Does raising corpses, casting dark spells, and wielding blood magic sound exciting? Then necromancy is the perfect choice for you!

Necromancers come in all shapes and sizes, and there are plenty of them among the undead themselves: vampires and liches frequently dabble in the dark art to fuel their ambitions and chase away intruders disturbing their study. One way or another, necromancers have an uncanny dominion over the souls of the living, the bodies of the dead, and the… ectoplasm of the specters.

The games where you can play a necromancer are usually fantasy RPGs and hack’n’slash games. In many such settings the dark arts of bringing the dead back into the world of the living maybe aren’t exactly common, but certainly are well-known.

Update: We’ve expanded our list by adding the first five games, providing a broader selection for necromancer enthusiasts. Additionally, corrections have been made to improve the accuracy and clarity of the information in various entries.

GameReleaseGenreDeveloper
Dwarf Fortress 2022-12-06 Strategy Bay 12 Games
Conan Exiles 2017-01-30 Adventure Funcom
Dragon Age: Inquisition 2014-11-20 RPG BioWare Edmonton
Baldur's Gate 3 2020-10-06 RPG Larian Studios
Divinity: Original Sin II 2017-09-14 Adventure Larian Studios
Undead Horde 2019-03-06 Adventure 10tons Ltd
Last Epoch 2019-04-30 Adventure Eleventh Hour Games
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous 2021-09-02 RPG Owlcat Games
Iratus Lord Of The Dead 2019-07-24 Indie Unfrozen
Diablo 2 2000-06-29 RPG Blizzard
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition 2016-10-27 Adventure Bethesda
Diablo 3 Rise Of The Necromancer Pack 2017-06-27 DLC Blizzard
Grim Dawn Ashes Of Malmouth Expansion 2017-10-11 DLC Crate Entertainment
Grim Dawn 2016-02-25 Adventure Crate Entertainment
Total War: WARHAMMER II 2017-09-28 Strategy The Creative Assembly
Total War: WARHAMMER 2016-05-24 Strategy The Creative Assembly
Loop Hero 2021-03-04 RPG Four Quarters
Darksiders 2 Deathinitive Edition 2015-11-05 Fighting Vigil Games
The Elder Scrolls Online Elsweyr 2019-06-04 DLC ZeniMax
Sacred 2 Gold 2012-12-21 Adventure Ascaron

Warframe

Release:March 25, 2013
Genre:Shooter
Developer:Digital Extremes

Warframe isn’t exactly the kind of game you’d expect to have a necromantic minion master-type character, but that’s because you’re looking at Warframe as it is now.

But Nekros is old power, going back to 2013, and he’s got the full gig: necromantic summons, hitting the soul out of targets’ bodies, reaping the bounty of the underworld, causing fear in enemies, and looking grim with a scythe.

Nekros in Warframe
Image credit: Digital Extremes

Your Shadows of the Dead ability allows you to conjure up to seven specters of enemies you’ve slain recently, which isn’t a lot, but there’s a trick to it. If there are summoner-type enemies among them, they can generate their own minions. It’s very fun to send a horde of thralls against their former friends, and then use Desecrate to get extra loot drops from the fresh dead. Nekros is a lot of fun.

Key features
  • High-speed, third-person action game
  • Several dozen superpowered “warframes” to play as (after finding their pieces)
  • Strong ongoing suport with regular content updates
  • Nekros is not only a great minion master, but also a farming expert (even without a scythe)

Baldur's Gate 3

Release:2020-10-06
Genre:RPG
Developer:Larian Studios

Necromantic minions aren’t a huge part of the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, but they are still there.

As a result Baldur’s Gate 3, the ssytem’s excellent adaptation, makes them available in two different ways. One is the Necromancy specialization for Wizards, which makes the Animate Dead spell more powerful with stronger and more plentiful minions. But there is another option.

Druids, of all classes, are the other option thanks to their Circle of the Spores subclass. In addition to also getting access to the Animate Dead spell (just without buffs), Spore Druids can turn humanoid and animal corpses into their very own fungal zombies. Either way, having a few extra hands is going to be quite a boon in BG3’s turn-based combat powered by D&D 5e’s action economy.

Key features
  • One of the greatest cRPGs in the genre
  • At least two distinct necromantically aligned subclasses (there’s also a secret third option)
  • Turn-based combat and real-time exploration
  • The story manages to be both highly cinematic and highly reactive

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Release:2014-11-20
Genre:Action role-playing
Developer:BioWare Edmonton

Oddly enough, the Necromancer is the most traditional specialization for Mages in Dragon Age: inquisition, the others being Knight-Enchanter and Rift mage.

It’s not a bad thing, however, and picking this specialization leads to a very fun experience. You get to cause fear, heal your HP and mana reserves when creatures die, empower your weapons with spirits, and, indeed, get minions.

The ability is called Spirit Mark, and when an enemy tagged with it dies, you conjure a spirit that takes the fallen’s shape to fight for you. So while you’re not literally raising the dead, it’s close enough for the difference to not matter. Oh, you can also curse enemies to explode, which has an augment allowing the effect to cascade into other enemies. It’s not exactly necromantic, but it’s very nasty.

Key features
  • Party-based RPG with great real-time with pause combat
  • Features both large-scale strategic decisions and missions you tackle personally
  • Necromancy can target even elite enemies, as long as their aren’t Boss-tier
  • Several large open world regions as well as self-contained missions

Dwarf Fortress

Release:2022-12-06
Genre:Strategy
Developer:Bay 12 Games

Dwarf Fortress is most famous for its Fortress mode, where you try to establish a dwarven settlement and keep the citizens alive.

But like with Skywalkers, there is another. The Adventurer mode ditches that strategy layer and instead puts you in the role of an adventurer exploring the world and getting into trouble. There are many path to choose… and one of them makes you a necromancer!

It takes some effort to get there, since you need to steal precious secrets from other necromancers , but once you do, that’s where the fun begins. You don’t need to eat or sleep, you stop aging, and can raise a silly number of undead minions as long as you can find the time to do so and the corpses aren’t too destroyed. In addition to being handy in a scrap, the dead are also handy training dummies.

Key features
  • Dwarf Fortress contains multitudes: colony building, roguelike, procedural worldbuilding…
  • A classic, free version is fully ASCII, but there is a paid version with more traditional graphics
  • Absurdly complex simulation
  • No preset campaign, it’s all procedurally generated, down to the world history

Conan Exiles

Release:2017-01-30
Genre:Adventure
Developer:Funcom

Nefarious plots and schemes of sorcerers are an integral part of the adventures of Conan the Cimmerian, so it’s not really surprising, that sorcery made it to the survival game based on the license.

And since Conan Exiles doesn’t really care about morality or any such stuff, this sorcery is dark, violent, and does allow you to dabble in necromancy in a pretty compelling manner.

Your gateway to this power will be the Tome of Kurak, which is gated behind several challenges itself. As you upgrade it, you’ll unlock new spells, such as “Summon Corpse” and “Raise Dead”, so that’s most of the way to necromancy, all you need is a corpse… Perhaps one of your thralls would do, you can always get more, can’t you? Conan Exiles makes you work for it, but that’s what makes it satisfying.

Key features
  • Brutal, dark fantasy survival game based on the stories of Robert E. Howard
  • Sorcery opens the Gateway to many unnatural abilities, including necromancy
  • Playable both in multiplayer and solo
  • Robust crafting and base-building

Divinity: Original Sin II

Release:2017-09-14
Genre:Adventure
Developer:Larian Studios

Larian’s massive hit RPG is a pathway to many abilities.

You could transform parts of your body, flash step to stab a fool, or, indeed, draw power from blood and death to reinforce your armor with bones, make your enemies suffer the hits you take, or cause blood to rain from the sky (or ceiling). Even just investing in the Necromancer skill heals you a bit when you deal damage.

Necromantic spells mostly revolve around manipulating life essence, but there are also delightfully gruesome summons, like a giant spider made from clearly humanoid bones, or a corpse that’s clearly seconds away from exploding. Conjuring the undead works especially well if you’ve also invested in the Summoning skill, which increases the stats of the beasties at your call.

Key features
  • One of the best turn-based RPGs of all time
  • Classless progression: create crazy builds which excite you
  • Interactive environment which encourages looking for creative solutions
  • You can pick from several pre-made characters or create your own

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

Release:2021-09-02
Genre:RPG
Developer:Owlcat Games

In many games you can play as a necromancer, but it’s very rare for any game to actually let you play as a lich, an immortal and undead wizard who decided that being alive limits their necromantic potential.

In Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous you can shed your mortality thanks to the game’s Mythic Paths and use the power of undeath to support your war against demonic invasion.

As a Lich you get unique summons, such as a plague-ridden mastodon or an upgradable Skeletal Champion. Your companions might (will) leave you, and your romance interest might have been the sacrifice you made to become a lich, but that doesn’t matter, you get new companions! You will even become powerful enough to be like a deity to your followers, granting them divine magic!

Key features
  • Turn into a lich, or many other legendary creatures through the Mythic Path system
  • An excellent adaptation of the Pathfinder tabletop RPG
  • Very granular progression
  • Epic-scale storyline

Total War: Warhammer (series)

Release:2016-05-24 (Warhammer 1)
Genre:Turn-based strategy
Developer:The Creative Assembly

The Warhammer Fantasy setting has its fair share of undead of many different types.

You have the Vampire Counts fielding your regular skellies and ghosts. You get the Tomb Kings of Nehekhara, an Egyptian-style legion of mummies, tomb guards, and bone scorpions. There are even the undead of the Vampire Coast, who have a very strong naval and piratical vibe. Just… pick your flavor.

Vampire Counts

Thanks to the grand strategy gameplay of the Total War series, your necromantic endeavors take a magnificent scale. You get to swarm the lands of the living with a tide of undead minions led by mighty generals loyal to your cause. No other game on the list is capable on delivering this scale on necromancy, but the trade-off is that even in real-time battles you’re quite far from the action.

Key features
  • Turn-based strategic layer and real-time battles with hundreds of units
  • Several undead factions, each with dozens on unique units
  • A great adaptation of the Warhammer Fantasy setting
  • If you own all three Total War: Warhammers you can merge their maps and factions for an even grander campaign

Grim Dawn

Release:2016-02-25
Genre:Adventure
Developer:Crate Entertainment

The Necromancer class was added to Grim Dawn in the Ashes of Malmouth expansion, and it turned out to be very good.

It features all the greatest hits: skeleton summoning, draining health from targets, and siphoning the souls of your foes to empower yourself. And of course, since it’s Grim Dawn, you can mix your Necromancer with other classes to command even more power.

Appropriately, each mix gets its own name, soi f you mix the Necromancer and Soldier you’ll get a Death Knight, or become an Apostate if you pick the Inquisitor as your secondary. On top of that, you get a really cool, mid-apocalyptic dark fantasy setting and more RPG mechanics than you’d expect from what seems like a Diablo clone. Give Grim Dawn a shit, it’s an all-around awesome game.

Key features
  • A fully-fledged Necromancer class
  • Your summons can really ruin your foes’ day
  • You can accomplish even more with Grim Dawn’s built-in multiclassing
  • An interesting setting in the middle of an apocalypse

Iratus: Lord of the Dead

Release:2019-07-24
Genre:Indie
Developer:Unfrozen

Iratur: Lord of the Dead is exactly what the title promises: you’re playing as a necromancer who gets the second chance at conquering the world… as long as he can make it out of the immense dungeon he’d been trapped in for centuries.

Thankfully, he doesn’t have to go alone: after all there are plenty of fresh material for a new undead army.

As you play Iratus: Lord of the Dead you’ll work on expanding your underground lair, come up with new types of undead for your legions, and send your minions to fight anyone who would disrupt your schemes. This premise is coupled with a great, evocative art style and great unit designs, making your undead ambitions not only fun to play, but also really nice, if mildly morbid, to look at.

Key features
  • Try to conquer the world again, after centuries of imprisonment
  • Plenty of undead types for you to create and send on missions
  • Turn-based combat
  • Difficulty options for all skill levels

Loop Hero

Release:2021-03-04
Genre:endless RPG
Developer:Four Quarters

Loop Hero is a very odd game. Not only does it feature old-school, charming graphics, but it also pretty much plays itself.

Every expedition takes place on a new looping path and your character moves and fight by themselves. Your job is managing the hero’s inventory and placing new locations on the map to improve stats, add new parameters to the expedition, and spawn new enemies.

There are three character classes, Warrior, Rogue, and, indeed, the Necromancer. The Necro is also the only character who gets company on the expedition, being able to summon friendly skeletons who can come with their own classes and traits. There are also Necromancer-specific traits you can gain during the expedition, which dramatically improve the efficiency and survivability.

Key features
  • Your Necromancer fights by spawning skeletons with special traits
  • A roguelike unlike any you’ve seen
  • Three character classes, two of which you must first unlock
  • The story and gameplay are integrated in interesting ways

Darksiders 2

Release:2015-11-05
Genre:Fighting
Developer:Vigil Games

In Darksiders 2 we get to step into heavy shoes and spooky mask of Death, one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse.

And sure, you can spec towards being really good at melee combat, and by Hades, there is a lot of that, but consider this: you can be a cool necromage and have your summons take care of the riffraff while you take a breather or focus on the (mini-)boss.

Your ghouls alone can make many battles easier, and that’s before you set their fists on fire and make them explode on death. You can also conjure a murder of ice crows to distract your foes, or shroud yourself in deathly energies protecting your from harm and simultaneously damaging your enemies. The necromancer playstyle in Darksiders 2 is really fun, and doesn’t hurt your melee much.

Key features
  • A Death-led prequel to the original Darksiders starring War
  • Tons of RNG loot to help you develop your specialist build
  • The Necromancer tree is great at crowd control
  • Many optional dungeons filled with combat, puzzles, and parkour challenges

Diablo III: Rise of the Necromancer

Release:2017-06-27
Genre:RPG
Developer:Blizzard

The Reaper of Souls expansion brought the Necromancer back from its Diablo 2 grave.

Now you get to control powerful magic which deals physical, cold, and poison damage, styled as blood and bones, chill of the grave, and blight, respectively. Of course, plenty of abilities involve conjuring the undead. And, since this is still Diablo, you also get access to plenty of new armors and weapons.

Diablo 3 Necromancer

Reaper of Souls also added the Crusader class, expanding the base roster of five classes to a total of seven. It has also been announced that the Necromancer is also a core class in Diablo IV, joining the core class selection, so if you absolutely can’t look at D3’s 2012 graphics, you can give D4 a shot instead, it’s an excellent game with both modern graphics and adherence to the old, classic dark fantasy appearance..

Key features
  • Summon the undead and cast spells based on blood, cold, and blight
  • Kill hordes of enemies on numerous beautifully rendered locations
  • Dynamic hack’n’slash combat
  • Several classes with unique strengths and playstyles

Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr

Release:2019-06-04
Genre:RPG
Developer:ZeniMax

Elsweyr is the third chapter in the Elder Scrolls Online history, and in addition to introducing new regions and quests, it also features a great Necromancer option for you to check out.

As a MMORPG class, Necros are solid DPS characters with great summoning abilities, and even some resilient personal-scale transformations, like one of the ults, the Bone Goliath. They can even moonlight as good healers!

Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr

The Elder Scrolls Online has grown considerably since its release, and has visited many different regions of Tamriel, many of which were never featured in a TES game, or only present in very old instalments. With dynamic combat, tons of quests, and many side-activities, ESO is a true Elder Scrolls experience which you can now share with friends and allies of convenience.

Key features
  • The Necromancer is a pretty versatile caster, good at everything, excellent at DPS
  • You can boost your summons with elemental infusions for extra oomph
  • Elsweyr hasn’t been available since The Elder Scrolls: Arena, so it is the perfect time to visit!
  • Massive, rich MMORPG exploring many corners of the Elder Scrolls universe, including Skyrim

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel

Release:2012-12-21
Genre:Adventure
Developer:Ascaron

Although there is no discrete “necromancer” class in Sacred 2: Fallen Angel.

You can access thematically similar powers through two separate classes: the Inquisitor and the Shadow Warrior. The Inquisitor’s Nefarious Netherworld aspect give him grim, soul-affecting powers, while Shadow Warrior’s Astral Lord arts allow him to raise undead to aid him in combat.

Sacred 2 features a total of seven classes, each with its own selection of skills, and three distinct playstyles called Aspects, so you can go hog wild on creating fun builds, especially once you start getting gear from the game’s plentiful combat. Thankfully, action isn’t the only thing to do, since Sacred 2’s has a pretty densely packed open world. There might even be a concert for you to see…

Key features
  • Two separate storylines, the Path of Light and the Path of Shadows side, to choose when you start the game
  • Seven classes, each with deep progression along three ability trees
  • More humor than you’d expect at first glance
  • The open world of Sacred 2 is vast, vibrant, and rich in quests and activities

A few games to raise your spirits

This concludes our list of games about necromancy, or at least featuring it heavily and right within the grasp of players. Now you can make your choice and leave to save the world in the most grim way possible, or conquer it with a wave after wave of relentless, loyal undead directed by a baleful glow of the sunken eyes of your lich. It’s a new world, and it has no place left for the living.

But until you choose to abandon the flimsy shackles of mortality to ascend a throne of skull and bone, take a look at these games as featured among the digital offers on our Marketplace. The dead might yield impressive bounties, but you won’t need riches to buy games here.