This game was originally covered as part of our Nindie Round Up series that sought to give coverage to a wider breadth of Switch eShop games beyond our standard reviews. In an effort to make our impressions easier to find, we're presenting the original text below in our mini-review format.


If you’re someone who suffers from déjà vu, then Necrosphere Deluxe might exacerbate this problem, as you’ll spend 99% of your time in this game dying, instantly respawning to a checkpoint and trying to figure out its fiendishly difficult platforming puzzles, only to die again.

You take on the role of recently deceased Agent Terry Cooper, trying to make your way out of the afterlife and back into the world of the living. Along the way, you’ll find scrolls that reveal more of the plot, though the focus is absolutely more on the simple gameplay.

About that gameplay; Nercrosphere Deluxe only uses two buttons, taking Terry either right or left. It’s up to you to navigate the environmental hazards and use objects (usually taking the form of a bubble) to jump, climb, or duck your way to the end of each section. As a ‘mini Metroidvania’ experience, the entire world is one vast, ever-expanding map, though there isn’t a minimap to help you navigate.

The backtracking element comes from finding upgrades such as a jetpack, which give you a few more options and enable you to reach areas that you previously couldn’t. What’s frustrating, however, is having to go back and complete some of the harder puzzles for a second time. Frustrating is a good word to describe Necrosphere, as some of the conundrums it presents you with are brutally annoying to figure out. Solving them is rewarding, requiring both solid thought and quick reflexes. The use of a button on either Joy-Con is quite jarring at first, though you get used to it. The option to use the Joy-Con individually would have been nice, considering the game's incredibly rudimentary control scheme.

Aesthetically, Necrosphere Deluxe is fine, but not stand-out brilliant. The 8-bit style pixel visuals support its increasingly brutal puzzles, but aren’t inspiring. The soundtrack, however, is fast-paced, retro, and very cool, keeping the insane momentum going across all fronts.

In review, Necrosphere Deluxe is a short and hard-as-nails platformer that’ll have you shouting in frustration, but defeating it is very rewarding. The backtracking through previously completed puzzles is frustrating, but hey, at least it gives you more bang for your buck?