Crypt of the NecroDancer devs seem to have fun with their characters. The way they built the NecroDancer franchise since 2015 makes me imagine them treating their characters like a child making a military toy fight Peppa Pig, then making both get eaten by a plastic dinosaur falling from the sky.
VTuber Hatsune Miku can slay giant red dragons in the dungeons of Crypt. Cadence, the main character in the series, can fight the NecroDancer outside of the Crypt using her guitar powers in Rift. All these characters can end up in a rhythmic yoga session, or maybe turn into Link and Ganon in the world of The Legend of Zelda, as in the spin-off Cadence of Hyrule. The glue that has been keeping the entire franchise together for over 10 years is rhythm.
"Believe it or not, Crypt continues to be one of our studio’s biggest sources of income to
this day," Madeleine Gray, communications director at NecroDancer developer Brace Yourself Games (BYG), exclusively told Destructoid. "As long as players are excited for new content, we’ll do our best to keep providing. We’ve got an amazing team, community, artists, and we’re still picking up some exciting collaboration opportunities, for both Rift and Crypt."
Madeleine assured that development around the NecroDancer franchise is still in its prime. After BYG turned a multiplayer fan mod into SYNCHRONY, an official DLC for Crypt, the company hired the main dev behind the mod, Adrian Zeyfang, to work full-time on both NecroDancer titles.
She recognizes that game development as a whole is in a rough place, but that the future of rhythm games is bright.
"There’s a lot of rhythm games in particular in the near future that have me extremely excited," Madeleine said. "Not only do we have some new rhythm games coming out that look incredible, like D-CELL’s UNBEATABLE, but we’re getting revivals of iconic titles like Rhythm Heaven." Madeleine also reminded me how Soulslikes and RuneScape are rhythm games in disguise.
Community is one of the three pieces that keep the NecroDancer franchise thriving
NecroDancer devs see the franchise having legs for the future based on three pillars: replayability, community, and creative versatility.
"There are players with multiple thousands of hours in Crypt, because the procedurally generated dungeons keep runs fresh," Madeleine explained. "Rift doesn’t quite have that, but we make up for it with a steady stream of new songs and content."
The creative energy of NecroDancer players is another element that keeps the franchise alive. "It’s still alive and well because of the passion of our players," she added.
Cadence of Hyrule is proof of how the BYG devs created a versatile game style, and this game might not be the last time we'll see NecroDancer blending in with other universes.
"The crossover worked so well because there are so many creative synergies between the NecroDancer and Zelda," Madeleine said. "We’re open to large-scale collaboration opportunities, and have been approached with various proposals since Cadence of Hyrule, but there’s a lot to consider beyond IP fit, so we take it on a case-by-case basis."
NecroDancer seemingly has all the elements needed to keep this decade-old indie franchise running for another decade, and BYG is willing to make it happen.
"We’re always thinking about fun new places we can take the 'rhythm-action' genre," Madeleine concluded. "Whether that’s an entirely new design or different platforms."
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