CGR has reviewed the updated edition of Necropolis:

Necropolis: Brutal Edition - PC Review

As of the 6th of September, the Necropolis has become more Brutal. Having gone back and re-designed a variety of elements from its original debut release, Hairbrained Schemes has released a variety of updates taking into account community and reviewer feedback alike to create version 1.1 titled Brutal Edition. Not only making improvements, the Brutal Edition introduces the Brute which is very fun to play as He or She is Big, Bad, and packs one heck of an epic punch.

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Armed with all this knowledge does little to hold the creatures of the Necropolis at bay however. I’ve died in the first two minutes like I’ve died an hour or more into my journey from either stupid human error or just getting greedy and thinking that one more hit is all that I need and then dying horribly because I miscalculated. Necropolis itself however has only gotten better since release and Hairbrained Schemes have only made changes for the better. Now with the recent launch of the Brutal Edition, players having already explored the Necropolis have reasons to head back just as newcomers have exciting reasons to dive into it. Fans of the Souls series and Roguelikes should find plenty here to enjoy which is made better by the option to co-op with friends from the start.

Score: 8/10

Here is an overview of more reviews for Necropolis, which was released yesterday on Steam.

Polygon, 5.5

Maybe I should have expected all this frustration. After all, Necropolis mixes two styles of game that are known for being difficult, for scaring away the weak of heart. But I like both of those styles; I like games that challenge me, that defeat me time and again, forcing me to learn. Necropolis goes through all the motions, but it's missing the heart, and the smarts, of the hyper-difficult games it's trying to imitate.

PCGamer, 6.8

There’s probably some arcane method for skipping levels, or at least running them faster, but I haven’t found it yet. As exasperating as Necropolis’ secretiveness can be, I do like that it rekindles the pre-internet days of word-of-mouth game lore. I’m sure I’m missing many secrets that are soon to be written in guides and FAQs. If you play Necropolis, play it before it's been fully documented, with friends who want to discover it with you—and tell me what all the codices do if you can.

Destructoid, 7

Can you play Necropolis by yourself? Only if you're really dedicated to the idea of running the same series of floors over and over with the intention of making progress. Without company, the initial dungeons begin to blend together a bit, and restarting isn't so much a pain from a pure skill-based roguelike standpoint, but a crisis of variety.

Hardcore Gamer, 4.5/5

While roguelike and roguelike-inspired games such as these feel like a dime a dozen in recent times, Necropolis stands out simply by being the best that it can be, with a striking visual style, great sense of humor and an enjoyable co-op mode working together with immense, randomized, yet terrifically-designed levels and some great combat. Developers Harebrained Schemes have crafted a stellar entry into the genre, one that’s still tough as nails and yet has you coming back to it again and again. It’s a superb hack-and-slash game that’s fun all around and comes highly recommended. Indeed, Finn and Jake would be proud.

And two video reviews

Totalbuiscuit:

ACG:

WGTC has reviewed the rogue-like Necropolis:

As the video game subgenre known for resetting people’s progress when their characters die, roguelikes place an emphasis on additional factors, such as a rigorous challenge and randomly generated environments. Of those features, Necropolis ‒ a new action RPG from Harebrained Schemes ‒ enforces all three to some success. Upon entering the game’s titular dungeon, the developers abandon intruders to their fates; you must traverse the Necropolis while fending off skeletal denizens and seeking a lost amulet. But six hours per playthrough, permadeath still in effect, begs the question: Will the enemies or the monotony take your head first?

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Necropolis marks an admirable first attempt for Harebrained Schemes at breaking outside the team’s comfort zone. But like the labyrinth’s emaciated inmates, there is too little meat on this action RPG to sustain its lasting appeal.

Score: 3/5 - Fair

The stylish visuals and streamlined combat that define Necropolis slowly succumb to repetition, laying waste to this roguelike’s longevity.

Tom's Hardware previewed the upcoming rogue-like Necropolis:

Danger And Humor: A Preview Of Necropolis

In From Software's Souls series, the constant cycle of death and revival can be frustrating. In fact, I’ve thrown controllers in frustration as I died multiple times at different points in each of the games. Harebrained Scheme’s Necropolis, which was described as a rogue-lite role-playing game, features a similar mechanic: If I died at any point in the journey, I had to start again from the very beginning of the game. However, I didn’t find myself throwing the controller in frustration. Instead, I smiled and laughed because Necropolis added humor to the experience, which in turn made the game more enjoyable to play.

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When I play a Souls game, I don’t play it for more than two hours at most, because I eventually hit a wall where I can’t seem to progress further in the game. With Necropolis, that doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact, I could see myself playing it for hours on end.

IGN has has checked out Necropolis at the E3 - the rogue-like RPG will be released this summer:

E3 2016: Necropolis Is Dark Souls With a Sense of Humor

Prepare to live, die, laugh, and repeat in this Dark Souls-inspired action adventure game.
If you enjoy the Dark Souls series, Necropolis might grab your attention right from the start. The people behind this 3D action adventure take the Souls' tough-as-nails combat, add a pinch of humor, and some slightly harsher consequences: Death doesn’t drop some of your current progress, you lose everything (levels, equipment, and items) and start over form the beginning. Creative Director and co-founder of developer Harebrained Schemes Mitch Gitelman describes it with a succinct pitch that a member of his team came up with: “What would happen if Dark Souls and Spelunky had a baby? And that baby tried to kill you over and over again?” he said.
“You’re going to die fairly often,” Gitelman jokes, “Embrace that.” Necropoilis is a difficult Roguelike, a genre where permadeath is a hard reset that robs you of progress.

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The Outerhaven is impressed with Necropolis:

Pax East 2016 – Hands on Impressions with Necropolis

During the ongoing Pax East 2016 event I was finally able to get some hands on time with the upcoming Necropolis title, which is being brought over to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Surprisingly where I thought the title was going to be more of the same of say Dark Souls, after playing it I found that it is so much more. And to be honest I’m happy to find out that the game isn’t something that is completely familiar for lack of a better word.

The main difference is that Necropolis is actually more akin to if someone had taken the elements of Dark Souls and Roque Legacy and tossed them in a blender. Sure you have magic attacks, melee as well as survival elements. However what I found that makes the game stand out is the ability to not only pick up weapons that are dropped by enemies after being slain, but the crafting system that allows you to make potions and other items but also the procedural level generation and perma-death. Yes, perma-death, that same feature that makes even the more hardcore gamer to assist their controller or keyboard across the room in a fit of anger when they die. However after playing Necropolis for a while and just like in Dark Souls, I’ve come to accept this. And thankfully perma-death doesn’t mean that once you die that it’s all over. Don’t worry guys, Harebrained Schemes has a plan here.

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GamerHubTV interviewed Jordan Weisman about Necropolis:

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Jordan Weisman Creator of Shadowrun talks Necropolis

Thanks Couch!

Eye spotted this annoucement:

Big News

Hey everyone,

We sent out a press release about this today but I wanted you to hear the news directly from me. Our studio, Harebrained Schemes, is working with BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. to bring Necropolis to consoles.

Our plan is to self-publish the game on Steam and for BANDAI NAMCO to release NECROPOLIS on Xbox One and PS4. That’s a pretty big deal for us! First, getting that kind of recognition from the publisher of Dark Souls is kind of amazing and we hope it will raise the profile of the game. But more important than that, BANDAI NAMCO knows how to bring games to consoles. They know the technical certification requirements, they know how to work with the PSN and Xbox stores, and they know how to market games to reach the right audience. I’ve seen a lot of posts on this forum talking about how people have never heard of NECROPOLIS and how we have to step up our game to get the word out. Message received. We hope today’s update to the NECROPOLIS Steam page is a step in the right direction.

Now here’s the big change. All three versions of the game will release at the same time this summer. We’ll announce the new date as soon as everything’s solidified. And before it comes up, this wasn’t BANDAI NAMCO’s idea - it was ours. While I hate to slip our release date, I know from experience that doing a console release right adds a significant amount of dev work. It’s work that had to start right away (because consoles require a lot more lead-time for certification) but we didn’t want the console work to shift our focus away from launching on PC. So we believe this is absolutely the right decision, and that the additional time will make for an even better NECROPOLIS for consoles AND for PC.

So where does this leave people who have already pre-ordered? Well, there are two options: You can hang in there with us while we continue working on the game or, like all Steam pre-orders, you can cancel anytime before the game launches. But if you do go that route, I hope that you’ll give Necropolis a chance when it comes out this summer. It’s completely different than anything we’ve ever done before and I’m really proud of the team and the work.

I’ll be around to answer any questions you might have.

Mitch Gitelman
Studio Head, Harebrained Schemes

@Eurogamer Necropolis is set for a 17th March release while preorders will go live on the 2nd of February.

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Excitingly, the developer also announced that Necropolis will feature four-player co-op.

"Everyone thought the game was a blast when we played it single-player, but we were blown away by how fun it is to attack the Necropolis with our friends," said Harebrained Schemes studio manager Mitch Gitelman. "If you think hanging out with your friends and whacking on monsters sounds like fun, then this is the game for you."

Necropolis features third-person Demon's Souls-inspired combat with a stamina meter, blocking, dodging, light & heavy attacks, magic and the like. As its roguelike heritage suggests, levels are procedurally-generated with geography, monster layouts, items and more rearranged with every playthrough.

Andres Mirandes (Mash Those Buttons) has interviewed Dennis Detwiller Creative Director at Harebrained Schemes about Necropolis:

If you take the visuals of the Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and the difficulty of the Demon/Dark Souls series, you’ll then get Necropolis. Dennis Detwiller, Creative Director at Harebrained Schemes, was kind enough to take our questions about their upcoming game. The games clean and animated look mask the difficulty of the rogue-like elements at its core. Rogue-like elements is an understatement as Necropolis is comprised of procedural levels, unknown potions, random loot drops, and monsters.

PAX Prime 2015 being the second time Necropolis was shown off, the build they brought to this event was an improvement over the last. Being fans of Dark Souls (though the series is somewhat constrained to the audience it already garners), Dennis and his team were looking to bring a version with the same feeling to a broader audience. Find out in this interview if Andres hates himself enough to play Necropolis from Harebrained Schemes. [...]

Here are two more previews for Necropolis from Pax East 2015 I found this week.

LevelSave

For being an innovative new look on a popular genre, giving us some of the most fun we’d had the entire conference, and providing some of the most genuinely interesting lore we’ve seen in a long while, we’re proud to award Harebrained Schemes’ Necropolis our Bronze PAX East Game of Show Award.

Eurogamer

Currently Necropolis is looking a little craggy, but it's hard not to see the potential Harebrained Schemes is concocting as it adds more ingredients to the mix. Given that it's only been in full development since November - with only a handful of developers prototyping it for a few months prior - it's way too early to determine how the final product will end up. Yet Harebrained is toying with some really auspicious ideas here and the studio has a nice track record, so it should be a lot of fun to watch this delirious realm take shape as it wraps up development next year.

Sam Dixon of Side Questing published a new preview of Necropolis from Pax East.

Combat will be familiar to anyone who has played more recent rouge-likes: rigid and rewarding, while forcing players to step out of their comfort zone and push past their abilities. On their journeys they’ll find different weapons, each with their own unique styles of attack and defense. With vulnerability a focal element of combat, learning when it is safe to attack and how long attacking will make you susceptible is the key to winning battles and pushing further into the dungeon.

Necropolis is still very early on in development, but already the different variations of enemies and ways in which they engage make for varied and interesting combat scenarios.

Currently in development for PC, Mac and Linux with console versions hopefully to follow, Necropolis is already shaping up to be a compelling experience.

Harebrained Schemes released a new trailer for Necropolis from PAX East 2015.

Welcome to Necropolis - a game of brutal combat and survival, set in a magical deathtrap that shifts and reconstructs itself around you. Will you find the exit, or die trying?*

*SPOILERS: You'll probably die trying.

Necropolis is a third-person action-Roguelike by Harebrained Schemes. For more information, follow the game's development at:

http://necropolisgame.com
http://necropolisgame.tumblr.com

Indie Game Source had the chance to interview Mike McCain of Harebrained Schemes about their next experimental Roguelike game called Necropolis.

I mentoned the game a few months back.

Describe the artistic direction that Necropolis is taking. How is it unique?

 I'm really excited about where we've been able to take Necropolis so far, visually. We've been very inspired by what I've been calling "contemporary low-poly", a style that's become really popular in graphic design over the last few years. I would say it's a way of viewing polygons as a compositional tool, rather than a technical limitation. When you combine carefully thought-out geometry with current rendering, lighting, occlusion etc - you can get a really clean, modern look. You'll often see this style used in graphic design to create a very bright & airy atmosphere. It's been our goal to flip that into something darker. The Necropolis can be a bizarre and scary place...

Another big visual goal of ours has been to create a space that feels unique without being firmly rooted in a particular genre. There are many fantasy elements in Necropolis, but we don’t want it to feel married to either fantasy or sci-fi. It's simply its’ own world that stands on its’ own visual rules.

What has been the most challenging aspect of working as an Art Director in general? What specific challenges has Necropolis created for you so far?

The most challenging thing about being an art director so far - at least for me! - is finding a healthy balance between being a director, and being a hands-on artist myself. This is something I really enjoy about working on a smaller team, it's very fulfilling for me to be able to remain an individual contributor. I get antsy if I'm stretched too thin as a manager and don't end up with the time (or energy) to paint.

Necropolis is a lot of new territory for me, there was certainly a period at the start where I struggled to shift gears from Shadowrun, which is very different both aesthetically and in the type of game it is. I feel like I was able to navigate that, fortunately, it just took a little time! Now, I'd say it's probably just balancing the desire to continue to explore and noodle on certain ideas with production realities - some ideas may be really cool visually, but it's best to sacrifice them if they don't contribute enough to the core of what makes this game fun. Game development never stops being a learning experience (but I wouldn't have it any other way.)

Since the announcement of Necropolis Harebrained Schemes has posted some new blog updates on the games webpage. Here is the recent post.

Since we didn’t post anything new from the game last week, here’s a peek at another ROUGH prototype screenshot showing the first of many possible armor sets we’ve implemented for the Blackguard character (in this case, the female version).

Necropolis is Harebrained Schemes next game that was annouced today. This time it will be a procedurally generated dungeon delve with a third person perspective.

You can find more infomation on the games website website and devblog.

A Diabolical Dungeon Delve.

Welcome to Necropolis - a game of brutal combat and survival, set in a magical deathtrap that shifts and reconstructs itself around you. Will you find the exit, or die trying?*

*SPOILERS: You'll probably die trying.

The archmage Abraxis took his secrets to the grave.

There, in the depths of a huge complex constructed by magic, lies the greatest collection of magical items and treasure that the world has ever known. After all his conquests and victories, Abraxis retreated to his Necropolis to work his magic, in darkness far removed from the rest of civilization.

The mazes and corridors of the Necropolis shift and change at the whim of the Brazen Head, a magical intelligence created by the archmage. Part butler, part taskmaster and part tormentor, the Brazen Head mocks, goads and pushes adventurers deeper and deeper into Abraxis' domain.

This is because, unlike most tombs, the Necropolis invites adventurers in; it needs them. Those who die within its walls feed the magic that powers the shrine. It is a trap, a self-perpetuating machine feeding on souls. Dead adventurers spirits turn arcane wheels, and their corpses are repurposed as Automatons; magical marionettes that prowl the corridors searching for intruders.

And the Necropolis is much, much bigger on the inside than the outside. Oh, and it shifts and changes at the whim of the Brazen Head. And it’s filled with Abraxis’ greatest enemies, and every monster ever encountered during his adventures. Did we not mention that?

Thousands have entered the Necropolis. Legend says, somewhere inside, undead and immortal, Abraxis presides on an onyx throne. In ten centuries, only one adventurer has escaped, and I’m afraid he emerged quite mad. But you... I’m sure you’ll make it out just fine. You seem like the adventurous type.