Vocaloid idol Hatsune Miku’s next video game crossover was announced and released today, and it’s the perfect kind of collaboration for the character. If you buy a new $2 DLC, you can now play as Crypton Future’s popular virtual singer in the PC and PS4 versions of Crypt of the NecroDancer.
Crypt of the NecroDancer is a roguelike dungeon crawler that moves to the beat of the music. You can see why Hatsune Miku would be such a good fit for a game like this. The digital idol has a long history in the gaming space, both through her own series of rhythm games and guest appearances in titles like Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Just Dance, Ninjala, and Fall Guys. Likewise, Brace Yourself Games and Crypt of the NecroDancer are no strangers to crossovers; Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda was a full-fledged spin-off using music from Nintendo’s series that came out in 2019.
Although Hatsune Miku didn’t get the dedicated spin-off treatment, this DLC remixes Crypt of the NecroDancer in such a way that the game felt as good as new when we went hands-on with it prior to this announcement. Miku takes damage if players don’t move on the beat and can’t dig through walls with a shovel. Those shortcomings are made up for by the character’s ability to move in all eight directions and destroy walls by moving into them through an enemy.
This character also has an exclusive Sing ability, which charms nearby enemies when used; charmed enemies will heal Miku instead of damaging her if they land a hit. Consecutive hit combos are required to recharge this ability, so Miku is definitely a Crypt of the NecroDancer character that requires a lot of focus to use properly. Thankfully, 15 new songs are part of this DLC and play when Hatsune Miku is chosen. Brace Yourself Games provided the following outline of which stages these songs are bound to and which artists created them.
- 1-1: Too Real — Danny Baranowsky
- 1-2: Wonder Style — colate
- 1-3: SURVIVE (Foxsky Remix) — Umetora
- 2-1: Ten Thousand Stars — Circus-P
- 2-2: Lucky Orb (Clean Tears Remix) — emon(Tes.)
- 2-3: UNDERWATER (Rexium Remix) — Hylen
- 3-1: Highlight — KIRA
- 3-2: Intergalactic Bound — CircusP and Yunosuke
- 3-3: Hello Builder — Utsu-P
- 4-1: MikuFiesta — AlexTrip Sands
- 4-2: Can’t Make A Song!! — beat_shobon
- 4-3: Be Furious (Reno Remix) — Ocelot
- 5-1: sweety glitch — gaburyu & nyankobrq
- 5-2: Thousand Little Voices — Vault Kid & FlangerMoose
- 5-3: My One and Oni — Danny Baranowsky
Hatsune Miku’s character DLC for Crypt of the NecroDancer is available on PC and PS4 now and will come to Nintendo Switch on April 13. Brace Yourself Games tells Digital Trends that it hasn’t started planning for an Xbox port of the DLC yet. At least Xbox players have access to Hi-Fi Rush.