Differences from Black?

[PikaCommando]

What does that new Soulcatcher weapon do? Are there any more new weapons, and what do they do?

What about new bosses? Are there any?

What levels from Black didn't make it here? Any new levels and enemies?

Will there be more DLCs?

[unpunchable in the headable]

Soulcatcher's primary fire shoots a razorbladed ball thing which slices through groups of enemies until it hits something it can't kill, I don't know the full extent of the mechanics.

It is quite useful because it gains abilities as you progress through the game, but I won't spoil. The secondary fire of the Soulcatcher "leeches" souls from a distance, which nullifies the issue where souls in the air could not be acquired. This is also the only way to get souls to fuel the gun's abilities. You need around 6 per use.

It's good to use the leech because it stops souls from disappearing and you can tag souls as you jump around.

There is also an explosive flail added in one of the DLC's found on the nazi bunker level. Additionally, there is the ability to dual wield under certain circumstances (I forget) but this is dlc-exclusive, and there is finally one other weapon which is a cannon that fires cannonballs and something else. Not much on the weapons front but they DO add the SMG and the Boltgun EARLY.

There are new bosses in the DLC maps and there are tiny bonus changes to old maps, but mostly the DLC maps have received some other things. Snowy bridge now has a boss and it's kind of cool. There's also another boss after the new coastal level which I really liked.

There are new levels and I enjoyed them. This game is notoriously missing levels from black that were later added as DLC. The levels are mixed up but the main campaign includes HD levels from black and the original BOOH dlc. If you buy all dlc's, you'll have EVERY level + new ones and some awesome changes that I will not spoil, for some of the older maps.

It is not a massive difference, but everything is VERY pretty and it feels fresh because there is a new story and it counts as a sequel, it is not the best story but at least it doesn't feel like an empty remake.

As for new enemies, there are nazi's (not the leningrad ones) and some roman soldiers and other random stuff but not too many new ones. All the old enemies got revamped to look really awesome and I enjoyed the remakes of the maps. They breathed new life into the maps.

As for the Heaven Above dlc, I did not play it because it was some experimental 3rd person top-down shooter that did not appeal to me. I'm not sure if it's good but it looked okay.

I enjoyed Hell and Damnation. It only feels like the full Black experience if you play the campaign and then go through all the dlc's.. but I wish the levels were all grouped up into one campaign.

OH, and there are free bonus levels that are not part of the dlc packs, which include the Lab and City on Water, as well as the christmas map and some other stuff.

There is also a very fun survival mode I enjoyed which is a true challenge for painkiller fans. You either have to survive for a certain amount of time or finish the level in time, which some levels are pretty cool.

It's good you are considering it now and not on release since you won't have to wait for the dlc's to come out and co-op was not as functional, but now that the megapatch came out, most issues are fixed and you can play a fresh co-op game and unlock tarot cards together. (you couldn't do that before).


Another change since not all the levels are in the main story, some levels have two tarot conditions instead of one, but not ALL levels will be possible to unlock both cards in 1 try, including Atrium which wants you to destroy all objects but also finish it in 7 minutes, so you need to do the level twice.

The cards remain mostly the same and I think Hell & Damnation is an enjoyable experience. If you like it, go upvote all the positive reviews to get rid of the morons who just beat up the game with stupid reviews. :)

[PikaCommando]

Oh yeah, other than levels, are there anything else from Black that didn't make it into HD?

[unpunchable in the headable]

I don't think so. I was extremely worried there would be one or two that didn't make it in, but I think there was everything except the two pirate levels. Hang on, let me check for you.

[unpunchable in the headable]

There is pretty much every level from the looks of it. All the main ones are there of course, whether in the DLC or the story. Popular ones like military base, train station, leningrad, assylum, etc. are ALL there. I didn't finish the game and all dlc and think "omg they were missing this level"

because all of them are there and in full HD to enjoy and have nostalgia with :)
They made them look sooo much better. I really enjoyed the bonus secrets they added and the surprises on maps like assylum and leningrad and others, it was nice. Don't expect super big changes though! Except one or two ;)

[Katze18]

Please tell me that they didn't touch music even a bit, and I'll probably buy the game.

[NOCTURNE]

Originally posted by Katze18:

Please tell me that they didn't touch music even a bit, and I'll probably buy the game.

Unfortunately they changed some musics, included my favourite, the opera house.

[unpunchable in the headable]

All the original soundtracks are in the files and some of the levels had their music tampered with, but they kept everything faithful in my opinion :) I REALLY really love the music and I was worried it'd become like overdose and so on, but it's great!

[Achelon]

Seeing as it's on a pretty hefty sale:

How stable is the release? I absolutely loved Black Edition but it had a lot of bugs (including terminal ones) for me, I'm willing to pick up Hell & Damnation + all DLC and replay the game, but only if it's more stable.

So anyone who can answer this?

[Terepin]

Originally posted by Achelon:

I absolutely loved Black Edition but it had a lot of bugs (including terminal ones) for me,

Use Powermad. You don't have to use any of it's cheats, just install it. It has many bugfixes.