Next Up Hero

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Summary

So you think can slay all the monsters and win eternal glory, is that it? Bad news, hero. In the Spiral Shards, we can only send in one hero at a time to fight the Ceaseless Dirge. At some point, a flaming blue fireball, mech mortar rocket, or giant spike of doom is going to hit you in the face, and you’re going to die. That’s when the fun begins.

When you die, you’ll leave behind an Echo of your hero on the battlefield. The next hero in line will be able to resurrect your Echo as an AI battle companion. Take turns continuing each other’s games, fighting and dying with friends until you have an entire army of Echoes by your side. Everyone dies. Heroes continue.

Next Up Hero is a 2D action adventure driven by Community Continue. Next Up Hero is inspired by friends taking turns at the arcade to beat unfairly difficult games, and designed so beating a session is a shared victory and more fun than playing on your own.

Choose from nine heroes with an assortment of weapons and abilities to suit your playstyle, from swords and rocket launchers to laser turrets, bongo drums, and boomerangs. Coming this fall, Heroes who complete feats of greatness will gain entry into the Champions Trials, a monthly contest in which Digital Continue throws the hardest monsters they have at you.

Developed with community feedback, beginning with an exclusive closed beta at RTX this summer and moving to Steam Early Access in the fall, Digital Continue will incorporate community ideas to improve characters, gameplay, weapons, attacks, and enemy types for the final game.

Next Up Hero is the first game from Digital Continue, founded by Joe Tringali, the co-founder of 5TH Cell, creators of Scribblenauts, Lock’s Quest and Drawn to Life.

Features

Champions Trial (Early Access only) - Collect and spend Grand Tokens to gain access to the Champions Trial. These connected adventures will be unique each month. Each Grand Token earns you a single play, so choose your character wisely, and work together with the community to solve puzzles, defeat challenging enemies, and unlock new rewards!

Journal System - Customize and track your own accomplishments stylized like Mad Libs to earn Grand Tokens!

Spotlight Sessions and Leaderboards - Compete with the Community via Daily, Weekly and Monthly Leaderboards! Participate in a Session with your favorite Streamer or Celebrity in VIP Sessions!

Asynchronous Co-Op - Engage in a cutting edge style of cooperative play, Community Continue, where beating community sessions is a shared achievement, and more fun than playing on your own.

Character Customization - Defeat enemies to acquire their abilities to combine with your character of choice for thousands of potential deadly loadouts!

Ability-based Progression - Hunt and defeat dozens of monsters to master their abilities on your way to eternal glory!


Next Up Hero Activation Instructions

Next Up Hero Reviews & Ratings

70
Review by Jonnyblond77 [user]
June 21, 2019

It’s a pretty good game only if you went the game pass route because you had nothing to lose from trying it. I played it for a bit and theIt’s a pretty good game only if you went the game pass route because you had nothing to lose from trying it. I played it for a bit and the gameplay is solid, the graphics are easy on the eyes and it’s basically a dungeon crawler..so why only the 7 out of 10. I like difficulty but it has to be entertaining. This game ramps up the hard fast. I like that you can level up your stats like for instance..stun your enemies or quite a few other perks but it didn’t really hold my attention after a bit. It’s like a twin stick shooter but the enemies are just weird looking monsters. Like I said..it’s good but there’s better out there. The multiplayer is odd..one level someone just comes in and randomly helps you but it doesn’t lower your monster count to finish the level unless it glitched. Your henchmen or echos as they call them are pretty useless. I find they don’t do all that much in terms of helping. But it’s ok...anyways..try it..you may like it.

40
Review by Alex_V [user]
October 24, 2018

I bailed on the game without an intimate understanding of its structure, but this appears to consist of quick-fire isometric battle arenas inI bailed on the game without an intimate understanding of its structure, but this appears to consist of quick-fire isometric battle arenas in short campaigns where you can resurrect the ghosts of other dead players to help with the monsters about the place. As there's no sense of momentum or heft to the combat and very limited AI patterns, it feels a little like a proof of concept rather than a game, with in-game currency and some sort of online component that doesn't seem to have a reason to exist.

60
Review by metalblessing [user]
October 2, 2018

This was part of the Xbox Games Pass, so i downloaded it to play with my son. He was pretty excited to play it. The game itself was a prettyThis was part of the Xbox Games Pass, so i downloaded it to play with my son. He was pretty excited to play it. The game itself was a pretty good formula and I did enjoy it when we were able to play it. However there are alot of things that prevent us from really enjoying the game...When we first started the game it loaded the very first stage and everything was black but the sound would play, forcing us to quit and re-launch the game. OK, so we get back in the game and we get through the initial 5 stages. Now it has us choose from a bunch of random stages that it wasnt really clear if they were randomly generated or user created. in any case we chose one of the "easy" lava themed stages. As soon as we started we walked up to the wall and glitched through the wall and were unable to get back into the level. So once again we had to quit the game and find another stage.I decided to try to level my son's character up this morning before work to help him ease through the game better, when i started a level it would not detect the controller within the game so i could not move. So i decided to just join in with the 2nd controller and finish as player 2 since they share score. killed every monster in the level only to find that player 2 cannot actually "finish" a level and it only counts if player 1 reaches the exit, so time spent wasted. More below on how this game is "player 2 agnostic"Seems this game needs to have some of the bugs worked out, but aside from bugs there was another design flaw that really took away from the enjoyment for us. Local multiplayer seems to have been an afterthought, as the way it works is player 1 starts the game and once the level begins, another player can join in with another controller and choose a character, similar to joining an arcade game, and thats all well and good.However, player 2's presence has no bearing on anything, because not only is player 2 unable to revive echo's throughout any level but also anytime player 1 dies, regardless of whether player 2 is still alive and kicking the game ends. So if player 1 is a novice player and constantly dies, then your really just screwed as player 2. now if player 2 dies, player 1 can continue no problem, but it seems the game doesnt really care whether or not there is a 2nd player, its more or less like playing as Tails on Sonic 2, hes just there...you can play Tails on controller 2, but he doesnt really matter.I think Next Level Hero has the potential to be a good game but it needs lots of bug fixes and an improvement in local multiplayer

63
Review by New Game Network
August 6, 2018

Next Up Hero feels a bit more like an online app or a means of promoting Mixer rather than a fully realized game. If you happen to have the Xbox Game Pass, this might be worth giving a try, just don't expect much substance or variety.

70
Review by TheXboxHub
July 14, 2018

If you can get hold of Next Up Hero as part of Xbox Game Pass, then playing it is a no-brainer. It’s fast, fun, challenging and with the chance to build your own dungeons and test the world, it’s an enticing proposition. If you need to pay for the game with real actual money, then things get a bit trickier.

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Game Information
Release Date June 28, 2018
Publisher Aspyr Media, Digital Continue
Content Rated E10+ (Everyone 10+)
Game Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
Player Perspectives Bird view / Isometric
Genres Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure
Themes Action
Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch