

[More_Badass]

I was always under the assumption that "rogue like" is just the genre, and the mechanics are what make the game unique. you can have Roguelike shooters, puzzle games, platformers, ARPG's (like this game), etc.

Goes for any genre really.

That's the modern definition really. There's still a vocal faction that gets annoyed when roguelike gets used for anything that's not turn-based/fantasy/permadeath/complex like the original Rogue and/or Nethack

 

[erragal]

I was always under the assumption that "rogue like" is just the genre, and the mechanics are what make the game unique. you can have Roguelike shooters, puzzle games, platformers, ARPG's (like this game), etc.

Goes for any genre really.

At this point it's reached the early 2000s "rpg elements" point where it's more of a descriptor for a feature set that may or may not be fully utilized. The most prominent concepts are permanent or semi permanent death, and some form of emergent/procedural content generation.

As an actual genre they really started as low graphic, feature rich games that focused on a ' simulation ' type of feel. Games like Nethack , crawl, angband, ADOM, dwarf fortress as ' core genre ' entries.

 

[Shakala]

First I've heard of this game but I'm super interested now!

 

[LaneDS]

Have you even played it?

Who needs to play things these days to call something trash? C'mon now!

I'm glad this is hitting early July... should be a good co-op experience.

 

[Lime]

Collector's Edition: http://store.iam8bit.com/collections/collectors-editions/products/necropolis-collectors-edition

Includes Game Code* (STEAM, PS4, XBOX One)
+ Full Digital Soundtrack
+ Customizable Death Certificate
+ 180-gram Vinyl
Music Composed by Jon Everist
Cover Art by Steve Courtney

 

[Screaming Meat]

Looks tasty. Love the art style.

 

[More_Badass]

Man, the art style in this is so so good

 

[pr0cs]

It's really pretty but I'm not sold on the combat /movement based on the clips in the trailer. Great idea for a game thou, I hope it pans out

 

[Calm Mind]

Amazing looking game!

 

[psychodino]

God I hope this is good, really curious to see how the game turns out

Amazing looking game!

 

[Karak]

Got to put hands on it when it was very early and it already had a bit of specialness even then.

 

[TheGameshark]

Really love the look of this game. Not a souls fan but I may give it a shot for the art and co-op.

 

[baphomet]

Got to put hands on it when it was very early and it already had a bit of specialness even then.

I got my hands on it at e3. Unfortunately it ran terribly on the ps4. If they get over that it could be cool, but if not it's going to have some problems.

 

[SpiceMelange]

Not sold on the combat. Unlike Dark Souls the enemies don't seem to have satisfying animations on being hit. It's like the sword slashes pass right through them with no impact.

 

[jack_package_200]

I wonder if it will have a physical console release.

If the game is good and seems like my thing, I will grab it regardless of digital only or not. It just gets old seeing people whine about digital game prices being too high.

 

[Stencil]

Not sold on the combat. Unlike Dark Souls the enemies don't seem to have satisfying animations on being hit. It's like the sword slashes pass right through them with no impact.

That was my take away from the trailer...

 

[pager99]

holyshit this game is right up my street don't have a pc though,wish I had one

 

[More_Badass]

holyshit this game is right up my street don't have a pc though,wish I had one

Coming to consoles too

 

[ldcommando]

The souls twitch people are already playing this. Saw oroboros and Lobo playing it earlier. Looks cool.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Will get this for sure once it arrives on PS4. This is an indie Souls game I can get behind.

 

[soultron]

I really want to grab this, but comments about the E3 build's framerate (I think the GB guys mentioned this on one of their E3 podcasts, Jeff specifically?) have me a bit concerned. Hoping any issues like that are ironed out for the full release.

 

[malboroking]

Who needs to play things these days to call something trash? C'mon now!

I'm glad this is hitting early July... should be a good co-op experience.

This is NeoGAF, everything is automatically trash until it isnt. Why actually play anything when you can complain about it on a message board?

 

[Anno]

I really want to grab this, but comments about the E3 build's framerate (I think the GB guys mentioned this on one of their E3 podcasts, Jeff specifically?) have me a bit concerned. Hoping any issues like that are ironed out for the full release.

For some reason I feel like I heard from some E3 podcast that the console version someone played was still pretty rough. Watching the streams today has looked very smooth.

 

[soultron]

For some reason I feel like I heard from some E3 podcast that the console version someone played was still pretty rough. Watching the streams today has looked very smooth.

I'll be playing it on PC, but I'm concerned more about the console versions, especially if I want to double-dip to play co-op with console friends.

 

[Freeman76]

If it wasnt roguelike i would be interested.

 

[Anno]

I'll be playing it on PC, but I'm concerned more about the console versions, especially if I want to double-dip to play co-op with console friends.

Yeah hopefully they get that ironed out. Probably why the console versions are still a bit down the road.

 

[kinaesthete]

I played this at E3 and it was a huge letdown, even when not considering the framerate (played on Xbox One). Didn't play it long enough to get a sense of level design/generation or how progression works but good god the combat is rough. The challenge, in most fights I encountered, comes down largely to kiting large groups of enemies that mob you all at the same speed, get a hit in with no reaction, move back, repeat a bunch... It feels like a much more stiff MH than Dark Souls anyway, the (wimpy) attack animations locked you into an attack angle really quick without that smooth pivoting and last second movement nudges that good animation driven games let you do. Everything about it just felt off. If what was in the E3 demo is representative of the final game then deep runs will be possible through tedium rather than learning mechanics and clever tricks like a good rougey game would.

 

[pablito]

Damn, permadeath.

I'm out.

 

[rybrad]

I played this at E3 and it was a huge letdown, even when not considering the framerate (played on Xbox One). Didn't play it long enough to get a sense of level design/generation or how progression works but good god the combat is rough. The challenge, in most fights I encountered, comes down largely to kiting large groups of enemies that mob you all at the same speed, get a hit in with no reaction, move back, repeat a bunch... It feels like a much more stiff MH than Dark Souls anyway, the (wimpy) attack animations locked you into an attack angle really quick without that smooth pivoting and last second movement nudges that good animation driven games let you do. Everything about it just felt off. If what was in the E3 demo is representative of the final game then deep runs will be possible through tedium rather than learning mechanics and clever tricks like a good rougey game would.

I get the same general feeling from watching streams of the game but I think I might try it out and refund if it sucks. I love everything HBS has done and this game should be right in my wheelhouse but it just feels like it is going to be a bit off for me.

 

[Qvoth]

watched the streams a bit
hit impacts seems to be severely lacking

 

[Melchiah]

I like the look, but dislike the music. Hopefully the game doesn't sound like the trailer. It's also beyond me why the item effects are randomized.