Crypt of the NecroDancer: Hatsune Miku Character DLC Review Summary

Miku's excellent soundtrack and unique character mechanics shine, but she is brutally difficult, misses deal damage, and the songs often clash with the rhythm.

Miku's soundtrack is excellent: The DLC includes a high-quality soundtrack with catchy and well-selected Vocaloid songs, including new tracks by Danny Baranowsky. Many players find the music memorable and worth listening to outside the game.

Miku is a unique character: Miku offers a distinct playstyle with diagonal movement and a combo-driven kit, making her more than just a skin. Her mechanics are challenging but rewarding once learned.

Miku's unique abilities and mechanics: Miku features a singing mechanic that can dig walls and heal, a leek weapon that allows phasing through enemies, and a dash attack that stunlocks enemies. These abilities create a fast-paced, combo-heavy playstyle.

Miku is fun to play: Players find Miku enjoyable and engaging, with a satisfying combo system and unique movement options. Her playstyle is described as fun, fresh, and highly replayable.

Includes a full soundtrack with many songs: The DLC comes with a complete album of 15 tracks, including a mix of famous and niche Vocaloid songs, with genre variation. The tracklist shows careful research and selection.

Character is very difficult to play: Many players find the character challenging, especially for beginners, with a high skill floor and requiring relearning the game. This difficulty is compounded by various restrictive mechanics.

Missing beats causes damage: Players take damage when missing a beat or skipping beats, which is a harsh penalty that discourages new players and forces constant rhythm adherence. This mechanic is often criticized as excessive and not optional.

Songs do not fit rhythm: The Hatsune Miku songs often lack clear beats or tempo hints, making it hard to match actions to the rhythm. Some tracks are too fast or have off-beat patterns, causing frequent beat misses.

Combo system is hard to use: The 4-combo requirement for recharging Sing is extremely difficult to achieve, especially in early game or when few enemies are present. This makes the ability almost unusable for many players.

Moving diagonally is difficult: The character's 8-directional movement is hard to control, requiring diagonal movement that is awkward with keyboard or controller. This leads to misinputs and increased mental calculation.

Missing beats causes damage: Players take damage when they miss a beat or fail to hit notes. This is a core rhythm-based penalty that applies to all characters.

Diagonal movement available: Characters can move diagonally, adding eight-directional movement. This allows for more flexible positioning and attacks.

Miku is a DLC character: The DLC adds Hatsune Miku as an official playable character in Crypt of the NecroDancer. She is a fully fledged character with unique mechanics, not just a skin.

Miku has high difficulty: Miku is considered one of the harder characters to play due to her challenging mechanics and restrictions. Players find her difficult to master.

Limited item slots for Miku: Miku can only hold and use one item slot, and all spell slots are banned. She cannot pick up weapons or spells, restricting her combat options.

Diagonal movement control issues: Players report control issues with diagonal movement on OLED and with Xbox controllers. This affects input accuracy during movement.

Limited Steam Deck button remapping: On Steam Deck, button setting compatibility is limited, allowing only L1, L4, and R1 to be remapped. This restricts customization for players.

Overall strong buy recommendation: Reviewers repeatedly give a clear buy recommendation, often with emphasis and high confidence. The feedback is brief but consistently positive across several clusters.

Miku DLC is the main draw: Many reviewers say the DLC is worth buying specifically because of Hatsune Miku, even when gameplay itself is not ideal. Others warn that Miku's name is the primary reason to purchase rather than the character's in-game performance.

Mods and gameplay adjustments suggested: Reviewers suggest using the Easier Miku mod, switching to vanilla music, or changing the protagonist's skin for a better experience. These tweaks are often recommended for different play styles.

Appeals to specific fan bases: The DLC is strongly recommended for Vocaloid and NecroDancer fans, as well as big fans of the game. It is also noted to appeal broadly, even to non-anime fans.

Good value for low price: Reviewers frequently mention that the DLC or game is inexpensive and worth the money, making price a common positive factor. The low cost is used to justify buying even with some flaws.

Community fair range: $20.00 - $40.00.

Game completion: 2.0h.

Session length: 2.0h.

Vocaloid-First Miku Fan: Character-focused and casual; may struggle with the rhythm-roguelike difficulty and learn by trial. Motivation: Play as Hatsune Miku and enjoy Vocaloid songs and character content. Stance: buy.

NecroDancer Veteran Mechanic Seeker: Technical rhythm-roguelike play with careful positioning, lineups, and item build decisions. Motivation: Master a unique, complex character and extend the base game's roguelike replayability. Stance: buy.

Multiplayer Value Player: Multiplayer-focused sessions, often mixing DLC and non-DLC players and using added songs. Motivation: Affordable shared multiplayer fun, including with friends who do not own the DLC. Stance: buy.

Monetization: The reviews discuss optional paid DLC character packs such as Miku and SYNCHRONY, plus one complaint about DLC being required to maintain achievement completion. There is no evidence of real-money gacha, loot boxes, paid currency, pay-to-win power, convenience items, or an in-game cash shop. The monetization appears to be traditional paid add-on DLC, which under the audit rules is not predatory and caps the score at 20.

New Soundtrack Included: The DLC features a new soundtrack with Vocaloid songs, including tracks by Danny Baranowsky. The music replaces most field BGM and adds variety.

Hatsune Miku Character Added: The DLC introduces Hatsune Miku as a playable character, which is a major draw for fans. Some players bought the base game specifically for this collaboration.

DLC Low Price Praise: Many reviews highlight the DLC's low price, with some noting it costs around two dollars. The affordable price is seen as a great value for the content offered.

Content Rich DLC: Beyond a character, the DLC includes new songs, armor skins, a singing mechanic, and item reskins. It is considered more than just a skin and offers substantial content.

Mods and SYNCHRONY DLC: The SYNCHRONY DLC allows adding mod characters, and there is a mod called Easier Miku that removes beat miss penalty. An update fixed a brutal Zone 4 requirement without SYNCHRONY.