The problem with having a nemesis is that they just don't quit.  Defeat them once and they'll turn up again elsewhere to do it all over again, although hopefully with a different plan.  The NecroDancer is back to make Cadence's life difficult, although to be honest that's more of a side-effect than the actual focus, but even so she's the one best suited to stop his schemes.  Rifts are opening up throughout the modern world, no dungeon-fantasy in this outing, and just like in Crypt of the NecroDancer, Cadence will have to move to the beat in order to defeat the NecroDancer's minions.  This time around, though, it's more of a classic-styled rhythm game with notes streaming down a track than taking place in a musical dungeon crawl.

Rift of the NecroDancer may be a more traditional music game, but it's still looking to do a lot with the formula.  The game is divided up into three primary modes: Rift, Mini Game and Boss Battle, and each plays differently from the other.  The primary mode is Rift, which has the notes coming down a three-lane track in time to the beat except the notes are actually monsters.  You get rid of the monsters in the standard music-game way, by tapping the correct lane's input once they reach the line at the bottom of the screen, but only the most basic critters actually go down in a single hit.  Blue bats take two hits to go down, for example, and switch lanes to the direction they're staring at for their second attack.  A bat in the middle lane with its head pointing right will jump to the right lane, while a bat in the left lane looking left will screen-wrap to the right side.  Different-colored enemies are also tougher, taking more hits to go down, and while their movements are predictable (slimes stay in their lanes, bats move, skeletons do skeleton things, etc.), it can be a lot to keep track of.  The note tracks are designed to make sense with the behavior of the enemies populating them, though, so like any music game, the more you play, the clearer it gets.

The second mode is a Rhythm Heaven-styled collection of mini-games, and the one on display for the PAX East demo was yoga.  An instructor calls out moves while the group of students responds to the beat, with Cadence being the third in a group of three.  Some beats are clearly defined by the music, others feel like a beat-and-a-half, and sometimes the instructor called out double-time as a warning for a faster response.  There should be a good number of different minigames available, but much like the track list, that's a revelation for later on.

The final mode is the Boss Battle, which sees Cadence going one-on-one against powerful enemies.  The fight in the demo was divided into stages that kicked into gear as the boss' health bar went down, upping the difficulty of her attack pattern with each change.  The basic trick to her moves was to avoid the attacks to create an opening, and then strike back to the beat.  She was vulnerable for up to four hits, although that required being well mentally locked into the rhythm, and while it was a clearly beatable challenge, it's not one I managed during the time I had available.  Close, though!

Rift of the NecroDancer is shaping up to be a fantastic spin-off for the series, bringing its catchy music into the rhythm genre.  The art in particular is nicely done, with large characters in bold lines and clean colors and featuring top-notch character design.  The animation, on the other hand, is almost nonexistent, but that's actually a plus for this type of game because you want the change in state to be as clear as possible in order to reinforce the tempo of the music.  The demo looked and sounded as good as it played, each aspect setting a high bar for the others to clear, and not doing a lot to make the wait for the unknown release date any easier.  The NecroDancer is coming back to cause trouble again, and the sooner he shows up, the better.

https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/3607085/type/dlg/sid/UUhgUeUpU7756/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV528_7Nx-E