Start on Insane. It's easier!

[alexrdavies]

Hi

First, I just want to say - I really enjoyed this game. I don't think I'm likely to return to it much, but it was a fun ride while it lasted.

Next - I've got a tip for anyone starting out.

Start on Insane!

You get much, much more gold for playing on the higher difficulty. My first playthrough was on Insane, and each attempt made so much gold that I could upgrade one of my new characters to max strength. That set me up for another run, with stronger characters. There was a great sense of progress!

After I was finished, I replayed on Normal, so I could have a go at the Day 2 Normal leaderboard. It was much, much slower. After unlocking Ninjas, it took another three runs to fully upgrade them! And another two to upgrade the Engineers...

The end result is that on Normal, you play with low-powered characters against low-powered enemies. It feels like a grind, and takes forever to kill anything.

On Insane, you blast your enemies away with top-level characters - until finally you make a mistake and get killed. Short and sweet.

So, my strong advice is to start out on Insane. The only bit that's tricky is making your first 10k.

My advice for that? Play the "Escape" minigame. It's the same difficulty as on Normal, but the rewards are much greater. 5-6 attempts on that and you can buy the Golden Axe (doubles your money), the pet, and fully upgrade Archers.

Enjoy!

[alexrdavies]

PS - While I'm doing tips... you can use the "-" and "=" keys to zoom. I found the game much easier with the camera a little further out, so you can't be surprised by shots from above or below.

[Fred]

Agreed - the game has a better flow on Insane, actually. The "until you make a mistake" thing reminds me of those boomerang bones from the skeletons. I always forget to count one and it hits me on the way back...

[Ogmok]

I was sceptical at first, but the amount of money you get is great as soon as you can reach and defeat the first boss.

Later I started at wave 6 for the last 3 bosses which gave me at least 80k.

The quickest way to get money was Day 2 insane for me as soon as I was able to defeat the first boss wave; 70k after 3 waves is nice (could be done with engineers or storm knights only for example - as long as you upgrade them).

[TreeFortressGames]

Yep, in hindsight we almost should've made Insane the default mode for desktop users, or at the very least, explained to you the difference much more clearly.

On mobile we have Insane locked until you complete the game, but on Desktop, it's the way to go. Less grinding, more challenge, total win. Which is why we unlocked it from the start.

[essen]

It's insanely easier on Insane. Even if you start on Normal, when you restart on Insane it'll only take an hour or two to get to the end of the game with most non-units things maxed.

On the other hand until Day 2 I wouldn't say it is more challenge. Not much challenge if most enemies die before they even shoot. :P

[Kreddi]

Would you guys say its worth starting over on Insane?
I'm 2½ hour into a normal game, and the progression does seem a bit off, though its going better now that i have the golden axe , fully upgraded ratcoon and town.

[essen]

Start with Insane if you want it to be a short game and be done with it quickly. It's way too short.

[alexrdavies]

Kreddi - I don't think it makes much difference from 2-3 hours in. Either way works.

essen - for me, it's more about the experience than the length of the game. Even if you take twice as long playing on normal, you still don't see a single new enemy or location. You probably won't even be better at the game, despite the extra experience, because you've been taking it easy all the way through!

I'd much rather have the intense, challenging and flavourful experience of Insane, and save a few hours to read a book or play the next game on my list.

[essen]

Let me rephrase: I found Normal *harder* than Insane. Because you will be using weak units for a while and have to progress a little at a time with whatever better/improved unit you got. Feels a bit like David vs Goliath. That's really the only difficulty in the game, and it's largely gone in Insane.

[TreeFortressGames]

Ya the idea with insane is to emphasize the bullethell shooter aspect, and de-emphasis the level grind. Basically reward skill more than time.

It's not really balanced properly though, we put it in late in development and didn't really playtest it fully, so I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up feeling 'easier' in a lot of ways, since you can max out DPS fairly quickly.

[Defendor]

Originally posted by Kreddi:

Would you guys say its worth starting over on Insane?
I'm 2½ hour into a normal game, and the progression does seem a bit off, though its going better now that i have the golden axe , fully upgraded ratcoon and town.

I was in the same situation and started insane recently. It's definatly worth it, because the game is alot more fun in insane mode and you also have a good idea of what is worth upgrading. There is no drawback at all with insane mode imo. And I'm not the kind of player that generaly likes bullethell games either. I have not completed the 1st day on either normal nor insane yet though. I can almost get to the 3rd boss at the moment and base my opinion on that level of progression in the game.

Also, if you are after achievements 2 of them can only be completed in insane mode, so you will have to play it eventually anyway.