Nekro (Hands-On) (PC) Preview

Seriously, this game is difficult. Basically, things are not going well for the antagonist. He's had a constant pain in the neck, his god has been ignoring him, and he's been killed. In a final act of desperation/spite, he sells his soul to the local dark god and art critic to become a Necromancer, intent on taking over the world. Of course, he will need minions to do so and everything from the recently dead of the local villagers to haunted Jack-o-lanterns will suffice. The people of the realm are not helpless either, though, so the Necromancer has his work cut out for him.

Boy, is it a difficult job, as well! The enemies are merciless and boast plenty of hit points and are relentless, plus even the cows can land a meaty blow. Thankfully, for the Necromancer (and unfortunate for others), he has soldiers to call upon to fight for him á la Pikmin. Well, rather, with the heavy focus on combat, large focus on letting the main character fight as well, and evil over-tone, it would be á la Overlord, but that doesn't matter too much on the whole.

Gameplay is surprisingly straightforward - go around, consume corpses for both blood (basically mana/resources) and health, while raising others for minions. Raising a chicken corpse to become a viable terror of destruction quite certainly has a degree of humour to it, to be certain, and then go on a careful rampage destroying all that get in the Necromancer's path.

Focusing on smaller squads of soldiers as opposed to the massive armies of other RTS titles, Nekro ends up feeling like Pikmin, if Pikmin was evil and more than willing to whip the player for their mistakes. However, it is also never really 'unfair.' It's always clear how to win and it's doesn't ever really play a 'I don't like you, so I win' type of move or strategy, just being possibly a bit too difficult for those not already skilled at the genre.