Before this review, tower defense as a genre was completely new to me, and honestly, it still is. I have never been big on strategy games, so jumping into The Necromancer Cometh! felt overwhelming as I didn’t know what to expect. However, by the end of it, I couldn’t stop playing even with its complex, free-form, and deckbuilding gameplay.

Essentially, it is a defense tower game but with a twist of mixing two concepts – mazing and deckbuilding – where the player has the freedom to come up with their own strategy. Even though the basic gameplay mechanics do feel repetitive, each level in The Necromancer Cometh! presents a new challenge that sometimes feels impossible to beat.

Strategize Your Own Path

The most interesting thing about The Necromancer Cometh! is the freedom of playstyle. There are no rules or pre-set builds on what should be followed, which made me nervous at first since this is my first tower defense game. But thanks to the well-defined tutorial system, getting used to the controls was easier than expected.

Quick mention about the aesthetics: The goofy art style matches its dark fantasy theme and gives off a Halloween vibe. Love it!

The enemies spawn from a portal in waves within each level, and their path directly takes them to the heart that they want to destroy. If an enemy reaches the heart, one point is deducted out of the total health. And once the point reaches zero it is game over.

The main objective of the game is for the player to protect the heart by obstructing enemies from reaching it. At the same time, you also have to attack using the towers. The game’s first level starts you off with five towers, which are the starter card and 25 coins.

The Necromancer Cometh! Early Access Review: A-Mazing Tower Defense Game - - News | | GamesHorizon — The shop you get access to within a level where towers can be purchased from your deck. Image by Dang Rascals Studio LLC

There are a certain number of waves within each level, and beating a wave gains you coins. This currency can be used in the shop to buy more towers before the next wave to strengthen your build.

It felt like a trial-and-error at the beginning especially with lower rank cards, and the game takes it easy with the simpler levels. However, once you start gaining powerful cards after beating higher levels, the player gets more control on their actions. Every deckbuilding, mazing, and purchase choice starts feeling more significant especially with enemies getting harder to beat.

I must have played certain levels around 7-8 times until I found the perfect build and placement for my towers to take down certain enemies and bosses. Sometimes, it felt impossible, yet I didn’t want to stop playing.

Mazing And Deckbuilding Open New Opportunities

Before playing The Necromancer Cometh!, I wasn’t very familiar with Mazing and Deckbuilding in strategy games.

The game mainly focuses on mazing, where you can change the enemies’ path by placing towers around the map to deviate them from getting to the heart. This path is indicated by a line starting from the enemy’s portal and following their course of direction. Using this detail, the player can place their tower accordingly. Whenever a tower is placed, the enemy path changes, forcing the player to think of how they can further strategize their build.

Along with Mazing, the Deckbuilding feature simplifies the changing dynamics of the game. Beating levels usually gets you rewards mostly in the form of “Souls” or unlocking a new card. Souls are a form of in-game currency that can be used to build your deck by adding new cards or increasing the number of an existing card.

Which cards you want to purchase or use to build your deck is up to you, but you should try to constantly change your deck. I didn’t bother to change mine several times in the later levels and when I had utterly failed, I was forced to play around with my deckbuild till I found the right one.

Deckbuilding can be accessed any time during the game which gives you the opportunity to try out different builds. Once a deckbuild is set, it is then added to the shop during gameplay and can be purchased using the coins you win after beating each wave.

While trying out different builds, I realized how having the strongest card is not always the key to beat a wave of enemies. Most of the time it depends on how you place your towers against the enemy’s path.

Music Could Be Better

The Necromancer Cometh! going has an expressive art style and dynamic gameplay, but the soundtrack could be better. I wouldn’t particularly say it is bad, and the game’s music did initially give me an excitement and energy. But I started getting bored listening to the same tune and switched to my Spotify playlist for the remainder of my playthrough.

I know the game is in Early Access currently, so a lot can change. And if the developers are taking player feedback into consideration, the only pointer from me would be to add more catchy music. Or if they are feeling more ambitious, they should add a whole playlist of original soundtrack that sits well with the game’s theme.

A Game That Wants You To Keep Playing

The beauty of The Necromancer Cometh! is that you will never get bored of playing it. As someone who hasn’t beaten all the levels yet, the game doesn’t make me want to rage quit despite failing a level ten times. I don’t remember many games that have made me feel that way before.

With it still being in Early Access, the game already has so many things to do along with more updates on the way, which makes the replayability option high.

If you are a newbie to strategy games, The Necromancer Cometh! with its addictive gameplay and unique tower defense system is a good starter. And who knows, maybe you will discover a whole new genre of games to appreciate. I surely did!