I'm confused about the games progression

[Soulreaver]

I played the demo and finished 2 stages, then I bought the full game and went into another run with one of the modifiers to lessen the healing I receive.

Then I went up to red portal 5 until I said to myself what's going on...

I understand that there are plenty of modifiers in this game but am I realy supposed to experience what feels like absolute endgame after like 40mins of total playtime? after red portal number 2 or 3 my whole TV was already so full with animations I was barely able to see any red marks on the floor. Then I played another 2 floors and it was just the same and I quit the run.

Am I overlooking something or is this game designed this way, that you are supposed to mostly play "blind" and like a "bullethell"? Or am I supposed to activate all the modifiers to increase difficulty?

I played other games like this and realy enjoyed them but the "bullethell" part generaly takes several hours or days to get to and then was still just the very end of the run.

[Ulyaoth]

Hello there,

when you start to pick modifiers, make sure you pick the minimum requirement per Curse Tier to advance further.
Curse I 4/4, Curse II 4/4, etc.
This will give you access to more materials and unlocks accross the board.
You have to do this on every map once, then you can always decide how you want to play.
Keep in mind, Map 1 is the easiest with 0 Danger level and Map 5 with Danger level 14,
which cannot be changed.

The difficulty will ramp up slowly and you are maxed at Curse 36 for all unlocks,
but you can go further up to 62 for maximum chaos and to challange yourself.

Going into Endless or Overlord is only required up to Cycle3 for all unlocks,
but you can keep as long as you like or survive.


To resolve the visibility problem:
Settings > Graphics > Special effects visibility
Here you can adjust the bar to your likeing and make the effects transparent or invisible.
You can also customize Key Bindings for increase and decrease under
Settings > Key Bindings > Increase/Decrease Effect Visibility
to adjust it midrun on the fly.

Cheers!

[Mokkun]

This game has never been an actual bullet hell and I've never figured out why the devs continued to describe it as such. This game is a bullet heaven. It's a power fantasy. What it has that most VS style bullet heavens don't tend to have is much less risk of damage from bouncing off of enemies, and much more from projectile attacks and aoe.

The increased curses do end up significantly adding to the amount of stuff that needs dodged. They do anything from increase the number of enemies and bosses (thus having more stuff thrown at you), to adding spawning pillars that bombard you, meteors that spawn on the death of enemies, and a ghost that chases you around and will one shot you if you stay in its death circle cast.

A lot of people complain about there being too much stuff to avoid, but few are claiming that with regards to playing on Curse 1.

[Soulreaver]

Just to get that out of the way. I ask this question because I don't want to exceed my refund window and I found Youtube Videos not realy helpfull. A lot of them are also over a year old by now.

Regarding the answers.
I probably made myself unclear with what I wrote. It might also be that Mokkuns answer gave me my answer and I'm at this point am not sure if it's meant to be interpreted that way.

I don't mind seeing barely anything. If there are 100 different projectiles at once I expect to see nothing.
The game was at this point atleast also way too easy. Didn't want to say it like that because people get offended easily in that regard.

I will try to rephrase my question.

Does the gameplayloop indeed almost from the getgo consist of massive amounts of visual clutter?
I'd assume if, as Mokkun said, the gameplay is more reliant on doging attacks than doging enemies that can and probably will increase the amount of visual clutter (projectiles, markers, environmentals, etc.)

My past experience with similar games was, that it took hours if not days and in some instances even endgame content, for the amount of stuff that goes on in here, to happen.

So it looked like "epic endgame content" but without any difficulty or feeling of progression. This annoys me because, if correct, the game can only get harder from now on but not visualy more "badass" if that makes sense.

That's why I wonder if I play it wrong. Am I not supposed to take the red portals right from the get go?
It's early access so I would understand if the intended progression pipeline isn't perfectly implemented yet and therefore I was just playing it totaly wrong.

[Ulyaoth]

Originally posted by Soulreaver:

Directly on your question:
If you know what you are doing, definetly yes.
You can escalate from the getgo, but it can get even worse.

The difficulty is kept low on purpose to prevent gatekeeping.
But the difference between Curse0 Overlord5 and Curse62 Overlord5 is significant.

You will get some special power for each char, which will add on top to the "badass look" in some cases, but not in all of them.

If you already experienced a screen full of flashy stuff and the world exploded,
ngl, it will almost always end up this way.

I dont think there is a set way to play the game.
it is more like open progression, as long as you can withstand.


I played some of "those" games myself.
Brotato, VS, Halls of Torment, Disfigure, Nordic Ashes, Death Must Die, etc.
Soulstone Survivors is out of those a "feelgood" game and one of my favorites.

[Soulreaver]

Originally posted by Ulyaoth:

Originally posted by Soulreaver:

If you already experienced a screen full of flashy stuff and the world exploded,
ngl, it will almost always end up this way.

Yeah that was my concern.

I don't mind it, when having good runs where I survive especially long and the last 10-20 minutes are insane but I don't want this to be the standard for every run.

Then this game is probably not meant for me.

[< blank >]

Originally posted by Soulreaver:

Does the gameplayloop indeed almost from the getgo consist of massive amounts of visual clutter?
...
So it looked like "epic endgame content" but without any difficulty or feeling of progression. This annoys me because, if correct, the game can only get harder from now on but not visualy more "badass" if that makes sense.

I think you're asking primarily about enemies/attacks and despite how cluttered it looked it actually gets significantly more cluttered at higher curse levels. If you want a less intense progression at lower curse levels then either end the match or go into the endless portal rather than the overlord portal, because in endless there is a lot more space to move around and the boss amount stays the same. Going as deep as possible into high curse overlord (or endless) is endgame content.

If you wanted to know about character visuals then all characters have ascensions that are unlocked in their character trees that don't require taking a skill during the match and whenever the ascension is activated it makes the character more impressive, but some character ascensions are more visual than others. Devs have posted about updating older ascensions to make them better, as some of the newer characters' ascensions like Myrmidon's are visually amazing. While impressive visuals do occur early on in progression, when more characters/skills/ascensions are unlocked even more visually impressive combos can be made. Higher curse gameplay is more visually epic in scale too, as enemy attack indicators are flying everywhere at high speed and things like unique difficult enemies can be added via a curse.

[Soulreaver]

Originally posted by < blank >:

Originally posted by Soulreaver:

Does the gameplayloop indeed almost from the getgo consist of massive amounts of visual clutter?
...
So it looked like "epic endgame content" but without any difficulty or feeling of progression. This annoys me because, if correct, the game can only get harder from now on but not visualy more "badass" if that makes sense.

I think you're asking primarily about enemies/attacks and despite how cluttered it looked it actually gets significantly more cluttered at higher curse levels. If you want a less intense progression at lower curse levels then either end the match or go into the endless portal rather than the overlord portal, because in endless there is a lot more space to move around and the boss amount stays the same. Going as deep as possible into high curse overlord (or endless) is endgame content.

If you wanted to know about character visuals then all characters have ascensions that are unlocked in their character trees that don't require taking a skill during the match and whenever the ascension is activated it makes the character more impressive, but some character ascensions are more visual than others. Devs have posted about updating older ascensions to make them better, as some of the newer characters' ascensions like Myrmidon's are visually amazing. While impressive visuals do occur early on in progression, when more characters/skills/ascensions are unlocked even more visually impressive combos can be made. Higher curse gameplay is more visually epic in scale too, as enemy attack indicators are flying everywhere at high speed and things like unique difficult enemies can be added via a curse.

Thanks for your reply. I was primarily talking about the enemies and their attacks and also my own attacks. As my own attacks already almost fully covered the screen. One of the primary aspects I associate with- and why I chose to put it as "can't realy become more badass from now on".

If doing the red portals (overlord portals?) is endgame, then it's what I meant with "I might be playing it wrong". Just a design decision that isn't meant for people like me. I could've easily spent 60 minutes of my first 90 minutes of this game in a tiny circle doing one wave after another getting bored and not realizing this isn't realy the intended way to play. Generaly, if I don't die I keep on going until I do.

I think I'll keep the game and test it out a bit more. Especially with the amount of different characters I can play as combined with the ascensions you mentioned maybe I find something that sucks me in and if not I wasted 5€. Who cares.

[< blank >]

Originally posted by Soulreaver:

Thanks for your reply. I was primarily talking about the enemies and their attacks and also my own attacks. As my own attacks already almost fully covered the screen. One of the primary aspects I associate with- and why I chose to put it as "can't realy become more badass from now on".

If doing the red portals (overlord portals?) is endgame, then it's what I meant with "I might be playing it wrong".

I think I'll keep the game and test it out a bit more. Especially with the amount of different characters I can play as combined with the ascensions you mentioned maybe I find something that sucks me in and if not I wasted 5€. Who cares.

Personally I find high curse levels to be a lot more fun to play than no curses because no curses is extremely easy. Some players may enjoy going deep into overlord/endless early on in progression but it might not be the way to go for you. If you enjoy the general gameplay and unlocking things then I would recommend keeping it but if not then you may want to refund.

[Mokkun]

My experience with other games in this genre is that either they were like VS, and it took about 3-6 hours to start experiencing total screen covering nonsense gameplay, or they were calibrated to never do so (like the one LoL created).

Personally, I get a similar enjoyment out of this as I did playing Diablo 3. It's about mindlessly mulching monsters, messing with builds, and watching number go up. Not really the special effects.

I'd say that if the visual aspect is your primary concern, then your primary concern probably does make this not quite what you're looking for. If you're happy enough with monster mulching number go up dopamine hits, this game is great.

[HeraldOfOpera]

Originally posted by Soulreaver:

Originally posted by Ulyaoth:

If you already experienced a screen full of flashy stuff and the world exploded,
ngl, it will almost always end up this way.

Yeah that was my concern.

I don't mind it, when having good runs where I survive especially long and the last 10-20 minutes are insane but I don't want this to be the standard for every run.

Then this game is probably not meant for me.

At the very least, you can go into the options and turn down the effects. One common complaint about Vampire Survivors is that you can't do this.

[U DON'T NEED TO KNOW MY NAME]

The games skill system is too random now with very little power to lock skill and stop useless skill from being in pool unless u use trainer , thus less fun than in past .

[Soulreaver]

Originally posted by HeraldOfOpera:

Originally posted by Soulreaver:

Yeah that was my concern.

I don't mind it, when having good runs where I survive especially long and the last 10-20 minutes are insane but I don't want this to be the standard for every run.

Then this game is probably not meant for me.

At the very least, you can go into the options and turn down the effects. One common complaint about Vampire Survivors is that you can't do this.

The ability to turn down the effects "saved" the game for me.

There is still plenty I don't realy like but I see myself spending a few rounds every now and then.

[MaddogDino]

I'd like to interject something here, and that is, you are not seeing any Endgame content yet.
The game is still in production.
You are in training for what's to come.

[Soulreaver]

Originally posted by MaddogDino:

I'd like to interject something here, and that is, you are not seeing any Endgame content yet.
The game is still in production.
You are in training for what's to come.

Oh great even more bling bling and effects xD
I get the feeling this game is supposed to become the realisation of the idea "what if you made tiktok into a rougelite".