Differences between modes?

[chloe]

What are the differences between story mode and the other mode in terms of game play? Are there less or no monsters in story mode and more puzzle solving? Or are they just easier to defeat? The description is not very clear.

[Amallah]

The only similarities the two have are they have monsters, they have puzzles, and they primarily take place in mazes.

Story mode has a narrative that you follow throughout each chapter, which is drip-fed throughout the 6 chapters through notes, dialogue, and locations/objects, leaving players to have to piece everything together to figure out the broader story. The story gameplay is relatively the same every time you play, with the only real difference being that the monsters won't always patrol the same way, so you may encounter some monsters more often in one playthrough versus a different playthrough.

Case Files is an entirely different beast. They have no real lore involved whatsoever, though players have put together their own interesting stories involving monsters and locations. Instead, you're just dropped into a maze with a list of objectives you complete, after which you must find the exit while dodging/avoiding/dealing with whatever monster you get. They're procedurally generated, which means no two cases that you get will be exactly the same. There are 19 different maze types for the generator to pick from by the time you reach level 25, and only 5 of the themes are shared with locations in story mode. There are also 32 different monsters, 21 of which are not found in story mode, and 350+ cosmetics to hunt for. There are also exclusive puzzles and objectives that are not seen anywhere in story mode either.

[chloe]

Thank you for that very detailed description. It is very helpful. I was hoping story mode wouldn't have monsters as I would like to explore and complete objectives without dealing with the monsters. Alas not so.