game seems incredibly difficult for no reason

[Meiyabi]

i notice that the game has weird difficulty spikes for no reason even though i set all the settings to the easiest. i cant imagine what this game is like on hard. almost none of the abilities do damage. its so frustrating. i wish there were hints on each level so you can figure out what the devs actually expect you to do to clear normally...

[Gem of Temporarity]

Originally posted by Meiyabi:

almost none of the abilities do damage

Think knockback is conditional damage, sometimes(when defenestrating) outright lethal.

[KingOfCharge]

Knockback is damage too. Knock enemies into walls to deal damage equal to how far they would’ve been knocked if the wall didn’t stop them, knock them into windows to instantly remove them from the battle

[The Trashman]

Originally posted by Meiyabi:

i notice that the game has weird difficulty spikes for no reason even though i set all the settings to the easiest. i cant imagine what this game is like on hard. almost none of the abilities do damage. its so frustrating. i wish there were hints on each level so you can figure out what the devs actually expect you to do to clear normally...

Some of the confidence goals are harder on the easiest settings, imo. Jen has one on one of the train levels where she has to defenestrate 10 enemies, but on the easiest setting only 9 spawn. It was only possible by using a banks rez on one of the already downed enemies iirc

Are there particular enemies you're finding tricky?

[Phantom Space Man!]

You mention hints. If you look at the confidence goals, many will need you to play in a way that completes the missions more efficiently. Some _do_ make you play more risky, but if you examine those goals you actually do get a hint at what the devs intend for you to do on a particular level.

As others have mentioned, knockback is key. It's the source of almost all the damage you do, especially early.

Another thing you might consider is really breaking apart the actions of each party member. You don't have to do all of Zan's actions and then all of Jen's actions. In fact, if you just do a little bit at a time for each, retry steps with minor adjustments and change your action order you'll get very far.

I'd recommend you try to get the Refreshing Jolt for Jen that lets her walk around more after shooting. If you pair this with Zan's Useful Fiction decoy (which interacts with objects for you), you'll be able to close way more doors than before.

Godspeed!

[Aegix Drakan]

Most of the actual story missions don't feel THAT hard. It's pretty much only been one of the Dreams that I found unreasonable to the point of being unable to solve it (I think it's the last one of the third Dream).

The rest of the missions boil down to really thinking through your skills to determine which ones are most effective in a situation, and then using Rewind until you figure out the solution.

[Kaysoky]

If you ignore the confidence goals, the missions are really easy (even on Hard difficulty).

The introduction of armored units and units with stability (and harder variants of said units) does momentarily increase the challenge. And since this is a turn based game, the increase in challenge is discontinuous ("spiky").

I recall an early spike was the introduction of Riot Priests, with their 2 armor, meaning that no direct attacks you had (at that point) could deal damage. But the level they get introduced on also includes some strategically placed manholes to push them into.

[Blastaz]

A bit like a fighting game you will learn "moves" that your individual characters can do or ways they can play off of each other. Often these are unlocked by specific talents. Generally the talents that allow you to do things for free or refresh the mana spent are the most powerful.

For instance Dall, with the correct talents, can charge for free as long as she hits an enemy. She can also teleport for free as long as she swaps with an ally. You can use this to swap the place of your team as much as you want per turn and then move them to allow Dall to do massive long range charges which devestate the opposition.

Jen with Broom Breach and unlimited refreshed movement off of jolt is incredibly fast.

Zan can cast as many false prophets as he wants per turn as they refund the mana if they die, and they can pick mana up for him, and they can attack when placed, and they and he can do supporting fire whenever anyone makes a basic attack.

So Zan can place two false prophets, just placing them triggers something like six lots of triple shot through mutual support. Then Jen jolts someone. That triggers another three lots of triple shot. Jen moves and jolts someone else, more supporting fire. Then Dall swaps with one of the false prophets to charge an enemy. Then Zan shoots one of the false prophets to get the mana back and sets up another one, allowing Dall to swap with the new one and get another charge in. Jen now broom breaches, Dall swaps and charges again. Dall swaps back with Jen, etc etc.

[Jack Ketch]

Are you stuck on any particular level?

Sometimes it's easier to skip the optional objectives and come back to those later when you can pick and choose your team.

[Meredith K Pseudonym]

The game wants you to do the following:

• Push people out of windows.
  
• Push people into walls.
  
• Push people into each other.
  
• Push people into explosives.
  
• Push people into basically anything, really.
  
• Push things into people if you really have to.

Your weapon is the environment. This is the defenestration game. Knockback is damage.

[Okkuas]

I think it helps to think of each map as a puzzle, because this is really more of a puzzle game than a tactical combat game (that is, if you play this like X-Com or similar games, it won't go all that well). But when you play it as a puzzle game and start thinking in terms of "I have to push this bit here with one character, so I can push this other bit there with this other character" it becomes more clear how to complete the objectives.

[Sentient_Toaster]

Definitely don't be afraid to experiment and rewind, or to ignore the optional goals if they seem too difficult.

Once things really get going, there's *lots* of tools to consider in terms of how they may play off each other; various pushing techniques, swapping, *creating* portals to shove enemies into (or teleport them to), bouncing an attack off walls, using particular abilities to debuff armor or to make them more vulnerable to knockback, setting it up so that damaging one entity actually transfers that damage to a different entity, etc.

And the game is fairly generous in terms of being able to refund perk points. You won't be able to level up enough to get every perk at once for a character, but you can afford to sometimes reconfigure them for a different playstyle. Maybe you finish a character's dream sequence, unlock a unique perk, and rejigger their build (or somebody else's, even) to better work with it, etc.

I will say that the very final battle is challenging in terms of introducing a tricky new mechanic that you'll have to counter, but that shouldn't be too surprising.

[kia256]

Hey, just want to jump in and thank everyone here for being extremely helpful and positive.
In the current toxic climate it's all too easy to assume someone is trolling you.

But every game is always someone's first. And things that may look easy and logical for a seasoned gamer may be opaque and confusing for a newbie.

Good luck, OP. Have fun exploring and don't let the occasional failures get you down.