Sword of the Necromancer is an action role-playing video game wherein you’re trying to bring the love of your life back from the dead. Developed by Grimorio of Games, this 2D pixelated dungeon crawler is mixed with rogue-like elements and an interesting combat strategy using summoned creatures. It also offers an intriguing storyline, as well as the option to play in local co-op multiplayer with a friend.

Love transcends death

In Sword of the Necromancer, you play as Tama the former rogue, who has come to a dangerous crypt in order to retrieve a forbidden item that could potentially bring the dead back to life. Things aren’t as simple as that, however, as more power is required to resurrection a human. Tama will have to explore the crypt and face off against the dreaded Necromancer who rules these catacombs to gain that power. 

This game features rogue-like combat mechanics in a classic fixed top-down view with cute pixel art graphics. You can freely attack in all directions, including diagonally, so there’s not much that’s limiting your aim. You start off with three hearts and three Souls that are used up whenever you dash—and these eventually level up the more monsters you defeat. If you die, however, you’ll lose half of your level and all of your equipped weapons.

This can be frustrating as you’ll always have only three empty inventory slots that are also your attack options. Both weapons and summons are placed here so you must balance both depending on the enemies you’ll fight. Using your sword lets you revive and despawn the defeated monsters—however, if they sustain too much damage, they’ll permanently die. It doesn’t help that these have AIs of their own and don’t often follow you properly.

Unique challenges abound

Overall, Sword of the Necromancer is a refreshing dungeon crawler title if you’re getting tired of the same-old formula. The addition of the necromancy mechanics puts a new twist to the rogue-lite strategy and offers new—albeit somewhat frustrating—challenges as you attempt to head deeper into the crypt. The flashbacks on how Tama and Koko’s relationship had developed prior to the start of the game also make for a sweet reward every time you level up further.