Due to it being the spooky season I’d like to speak on a topic I have a great interest in, Necromancy. When it comes to video games the trope of the evil necromancer using powers to raise massive undead armies and take over the land is a common trope and is used in so many games that I couldn’t even begin to list all of them. However something I’ve noticed recently is that there aren’t that many games in which you get to play as a necromancer, or at least not properly.
You see the biggest mistake a lot of game developers seem to make is making the necromancer the general ‘dark magic’ class without placing emphasis on summoning or raising the dead rather than making them the de facto minion class. While games like Diablo 2 and Path of Exile do this well by allowing you to summon entire screens of minions to fight for you many other games such as Divinity 2 or Elder Scrolls Online let you summon one measly minion temporarily and then rely upon you casting death magic to do the actual work. While death magic is indeed something that is used by such practitioners of the necromantic arts it should be seen as a supplement to a massive undead army rather than your main form of interaction with the enemy.
Of course this is just one way of seeing a Necromancer and there are plenty of games that do it right. Hell, one of my surprise hits from last year, Iratus: Lord of the Dead, is a game all about necromancy and I love the mechanics and aesthetics of that game. Ultimately this is just me rambling about a subclass in RPG games which I highly doubt anyone to fully pay attention to but as someone who will always play a minion or pet class in whatever game I can having developers embrace the true might that a Necromancer can wield is something to be feared, and enjoyed of course. However now I ask all of you do you enjoy playing as a Necromancer and if so which games do you think do the theme best gameplay and aesthetically wise? Be sure to share your spooky answers in the comments!
That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.