This game is great for multiplayer

[Pepsakdoek]

But it's a really tough game. I'd want a difficulty setting so that when I get friends over we can play without struggling. Literally an Easy game setting, because not everyone is great at games.

Is this somewhere available or must I just accept it for what it is?

[xaxazak]

Been asked many times.
Unfortunately, I don't think the devs are too keen on it.

You will improve very rapidly after you play a while. Practically everyone does.
But there's no guarantee that everyone can do it.


They did once mention possibly reworking the wave compositions for a new hard mode.

They don't seem keen on doing it the easy way, where difficulty levels just vary quantities like player health, enemy health scaling, weapon powerup orb counts, battery capacity, etc. I guess one issue would be whether to have online high score tables for the different versions.


As difficulty is one of the biggest complaints (in both directions) I'd be surprised if it isn't costing them sales.

[CnEY?!]

The devs spoke to the intentional lack of difficulty setting in a couple of talks they gave, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO7cX8ff58Y

Arguably the battery mechanic takes the place of a difficulty setting. I'm not totally sure on the details but I know there's a couple of mechanics e.g. a battery drop being more likely at very low battery, and the battery being attracted to you much faster in that case as well.

I've played AAC 2P and 3P co-op with people at varying skill levels (and some of whom have barely played the game at all), and it's definitely possible to "carry" less skilled players to a degree (sort of akin to playing with virtual player count or AI), but smart character choice can help that too. On Christmas last year I played through the entire campaign with 2 friends and we kind of hit a brick wall on the final boss until I switched to Cactus so I could deal damage more effectively (since Cactus is kind of a beast against bosses).

The second half of that Christmas co-op run is here (router ate the first half): https://www.twitch.tv/videos/109883437

[Pepsakdoek]

Thanks for the replies. I guess if I play with them (and I have played a little more) then it will still be fun.

Side question: Is the amount of monsters and their health the same when there are more of us or is multiplayer intrinsically easier (more of us, same of them?)

[master-ac]

Originally posted by Pepsakdoek:

Side question: Is the amount of monsters and their health the same when there are more of us or is multiplayer intrinsically easier (more of us, same of them?)

There are more enemies, and bosses have a significantly lager HP pool.

However, if I understand correctly, you can use an EX-option to bruteforce different "virtual player count". You should be able set it to 1 to get the pure "more of us, same for them" situation.

( although I have never been in this situation, so I cannot say for sure )

[Pepsakdoek]

OMG this game is just so much easier with Mouse and Keyboard than with controllers.

Maybe people who play with controllers (especially double stick games) would be much better than me, but I struggle to aim with the controller, whilst with mouse it's a walk in the park (not the game, Aiming).

[Manta]

Originally posted by Pepsakdoek:

OMG this game is just so much easier with Mouse and Keyboard than with controllers.

Maybe people who play with controllers (especially double stick games) would be much better than me, but I struggle to aim with the controller, whilst with mouse it's a walk in the park (not the game, Aiming).

Welcome to the master gaming race.

[SeaJay]

Originally posted by Pepsakdoek:

Is the amount of monsters and their health the same when there are more of us or is multiplayer intrinsically easier (more of us, same of them?)

Individual mob health is the same, but there are more mobs per level.

The health of boss phases is increased, and you also tend to get more powerups during bosses.

The increase is lower than the increase in number of players though (eg. if you have 2 players the increase is less than 2x). This accounts for the extra chaos incurred by multiplayer, it's hard to work perfectly together.

Originally posted by Pepsakdoek:

OMG this game is just so much easier with Mouse and Keyboard than with controllers.

Maybe people who play with controllers (especially double stick games) would be much better than me, but I struggle to aim with the controller, whilst with mouse it's a walk in the park (not the game, Aiming).

I prefer controller for non-Aubergine androids because I prefer the smooth analogue movement to having precise aim. To each their own