Necronator: Dead Wrong Preview
TheGamer
Something New
Necronator Dead Wrong Preview Raising The Dead Not Expectations
Necronator: Dead Wrong technically achieves what it sets out to do in Early Access. It just does not yet do any of it particularly impressively. Via: Necronator: Dead Wrong Necronator: Dead Wrong is a game that advertises itself as a unique combination of real-time strategy and deck building. While the game is still in Early Access, meaning a lot of content is missing, Necronator: Dead Wrong technically achieves what it sets out to do. It involves strategy, plays out in real-time, and has deck-building elements. It just does not do any of it particularly impressively. Very Early Access
The game is still in Early Access and is still unfinished. Only one class is currently available, and the rest will seemingly be released in the future. More cards and other content will be added in the future, and presumably, the game will improve. This is a preview of the bare-bones game as it was released. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY Via: Necronator: Dead Wrong Necronator: Dead Wrong is technically a Real-Time Strategy game, in that there is some strategy to it and it is not turn-based. However, it doesn’t exactly fit in with the modern idea of what an RTS game is. This is not StarCraft. It’s an RTS game in the same sense that tower defense games are RTS games. Players have one resource, which they can use to play cards: units, offensive spells, power ups, or useful utility cards. The player doesn’t control units; they march on a set path or, depending on the randomly set map, two different possible paths. There’s a minimal amount of strategizing in-game, but mostly the strategy comes from building a good deck. Better Deck-Building
Via: Necronator: Dead Wrong Deck-building is really the central aspect of the game, and a well-built deck matters much more than in-game strategy. Necronator: Dead Wrong starts you off with a freebie, you can get a free card for your deck, upgrade a unit for free, or get a relic that applies an effect for the entire game. These choices are semi-randomized, so each new game might not offer the same strategies as the previous one. This randomization is a detriment rather than a bonus, since the game is fairly unbalanced at early levels. While all starting options can build into combos later in the game, only a few have early game potential, which is pretty necessary to make it past the first level in order to actually get more cards to build combo decks. The unbalanced mechanics are found in individual rounds as well. In each battle, the player has to capture a tower halfway along the path almost immediately, since capturing the tower gives more of the resource that is necessary to play cards with any frequency. Drawing a bad hand at the start can mean losing the battle, which means losing the game. On the other hand, if you get the right card at the beginning of a new game, it becomes very easy. Certain cards grant players the power to spam low-cost units, which brings in-game strategy from minimal to non-existent. Game Progression
Via: Necronator: Dead Wrong Necronator: Dead Wrong uses somewhat randomized level building, which means that there isn’t a sense of level progression. However, there is also no meaningful sense of randomization either. The same three or four level designs show up at any given level, with the same two or three aesthetic skins over them. This will hopefully change throughout the time spent in Early Access, though. There are boss levels, in the sense that a boss shows up before and after each of them to deliver a line of dialog. After that, the player gets one of the same three or four levels. Eventually, if the player is good at deck-building, they beat the last level, which is the same as all the others, and is told that they won. The only real sense of progression is that as the player beats levels and encounters stores they can add to, upgrade, and refine their deck. However, since all the levels are more-or-less the same, this results in a sort of backwards progression. Levels get easier rather than scaling with the player’s increasing power. This results in a lot of new games and restarts punctuated by one or two running win streaks. Aesthetics
Via: Necronator: Dead Wrong When it comes to small games like Necronator: Dead Wrong, aesthetics can elevate an otherwise unimpressive game. Unfortunately, the aesthetics in this game tend to be unimpressive and uncoordinated. Units in-game are stylized, if generic, fantasy sprites, with pixelized skeletons, archers, and skeleton archers that wouldn’t look out of place as entry-level enemies in the first dungeon of any swords and sorcery game. The levels themselves are low-poly environments in themes like city, forest, or snow. The 3D levels and 2D sprites don’t exactly clash, but they aren’t especially unique in any way. The art style of characters encountered in the overworld is completely different, more cartoony in style. It doesn’t match, but it also doesn’t not match. It really does not make enough impact to register as a jarring art style shift. The exception to the lackluster aesthetics is the mascot of the game, a round chubat that is equal parts adorable and evil. He offers entertaining advice on each level and sometimes tells the player to kill census workers. His quips are also semi-randomized, and there are only a dozen or so for now, but they are charming. Overall, it almost feels uncharitable to be so critical of Necronator: Dead Wrong. While there is nothing special about the aesthetics, the gameplay progression, or the balancing, it was a fun game for a few hours. If it had been a free or cheap mobile game, it would have been better. However, as an RTS game with a deck-building twist, it isn’t that impressive yet. It is a neat tower defense-like that would be more enjoyable if early game options were more balanced. It is still in Early Access, so hopefully, it will get better with updates and additional content, but at its current state, it is lacking.