I walked between an intersection of tall, dark walls, and found myself pinned between two hordes of enemies. I had just picked up a better sword form a new enemy I bested, but I wasn’t feeling confident against the 20 or so enemies charging at me from my left and right. Going back would lead me to a more narrow path, and the path forward didn’t look promising. I sighed and decided to risk my progress. I ran straight into the guys on my right. Then I kept running.

Every new enemy I encountered in Necropolis

Necropolis is a procedurally generated roguelike similar to Dark Souls in its play style; it has a stamina bar that depletes quickly in battle, you can wield two items, and death comes quickly, especially as most enemies you encounter will pop up from behind corridors. However, there are no campfires to respawn at, so death means you start all the way back at the beginning of the 10-level dungeon. Despite all these similarities, the tone and visuals are really what set them apart.

Loading

The Brazen Head, the all-seeing supervisor of the dungeon that tasks you with fixing the crumbling dungeon, treats you with extreme doubt and sass. Sarcastic writing on the walls spells out your doom. This world doesn’t believe that you’ll make it, and pokes fun at you for it. The few jokes I found didn’t particularly stand out, but they do make the world feel a little more lighthearted. Plus, Necropolis features many bright items, enemies, and structures that contrast well with the dark halls you roam.

The best part, though, was discovering how to push the world to its limits. Early on you're equipped with the worst weapon and have no spells or levels, so coming across a gaggle of enemies both behind and in front of you can be daunting.

When I faced that horde of enemies, I ran through them taking only a little damage, then came to a stop once I was cornered in a room with a tall statue. Necropolis has five factions of enemies, and they have their own unique politics. As I ran to hide behind the statue, the monsters that were trailing me finally came to a stop and began fighting each other. While this is something I maybe could have discovered in small skirmishes, seeing a decently sized battle between skeletons and forgotten adventurers play out before me was really cool.

Loading

Death does come early and often, though. The combat mechanics feel a little sluggish and the sword you begin with is incredibly weak, so it takes some time to learn how to maneuver around enemies. There are health items, but consuming them takes time and there's no way to cancel the action. So, if a enemy catches up to you, you could end up dying while eating. Thankfully, Necropolis doesn’t punish players for trying to find shortcuts between staircases and various floors. Falling doesn’t injure your character, and if you happen to fall into the abyss below many of the rooms and bridges, the Brazen Head will rescue you.

I got pretty far by running through the level and jumping across staircases, but never found the door to the next level. There’s a lot I want to see that comes later in Necropolis – crafting weapons and potions, using spells to turn my character to stone or give it a boosted jump – but most of all I want to see how much multiplayer scales the difficulty and how many more monsters I can slay than my friends.

Miranda Sanchez is an Associate Editor at IGN. You can find her on IGN Anime Club and talking about cats, Pokemon collectibles, and MOBAs on Twitter