Heartbeat puzzle

[Niki]

Everytime i get the heartbeat puzzle i always die, i'm doing good at the beginning, but then it gets worse and i can't recover to the normal heartbeat, i don't know what i'm doing wrong, because im pressing the space bar in the right moment, but i can't make it, i can't finish the first chapter because of this and i don't want to lower the difficulty, because i think it would be too easy, but so far, the heartbeat puzzle is impossible for me.

[The Seventh]

Heartbeat Puzzle Difficulty

So I realize this game is pretty new but I haven't been able to find any information online about how to properly do the heartbeat minigame. I've tried offsetting my trigger pulls (I use an USB XBox controller), pressing and releasing in time with the beats, plain old pressing the triggers on the beats, pressing 'just before' the beats and so far have had no luck.

After my second encounter with having to hide (meaning, the first real one after the tutorial) I died and restarted on a different save to try to see if I could get a hang of the heartbeat mechanic. It was then that I realized I probably failed the first tutorial and it let me go because I reached some sort of time limit.

My point is, either there's something wrong with my inputs from my controller, or the heartbeat input window is far less forgiving than I would've expected and much smaller than my reflexes can handle.

I've considered turning my difficulty down, but considering the description says "less scares" I thought that it might disable some of the really fun subtle scares (like some you see in camera transitions) and that would ultimate take some of the enjoyment out of the game. If anyone has experience with playing on a lower difficulty making the heartbeat minigame more forgiving and it not detracting from the other events I will totally go with that option.

Otherwise I'm just looking to see if there's maybe known issues with USB XBox controllers?

Great game otherwise, love the Silent Hill style camera work and the Lovecraftian themes, just wish I could get through those damn heartbeat events.

[godsonTV on rivals, add me!]

also dying to heartbeat events, also with a usb xbox controller. i think getting it right is when it flashes white?? but it still killed me after i would miss one or 2 in a row, it's a super frustrating mechanic that i hope they tweak because i already restarted one game because i lost a character and i really don't want to restart again so i'm likely to just not play the game anymore out of frustration even though i really enjoy it lol

[Bob Ross]

Same I lost 3 characters so far because I couldn't keep calm :(

[Roger Feederer]

Yeah, flashing white means you did good!

[biohazard_star]

Same here. I'm using an Xbox 360 USB controller too. I ended up getting Etienne killed because my controller inputs wouldn't register for some reason. I hope the devs readjust this puzzle's difficulty, since this broken puzzle + the permadeath mechanic makes the game too frustrating.

[Boss925]

wow glad im not the only one that finds this minigame frustrating. i can get past the first round of keeping calm and then when i think its over the shadows come back and start the heartbeat pulse but more intense and faster and i always die because of it. i really hope they tweak it to make it easier or just replace it with the hold your breath mechanic they use in episode two

[Raiser Games]

Hi,

I'm sorry you're having trouble with The Darkness. Here are some tips that I hope will help:

1) Using a controller, be careful to press LT and RT at the same time.
2) You have to press LT+RT when: the icon blinks, the sound sounds and you feel the vibration.
3) There's an opportunity window between that and the wrong press so take your time.
4) Keep ALWAYS the rhythm. Do not try to anticipate because the rhythm could change and you'll fail.
5) Try to use character with a lot of Serenity.
6) If you're using a Bluetooth controller, take into account that you may experience a 2-3 ms latency that could affect the puzzle.

[sturmkoenig2k]

Originally posted by Raiser Games:

Hi,

I'm sorry you're having trouble with The Darkness. Here are some tips that I hope will help:

1) Using a controller, be careful to press LT and RT at the same time.
2) You have to press LT+RT when: the icon blinks, the sound sounds and you feel the vibration.
3) There's an opportunity window between that and the wrong press so take your time.
4) Keep ALWAYS the rhythm. Do not try to anticipate because the rhythm could change and you'll fail.
5) Try to use character with a lot of Serenity.
6) If you're using a Bluetooth controller, take into account that you may experience a 2-3 ms latency that could affect the puzzle.

I wonder if you guys can put some accessibility options for the minigames/qte's into your game? I liked how it was done in Man of Medan.

[tacochickenwings]

I am having a lot of the same issues using a keyboard too. It frequently doesn't register key presses, even though my space bar works fine. I'd hate to go to easy mode when this is the only issue, but the mechanic is really frustrating and it would be nice if it were tweaked. I love the game! But something about these sequences seems unbalanced.

[biohazard_star]

Originally posted by tacochickenwings:

I'd hate to go to easy mode when this is the only issue, but the mechanic is really frustrating and it would be nice if it were tweaked. I love the game! But something about these sequences seems unbalanced.

I have the same thoughts. This game would pretty much be perfect if it weren't for the QTE heartbeat sequences. QTEs and permadeath do not go well together, especially when said QTE sequence is a bit unintuitive and you don't get much chances to figure out how to do it right.

[Cthoolhoo]

Originally posted by Raiser Games:

Hi,

I'm sorry you're having trouble with The Darkness. Here are some tips that I hope will help:

1) Using a controller, be careful to press LT and RT at the same time.
2) You have to press LT+RT when: the icon blinks, the sound sounds and you feel the vibration.
3) There's an opportunity window between that and the wrong press so take your time.
4) Keep ALWAYS the rhythm. Do not try to anticipate because the rhythm could change and you'll fail.
5) Try to use character with a lot of Serenity.
6) If you're using a Bluetooth controller, take into account that you may experience a 2-3 ms latency that could affect the puzzle.

instead of these please do something with it as an update, these heartbeating parts are frustrating however i would love the game

[The Seventh]

I will mention, I figured it out I think. What happens is, the heartbeat is made up of two 'beats'. You're meant to react to the first beat and press the triggers/spacebar just after that beat. Imagine you're pressing the keys for the second beat (or in between the two if that's easier). This isn't especially explained clearly or telegraphed very well in game but once you get it, it's actually a surprisingly easy event.

My suggestion, if there were a slower introduction (meaning slower beats) to the mechanic and actual flashing trigger/spacebar icons that flashed when you're meant to press them it might give the players a better idea of when the 'window' is to press them.

Since this thread is fairly popular I'd like to ask the dev, are you planning on having a separate bug report sub-forum here on the Steam forum? I've noticed several places where menus still have Spanish instructions and a few places in cut-scenes where the subtitles don't match very well. I figured I could report them in this forum, but I know a lot of other games here on Steam use a separate sub-forum for this purpose.

If anyone's still confused on when you're meant to press the buttons, I can try to make a community guide explaining what I mean in more depth.

[tacochickenwings]

The above approach seemed to help with the middle heartbeat speed and the quickest, but all bets seem to be off with the slowest. It didn't seem to work at all in the "calmest" phase of the heartbeat, and too many mistakes throughout the entire process wind up killing the character, even if you regain the beat with the other speeds. Overall, this is just a really frustrating, odd mechanic in an otherwise great game.

[Seamus McAnus]

Originally posted by Boss925:

wow glad im not the only one that finds this minigame frustrating. i can get past the first round of keeping calm and then when i think its over the shadows come back and start the heartbeat pulse but more intense and faster and i always die because of it. i really hope they tweak it to make it easier or just replace it with the hold your breath mechanic they use in episode two

Really!? See, I'm the other way round. I found the heartbeat QTE easy, but I can't seem to figure out the breathing QTE!! Could you explain it please?

[Plage]

I hate any kind of QTE but that breathing QTE (Episode 2).
It is not playable for me from this point on.


Please give me / us a possibility to completely remove the QTE