There's something captivating about games that keep their lore a mystery. In the same way a rarely glimpsed monster is far scarier on the silver screen, a game world explored through tiny story fragments can be spellbinding. Jaws had a fin gliding through the water; the terrifyingly intangible Bob seemed at once everywhere and nowhere in Twin Peaks; and Necropolis has a carved stone tablet complaining about how clean the floor was before your enemies 'threw a kegger'.
The lore of Necropolis is filled with strange arcane tales, split into tiny fragments and scattered throughout the procedurally generated world. It's hugely engrossing, even if I have a strong suspicion that it might all be nonsense. Most of this decidedly silly mythos - the fact the Necropolis' creator Abraxos also does his laundry there, for instance - comes to you by way of a chap called the Brazen Head. The keeper of the Necropolis is an eccentric fellow, as I suppose a millenias-old talking pyramid would be, and serves as your guide through the world. If you please him, he will reward you. If you don't, well it really won't bother him either way. See, the best thing about the Brazen Head is that he's seen so many adventurers enter the necropolis and die horribly that one more really doesn't make a difference. He'll follow your progress, sure, but he'll do so in a vaguely disinterested, sleepy sort of way. He's basically an eldritch version of Bagpuss, and the effect is wonderful. His flagrant disregard for your wellbeing also serves to hammer home the lesson all roguelikes must teach their players: 'you are going to die.'
Functionally, Necropolis works like this: each floor is a sprawling labyrinth which you need to explore in search of a special door, accumulating money and items along the way. Inside the special door is a fountain which will boost your stats, as well as a lift to take you down to the next level. The catch is that the special door costs money to use and the same goes with the fountain; if you want the blessing of the gods, you'll have to stump up. You can ignore the fountain, of course, but you'll regret it later on. Thus, whereas other roguelikes like Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac merrily lend themselves to speedruns, Necropolis is a game that rewards patience. It's also one that rewards diligence - the Brazen Head doles out a steady trickle of objectives for you to complete on each run, ranging from such things as killing rats to crafting bombs or incanting spells. Completing each objective grants a Point of Favour with the Brazen Head. Collecting lots of cash will also grant you some of these points, which I'll get back to in just a moment.
0 comments:
Post a Comment