Cadence Of Hyrule: Everything You Need To Know

Cadence of Hyrule is a very special, very weird spin-off for the Legend of Zelda series. Based on the randomized rogue-like Crypt of the Necrodancer, this adventurous game forces you to follow a beat as you explore dungeons, solve puzzles, and defeat hordes of enemies — all while dancing to the beat of the classic Legend of Zelda soundtrack.

It’s also a weird game. For fans of Zelda, it might even seem ridiculously difficult at first. Don’t fear, this game is totally fair and won’t penalize you too much for dying — while it might seem like a rogue-like at first, this is actually a more classic Zelda game than we originally thought. The world map might be randomized, but there’s a lot of puzzles and tricks you can use to progress.

More Cadence of Hyrule guides:

Everything You Need To Know | Beginner’s Guide

In Cadence of Hyrule, you’ll find yourself in a randomly generated world, populated by randomly generated dungeons — if you lose all your hearts, you’ll lose all your currently equipped gear permanently, and have to restock. Anything with a green bar that can break? That stuff goes away when you die.

But, you can stock up on diamonds to purchase items you might need when you revive. You’ll get diamonds for fighting enemies, and if you follow the beat, you can earn +2 or even +3 diamonds in a single fight. Diamonds drop when you clear an entire room of enemies, so the best way to earn diamonds is by exploring the overworld map. Dungeons are a little too tricky for that.

The beat is what this game is all about. Whenever you move, the enemies move too — so grabbing a weapon like a long sword or a spear makes life much, much easier. Weapons never break, so they’re permanent additions to your arsenal. Grab as many weapons as you can while exploring, they’re found in treasure chests. Spears and long swords let you attack from 2 tiles away. Some of them will even attack through enemies. Personally, I think these are the best weapons in the game. They let you avoid incoming attacks much, much easier.

To get permanent items, you’ll need to explore the Hyrule map. Each area of the map has one dungeon — and you can also find a Sheikah Stone. These stones are checkpoints and fast travel markers. They also unlock rooms with a helpful NPC that will give you items you need. These rooms are in random locations, but there’s one in each biome. Make sure to track these down early in your adventures!

There’s a whole lot more you need to know to master Cadence of Hyrule. Check out the full video above for lots more details on this wonderful little indie game.