Cadence of Hyrule Review

The Legend of Zelda is a series that has a dear place in my heart. One of my favorite aspects of the series is its phenomenal soundtracks; they are a large reason for me getting into music as a hobby and becoming a musician. Over the years I grew to love video game soundtracks and appreciate how they can be incorporated into the gameplay itself. This made me fall in love with 2015’s Crypt of the Necrodancer, an indie rogue-like where everything from enemy movement to player action had to be in time with the beat of the music. It became one of my favorite indie games of all time so imagine my surprise when I learned that the developers behind it, Brace Yourself Games, were not only creating a sequel but said sequel would also be a cross-over Zelda game. After playing through Cadence of Hyrule I can firmly say that it is both a monumental moment in indie developer history as well as an extremely enjoyable time for rhythm game fans and Zelda fans alike.

Cadence of Hyrule gracefully adapts Crypt of the Necrodancer’s rhythmic gameplay and adjusts it to work in a more explorative style game. Players must time all of their actions whether it be moving or attacking to the beat of the song with missing beats resulting in being unable to move. Each enemy has a distinct pattern with some requiring special methods to defeat them. This creates an engaging dynamic where players can predict what enemies will do ahead of time and prepare for that based on the tempo of the song. For those who have a hard time with keeping rhythm, the option to turn off the rhythm functions and play the game as a traditional top-down rouge-like exists. Within the overworld players will explore a variety of different areas but rather than continuously moving to the beat of the song, players will only have to do so when enemies are present within the area, with them being given full control of their movement after all enemies have been defeated. This makes exploring much more manageable and gives players breathing room when playing the game instead of constantly having to stick with a beat.

The game is filled to the brim with love for The Legend of Zelda, from the fantastic remixes of fan-favorite songs from across the whole series to the areas, enemies, and locals that you’ll see throughout the game. Similar to other spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors, there is a large amount of fan service on display here that fans will absolutely enjoy. The music composed by Crypt of the Necrodancer’s Danny B with guitars from FamilyJules7x and vocals from Adriana Figueroa is absolutely amazing. Not only is it great to hear so many beloved songs in a new light but the fact that internet artists that I’ve personally followed for years were given the chance to work on an official Zelda game is incredible. My personal favorite tracks are easily the Title Screen theme and The Great Fairy Fountain theme. If an official soundtrack ever gets released, I'll absolutely be purchasing it for myself.

Players can switch between Link, Zelda and Cadence throughout the game which each having their own unique skills. Whether it be Zelda’s magic, Link’s spin attack or Cadence’s shovel strike, each character has their own unique assets that set themselves apart. There are a variety of different weapons that can be equipped each with their own different properties such as the spear being able to damage enemies from a further distance and the wrecking ball hitting enemies in an L shaped arc. Certain weapons can only be equipped by specific characters with special items such as the bow, bombs, and others being universal with players being able to equip multiple ones and assign them to different buttons.

The overworld is set up similarly to a traditional 2D Zelda with 4 main dungeons that the player has to complete in order to reach the end of the game. There is plenty to discover within the overworld. Dungeons are a unique hybrid of traditional Zelda dungeons and the randomized levels of Crypt of the Necrodancer. The main area of the dungeon will contain puzzle-solving elements of the Zelda series with the individual rooms in those areas being randomly generated with different items and enemies each time. Smaller crypt-styled dungeons and puzzle rooms can be found throughout the overworld as well, providing a different experience for each playthrough.

Cadence of Hyrule is on the shorter side with the main campaign being able to be finished in about 5-10 hours. However, there is plenty of replayability options for those who wish to stick with it. There is a considerable amount of collectibles and secrets to find throughout the game that affects all save files so completionists will have something to chew on after finishing the game. The game also features co-op in which two players can play throughout the game together. Players can go through single character only runs as well as have a permadeath option which makes the game even more similar to a traditional rouge-like with the save file being deleted upon dying once. The game can also be seeded with players being able to share their own custom seeds, as well as a daily challenge, being available which chooses a randomly seeded world and character and gives the player only one chance to complete the game. Leaderboards exist for all of these modes and keep track of the number of steps players take as well as their completion time. Other options to change up the game flow such as doubling the beats of a song for faster gameplay exist as well.

As a fan of both The Legend of Zelda and Crypt of the Necrodancer as well as a music lover, Cadence of Hyrule was an absolute treat. Crypt of the Necrodancer’s unique rhythm-based gameplay works beautifully in a 2D Zelda setting with the amazing soundtrack pairing wonderfully with it. While it may be on the short side, there is a good amount of content to keep players grooving to the beat. Overall I highly recommend Cadence of Hyrule to any Zelda fan and music lover. I highly applaud Nintendo for giving Brace Yourself Games the freedom to create a title within the Zelda series and hope that we’ll see more creative collaborations between indie studios such as this in the future.

Cadence of Hyrule is available now on Nintendo Switch