Developer: Cat Nigiri
Publisher: Unties
Platforms: PC, PS4, Switch
Tested on: Switch
Necrosphere Deluxe – Review
Classic arcade platformers have always been fun to play. Some are easy ones that you can walk through easily and others will challenge you to time everything right to move on. Well, this is one of the harder ones as Necrosphere Deluxe will challenge you a lot with different obstacles and courses in each area. You are Terry, a cop that has been killed in action. You are in the Necrosphere and you need to get out.
Story
The game starts with a little cutscene explaining the last thing you can remember. You are called Terry and you are a cop. The last thing you can remember is that you were being carried away to the ER from an ambush where you and your partners Tara and Markus were in a shootout. After the cutscene you will be falling down and eventually landing in the Necrosphere, a place where you’ll end up after dying. You are supposed to go there and do nothing all day, FOREVER! You don’t want to stay here and you need to get out as soon as possible. After this, you’ll find pieces of papers scattered throughout this world. These are messages from your partners and they’re trying to help you get out. The story is mainly told by these messages and nothing more.
Graphics
The graphics of Necrosphere Deluxe are classic old-school graphics you would normally see in very old games that were on the NES and the Sega Genesis. Your character and the environment are designed in a classic arcade look. The levels all look very monotone as each area is mainly composed of one pattern of colors. Each area has its own color, the first one is red, but others can be blue or green and even violet. Despite this monotone look, it still looks great for the type of graphics used.
Sound
This game is filled with retro-style music and sounds that totally fit the old-school design of this game. Each area has its own music that will play the entirety of the time you are in that area. This music consists of a short loop of sounds that will be repeated constantly. Luckily it will not bore you fast though as it fits the game’s style perfectly. You can compare it with the music heard in one of Bowser’s castles while playing a really old-school Mario game.
Gameplay
Necrosphere Deluxe is an adventure metroidvania game. The controls of this game seem very easy as you only use two buttons to play this game. Yes, using only two buttons doesn’t sound that hard, but is it? You can use the left d-pad, the L and ZL buttons to walk left and the A, R and ZR buttons to walk right. You can pick the button you prefer for walking to each side. In the beginning traversing through the lands of the Necrosphere seems very easy but after a short while, the difficulty rises. You’ll need to dodge fire balls while bouncing on bubbles and reach platforms by perfecting your approach. You can’t just simply press a jump button so you need to use these bubbles to jump around. There are places with upwards arrows that will lift you up.
On your journey through the Necrosphere, you’ll encounter various upgrades that will allow you to reach places you couldn’t reach earlier. The first upgrade is an outfit that will let you leap over a distance by pressing the left or right walking key twice rapidly. This will allow you to reach further platforms at equal height. Later on you’ll get the ability to break rocks and you will acquire a jetpack that can boost yourself up for a short time. This will refill each time you touch a surface with your feet. Tactically using this jetpack will get you too many places that were thought unreachable before. As your resources grow bigger, the challenge increases more. You’ll need to react even better to reach your next destination.
After you reach the end of an area, there can be a way to the next area or a portal. There are four portals in the game and three of these will warp you back to the starting area of the game. This will let you explore the areas you’ve been before, to get at locations you couldn’t get first. The fourth portal of these three is said to be a working one. You’ll need to find this one to finish the game
Moving walls are found everywhere throughout each area. Blue walls will open when you touch them, granting free access. Red walls will only open when you have hit a red switch, and the yellow ones will open up by touching a yellow switch. These are on a timer and you’ll need to get past these walls before the timer runs out. This can lead to many deaths, because mostly, these areas are also filled with deadly objects like spikes and fiery balls. You need to time your actions right to avoid getting killed by all the obstacles. This can be very frustrating at times as it’s possible that you need to redo the same thing many times before you get past it.
Conclusion
Necrosphere Deluxe is a fun retro metroidvania game that can get you going for quite some time if you like a challenge. The game looks easy but it turns out to be quite the opposite as timing is very important in this challenging retro game. New equipment can be good for reaching new places but the difficulty will grow a lot while you progress This will require more better timing to conquer these difficult obstacles while only having two buttons to perform all your actions. If you like retro games and you’re interested in finding out how to get out of the Necrosphere then this game might prove its worth.
Necrosphere Deluxe - Review,
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