Necropolis: Friv Game Review

Posted by Henrik Jensen on May 16th, 2018

The Friv5Online Games Studio became known after in 2013, thanks to a successful campaign on Kickstarter, released a step-by-step cyberpunk-RPG Shadowrun Returns, created in the universe of the same name "desktop." At that time, this genre was, let's say, not the most fashionable. And three years later, after several additions to Shadowrun Returns , the studio releases another RPG, but this time it's much more trendy - in real time, with procedurally generated levels and with the obvious influence of Dark Souls.

However, fires (in which you can not save and restore vital energy) you will see in Necropolis: A Diabolical Dungeon Delve regularly - this is an obvious ironic reference to the creativity From Software. Also regularly come across the same dark gray rooms with pedestals, statues, remains of some huge monsters, hidden in the corners of chests and pots. The composition of enemies on the first levels, too, does not shine with a variety - skeletons, aggressive bearded old men, armored knights with shields, flying and painfully shooting spheres.

 But in this case all this at first causes irritation. Especially since after death you will have to start all the passage first, and therefore, again and again you are waiting for all these statues, pedestals, "old men" and skeletons.

However, in the end, it is the overestimated complexity that motivates you to try again and again and try to go through all nine levels of this strange Necropolis in one sitting - you want to use all the possibilities to accept the challenge, to defeat and show to the enemies where the crabs winter.

And the opportunities in NecropolisLittle. Complete generation of the character and the choice of the class is not - just adjust the gender and color of the costume, in which your hero (or heroine) will go to certain death. The combat system allows you to use a conventional strike, block, dodge and especially a powerful attack that spends your endurance reserves. Restore them, like health glasses, you can, using different potions and food. You will also need to use bombs and scrolls with spells that paralyze enemies, make you invisible, or, for example, temporarily increase the speed at which you'll be draining from another crowd of skeletons.

We buy all this for gems that fall out of the carcasses of defeated enemies, as well as from broken pots. True, traders come across very rarely - only at the beginning of each level and (on major holidays) somewhere in its middle. In addition, from the same corpses and pots fall out different ingredients, with the help of which scrolls, potions and food can be cooked by yourself.

Finally, there are also "codes" - books that give a permanent passive bonus, improving your protection, damage, dodging, mastery of the shield or, for example, immediately opening all available recipes. You are allowed to take only one such code with you, and unlock them for special tokens, which are given out for successfully passing the level and performing tasks - to break up so many pots, kill so many monsters of a certain type, eat or cook five servings of food and so on.

However, even with such a poor set of opportunities, the game Friv, I repeat, drags on and motivates the challenge that it throws at you. Enemies easily kill with just two strokes and also actively block, dodge, use superataks. And after another death, when you have to start everything from the very first level, only open codes are saved from the past passage.

An additional problem is that in Necropolisoften there are no intelligible descriptions of weapons, potions, scrolls and food that you are preparing. Or there are no identification scrolls to determine what kind of unknown fluid you found. Everything is learned by experience: what does "Frost of a frosty giant", "Dragon bile" or, for example, "Potion of growth and punishment"; what kind of super-blow will this second-level "Unpronounceable Staff" have? What will become of me if I drink a bottle of Lapis Primus?

Therefore, there is always the risk that if you use or use something, you will do harm to yourself - the hero can easily poison (it will really tear) or, for example, it will be paralyzed. In addition, in the process of production and use, the character becomes completely defenseless and will be easy prey for enemies who adore crowds to materialize right out of the air behind you.

Pauses, like the usual "saves", there is not in principle - you can only go to the main menu and thus save the game. Add traps here and unpleasant surprises when a stone suddenly falls on you or, for example, a huge statue hits a hero passing by a sword...

Playing the four in the co-op, do not wait for indulgence either. Opponents in this case even more, besides in the heat of the fight you will regularly get on your own - friendly fire here acts by default for both enemies and comrades-in-arms.

"Random", of course, affects your chances of staying alive. You can almost immediately get hold of a decent amount of gems and good weapons, and you can almost run through the entire level with a broken sword and meet stronger enemies and more treacherous traps along the way than last time. But the main secret of success is correctly growing hands, dexterity, reaction and knowledge of the materiel.

As in Dark Souls , in order to survive, in Necropolisyou need to die dozens of times before you understand how to effectively fight, what are the habits, strengths and weaknesses of each of the monsters and how many times you can hit that evil before you have to put the block or jump aside. But as you master and learn to win, descending lower and lower levels of the Necropolis, discovering new types of locations and enemies, the feeling of deep satisfaction and confidence in oneself grows. What is evil.

You become stronger, get more powerful weapons and equipment, rejoice at the new, scarlet sword or armor arrow, which are a miracle! - fell out of the next trunk. And you start to think that it is you who are the immortal king of this Necropolis, who will nevertheless reach the lowest level. And then happily run all of this try out in battle and die again...

The difficulties of survival brighten up the humor and irony that Necropolis: A Diabolical Dungeon Delve , unlike deliberately dark Dark Souls . On the loading screen and on the walls, you regularly read something in the spirit of "The first shroud was thwarted, and Abraxis fought with the demon Ulisteraxus. The third sheet was torn off, and Abraxis defeated Belgorat the Cruel. And then he came back and tore off the second shroud. He forgot about the second. It happens to everyone". The same irony appears in the comments of the invisible guardian of the Necropolis, and in the descriptions of potions and weapons. Together with polumultashnoy picture, this, of course, gives the event its color. But otherwise it's the same harsh and brutal role-playing action, where laughter does not prolong life.

Pros: increased complexity, which motivates again and again to try to pass all the circles of the Necropolis; a lot of different potions and scrolls; high-quality combat system; fascinating cooperative mode; an unusual picture; humor and irony.

Cons: a certain monotony is felt; little interesting weapons and equipment; there is no plot.