Explore a new level of the Iratus world with new minions, enemies, and bosses in the Iratus: Wrath of the Necromancer DLC.
Format: PC via Steam
Play time so far: 24 hours
Released Oct 26th, 2020 by Unfrozen | Daedalic Entertainment
Quick Overview
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Potion flasks are acquired as random drops
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In-Depth Review
Iratus: Wrath of the Necromancer is a DLC pack for Iratus: Lord of the Dead (review available) which adds an additional floor, two new minions, alternate bosses, more enemies, a potion brewing mechanic, and additional minion skins. The additional floor is the new final floor for the game. Players do not have to reach this additional floor to get the other content. Save files that have beaten the game before the DLC was acquired can be continued into the additional floor once the DLC is installed.
Some of the new minion skins
The first additions players will encounter are the new minions. These minions are the Abomination and the Reaper and neither have unlock requirements. The ultimate abilities of these minions mirror each other in that the Abomination executes low sanity minions while the Reaper executes low health minions. The Abomination works well in sanity teams where it can take some damage and execute enemies. The Reaper is versatile and can be stated into most damage types, but seems to do best with physical damage and a team that can keep it “alive” until it can get an execute and restore health. All minions get a new non-recolor skin in this DLC, including the two new minions and the Infested for players that have the Supporter Pack. Players with the Supporter Pack will also get recolor skins for the two new minions in this DLC.
New double sized enemy
Iratus: Wrath of the Necromancer introduced a new potion mechanic. The potion mechanic allows players to transform minion parts and random drop flasks into potions that can be used in battle for special effects, such as improving one or all minions’ crit chance or decreasing one or all enemies’ dodge chance. Six potions can be held at a time and one can be used each combat round by default. Potions bypass block and ward, but their effects can still be dispelled by enemies. Using higher tier minion parts to create potions greatly increases their potency, taking the ‘heal a single minion’ potion from a 10% heal to a full heal. Players can discover 29 different potion recipes by experimenting with different minion part combinations. The game keeps track of discovered recipes and does not allow parts to be wasted on incorrect recipes.
Discovering potion recipes through experimentation
As players progress through Iratus: Wrath of the Necromancer, they will encounter new enemies and bosses. Each floor has a new enemy that takes up twice as much space and comes in both a normal and elite version. These enemies typically have double the health and sanity of other enemies on their floor, but still, only act once a turn. Floors 1-4 also now have alternate bosses. The boss will be chosen at the start of the floor so players know what they’re up against. This addresses one of my concerns with the base game (see review) and offers more variety between runs.
Preview of the new final boss
The final floor of Iratus: Wrath of the Necromancer was a bit of a mixed bag for me. All the enemies are entirely new and draw from several different cultures, but while they have breadth they lack the depth of character and flavor. Most of their passives are similar and not particularly notable. Similarly, the final boss’ mechanic isn’t very interesting and mostly feels like a slugfest. The final level does add a lot of playtime however, and pushes the player’s team composition strategy since many minions will have maxed out their main stats by that time. The final level feels more focused on testing a player’s out-of-combat strategy compared to prior levels.
Final victory!
Recommendation
Overall, I enjoyed the additions of the Iratus: Wrath of the Necromancer DLC. I enjoyed playing with party combinations with the new minions, discovering all the potions, having new enemies and bosses, and having a whole new floor of gameplay. However, potions seemed fairly minimal impact unless high tier parts were invested and the final floor and boss lacked some depth and flavor. I recommend the Iratus: Wrath of the Necromancer DLC for players excited for new minions, extended gameplay, and more combat interactions using potions.
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Categories: Desktop games, Video game reviews
Cthulhu's Critiques 