The next spinoff in the Legend of Zelda franchise may be coming to Nintendo Switch earlier than players thought. The new game, Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring the Legend of Zelda, is slated to release sometime in spring of this year, according to the Nintendo of America website and the Nindies Showcase back in March. However, Gamespot looked into the website’s source code and found this line: “Release date: May 30, 2019.”
Considering the broad “Spring 2019” release window is coming to a close soon, this date could be real. Additionally, NintendoLife found earlier this month that Nintendo Europe included Cadence of Hyrule in an email promoting all the games coming to the Switch throughout the month of May. Combining these findings, it’s very possible that Cadence of Hyrule could release as soon as tomorrow.
Cadence of Hyrule is a crossover between the Zelda franchise and Crypt of the NecroDancer, a 2015 indie title characterized by its unique combination of rhythm and dungeon crawler mechanics. Crypt of the Necrodancer follows Cadence, who falls into a crypt controlled by the NecroDancer. He steals Cadence’s heart, forcing her into a journey of fighting through dungeons to the beat of her heart, synced to the music, to find and defeat him. Judging by Cadence of Hyrule’s trailer, Cadence could be making an appearance in the new title, fighting alongside Link and Zelda.
Brace Yourself Games, the developer behind the Crypt of the NecroDancer, also developed Cadence of Hyrule. Nintendo outlines the features of Cadence of Hyrule on their website:
- A rhythmic action-adventure game in the world of the Legend of Zelda™ series
- Explore the randomly generated overworld and dungeons to save Hyrule as Link or Princess Zelda
- Use items from the Legend of Zelda™ series, plus spells and weapons from the Crypt of the Necrodancer game
- Outstep legendary enemies and bosses in rhythmic combat
In the meantime, if any Zelda fans want to try out the rhythm-controlled dungeon crawler mechanics before Cadence of Hyrule‘s release, Crypt of the NecroDancer is currently available on iOS, Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.
You can find the trailer for Cadence of Hyrule below.