The best players will be able to optimize their dancing style for efficiency and speed, but novices should not have a problem scraping their way through a fight even if they miss a few steps. While I died my fair share of times during my playthrough, I rarely found a situation that required too much finesse to overcome. Having access to all that gear, to all those options, makes combat feel much more forgiving in Cadence of Hyrule than Necordancer or even some of the older Zeldas. Though the temporary items are meant to be disposable – they also break over time, so losing that gear never feels like a huge loss – it’s enough to create that delicious roguelike-style tension that builds when you’re on the brink of death and hoping to stumble onto a miraculous string of healing hearts. These consequences add stakes to death in Cadence of Hyrule. When you die, you lose all your rupees and a number of temporary items including boots, rings, shovels, and torches. “Though you keep these items permanently once you find them, some of Necrodancer’s run-like qualities return.

That said, there is also a visual representation of that beat at the bottom of the screen, which remains very helpful for beginners and even Necrodancer veterans. In addition to sounding good, the soundtrack also really emphasizes the mechanically relevant beat. The music, which is made up of keyboard and drum-heavy rock remixes of Zelda’s most iconic songs, is really fun to listen to, especially as a fan: I never knew the Link to the Past overworld music would benefit from a synthy keyboards up front, but it does. Like in Necrodancer, when in combat you must press buttons to move and act in time with the beat of the song playing. As a result, these crypts mostly lack the clever level design in Zelda’s best dungeons, but they still feel intense because they present Cadence of Hyrule’s most intense combat/puzzle challenges.

There are even familiar tricks like hiding cavities full of extra enemies in the walls for you to stumble upon. They adhere to Zelda tradition in that you need open locked doors and chests to find a map, a compass, and a “big key” on your way to the boss’ lair, but feel much more like Necrodancer because their structure relies on tools like shovels which are used to dig through some walls and torches to increase visibility in dark dungeons. “Dungeons, on the other hand, are completely procedurally generated aside from a hub entranceway.

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