Warning: This article contains slight spoilers for Sword of the Necromancer, and mention of sexual violence/harassment.

Sword of the Necromancer, the latest project released by Grimorio of Games, brings together a compelling story and an enjoyable core mechanic to freshen up the roguelike dungeon crawler landscape. It’s not a perfect game and we’ll get into that later, but it has some promising ground to offer to fans of the genre. Additionally, it brings something to the table for people who almost exclusively pick necromancer classes in Diablo-like games.

Indeed, a major selling point of Sword of the Necromancer is the capacity to wield a magically enhanced blade to summon slain enemies to fight for you, instead of against you. It’s a weapon that bears both gameplay and story relevance. It’s always a pleasure to see a mechanic that has roots in the narrative, and vice versa, rather than feeling like separate entities.

Sadly, though, the AI of the creatures you can summon seems to need some work. While I understand not wanting to overpower the player by offering them perfectly competent allies, it’s a little frustrating to summon a creature to assist in a difficult battle and then find that they spend most of the fight wandering aimlessly.

That said, I love that you can adjust and customize the playability of the game; Not just in difficulty level, but in “how roguelike” you want the game to be, to create a gameplay experience that suits your needs and interests. Do you want to set it up so you lose items on death? lose levels? none of the above? All of these are options before you.

The developers will also be occasionally sharing IR codes through their social media platforms, usable on a variety of gaming hardware. These codes offer the player both items that can make your journey into the dungeon easier, and items that can make it harder for players looking to have a new experience of the game or just looking to challenge themselves further.

Another strong point of the game is its soundtrack, and I was pleased to find that it changes with each dungeon level, offering a new sense of atmosphere each time. Equally, the variety of weapons and enemies you can discover in the game bring a level of fun to combat that could have started to feel repetitive if left on its own. The boss fights in particular offer enjoyable creature designs and varied fighting styles.

That said, some of the creatures’ hitboxes, as well as those of loot chests scattered throughout a given level, feel a little clunky. It can slow down what clearly wants to be tense and enjoyable combat in a slightly frustrating way at times.

The dialogue also feels a bit clunky in places. Still, the voice actors are a lot of fun and full of personality. There’s a self-awareness to the concept of “princess and the bodyguard but make it gay” that’s endearing and welcome, given how often this trope is exclusively made accessible to straight audiences.

In some ways, the slightly clunky dialogue fits. It makes the characters sound as clumsy and unsure of themselves as they clearly are, embarking on not just their first relationship but their first queer relationship. There’s something endearing about watching their optimistic floundering.

Unfolding the story through flashbacks between each level of the dungeon might not be everyone’s thing and might create a slight disjoint between gameplay and narrative. However, the game conveys early on that it technically starts at the end of the story.

Tama, a petty thief turned incidental bodyguard turned wannabe necromancer, embarks on a very particular version of the hero’s journey to save her fallen lover, Koko. There’s plenty to enjoy in getting to know them both. Indeed, the relationship development unfolding between Tama and Koko is a good motivator to proceed through the dungeon levels. In addition, the art that accompanies these cutscenes may be a particular highlight of the game.

Frustratingly though, a climactic moment of the game that reveals its core tension runs headlong into jarringly insensitive territory. It’s a sequence peppered with anti-sex worker language and a threat of sexual violence that, in context, veers dangerously close to the implication of corrective rape. What is worse, is that it seemed to serve no narrative purpose other than to “tell us who the villain is” which is something that we already knew.

Neither of these choices is new in fantasy fiction, but their common usage doesn’t mean we should keep replicating them. They knocked me rather abruptly out of what had been an enjoyable gameplay and story experience up to that point.

I find myself wondering, indeed, if any queer women were involved in writing the narrative, and to what extent. I’d happily be corrected, but in the absence of identifying details for the members of an otherwise very promising dev team, I’m struggling to imagine that a team with queer women on it would have made these writing choices without batting an eye.

I’ll admit, I took some time away from the game to reorganize my thoughts after that and for a moment doubted if I’d return. I do, eventually, want to resolve the narrative, however, if only to know what would become of Tama and Koko in the end. While no resolution or ending really makes this fairly significant narrative slight “worth it” or “justified,” I believe I’m near enough to the conclusion to stick it out and hope something fruitful emerges.

A PC review copy of Sword of the Necromancer was provided by Grimorio of Games for this review.

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Sword of the Necromancer

13.49

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Fun soundtrack
• Enjoyable core mechanic
• Compelling narrative

Cons

• AI of summoned creatures leaves something to be desired
• A narrative climax is undercut by insensitive writing choices