Norman the Necromancer: a close look, tips and whether it is worth your time

If you enjoy short sessions that are hard to walk away from, give this one a look. Below is everything you need before the first launch: the gist, the controls and some working techniques.

What this game is

Norman the Necromancer is an isometric rogue-lite action game built for the js13k 2022 competition (theme "Bugs"). Norman is a necromancer the local villagers have grown to dislike — so they come for him. The trouble is, Norman is a necromancer: when they kill him, he just raises himself back up. Fight off wave after wave of village posses — peasants, archers, healing monks, bandits, knights in shells, rage knights and the Royal Guard — before a final showdown with the King himself. Between levels a ritual shop opens: spend souls harvested from the slain on projectile modifiers — Bouncing, Doubleshot, Rain, the homing Hunter, Weightless, Knockback, freezing Chilly, Bleed, lightning Electrodynamics, Giants, Allegiance and dozens more synergies, each reshaping how you play. Everything is generated by code: pixel sprites, procedural WebAudio music (organ, bass and drums that build through the levels and turn into the King's theme), particles and a point-mass physics with hopping bodies. 10 levels, two bosses, dozens of ritual combinations.

How to play, in short

1. Norman the Necromancer is an isometric rogue-lite action game built for the js13k 2022 competition (theme "Bugs").

2. Norman is a necromancer the local villagers have grown to dislike — so they come for him.

3. The trouble is, Norman is a necromancer: when they kill him, he just raises himself back up.

4. Fight off wave after wave of village posses — peasants, archers, healing monks, bandits, knights in shells, rage knights and the Royal Guard — before a final showdown with the King himself.

5. Between levels a ritual shop opens: spend souls harvested from the slain on projectile modifiers — Bouncing, Doubleshot, Rain, the homing Hunter, Weightless, Knockback, freezing Chilly, Bleed, lightning Electrodynamics, Giants, Allegiance and dozens more synergies, each reshaping how you play.

6. Everything is generated by code: pixel sprites, procedural WebAudio music (organ, bass and drums that build through the levels and turn into the King's theme), particles and a point-mass physics with hopping bodies.

7. 10 levels, two bosses, dozens of ritual combinations.

A few final tips

• Check out the demo mode on the game page — the AI shows how it is played, and repeating it yourself gets much easier.
• Play in short sessions: the best results come with a warmed-up head.

A perfect way to kill ten minutes — and suddenly an hour is gone. Ready to try? "Norman the Necromancer"