Crypt of the NecroDancer

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a roguelike dungeon crawler with a pixel art visual style and shown from an elevated, almost top-down view. While it has classic elements such as exploring, gathering loot and defeating enemies, the entire gameplay is based around the concept of a rhythm game. Using the game's soundtrack or custom music, all the actions become much more effective when they are matched to the music's beat.

The basic controls consist of four keys or buttons for movement, but optionally even a dance pad is supported. These move the character around and attack when next to a creature. Enemies move and attack according to the beat as well and they each have unique patterns that need to be identified. Moving ahead of the beat is not possible and while the opposite (skipping a beat or not reacting) is allowed, it takes away a coin multiplier bonus that is important to collect the basic currency. That way the character always need to move or attack and in that way it resembles a very fast version of a turn-based game where turns are executed simultaneously for both the character and enemies. Often, the song also acts as a time limit and when the song is over the character is taken immediately to the next level, leaving the rewards of the current level behind. Movement is only horizontal and vertical, not diagonal.