What exactly is New Game+?

[alachronism]

Beat the game. Had a blast.

Wanted to explore the rest of the world since there's still four doors I couldn't figure out how to open, outfits to unlock, etc.

I was like, hey, why not, I'll start a new game+.

Not only did this DELETE my old save data which I can no longer access, I also cannot change outfits, start without a gun, have only two hit bars, and am now forced to do everything all over again at an increased difficulty. Just because there was no description of what new game+ even was, anywhere.

Even now, I can't find a single description of what it is and how it's different than the rest of the game. So what the hell is it? And is there any way to get my old save back?

[Skaramuche]

that's a big bummer, i'm sorry you misunderstood that, but also: if you were going to keep playing the old save, it wouldn't be a...new game...plus... that would just be the same game. new game + means "start over" pretty much everywhere that phrase is used in gaming. since it does say. new game.

kind of sucks that it wipes the clear save, though, that's rough.

[alachronism]

Yeah, I realized I would be starting over. I just assumed it would make a new save, though, instead of replacing the old one.

I am in luck, however. I looked in the save folder for the game and there's a folder called "backups". One of them was my old deleted save! So I just renamed it and placed it in the save folder and I'm back in business.

However, I'd still like to know exactly what New Game+ means for this game. I find it odd that you can't change outfits. Your health bar is also smaller. Are there any other changes?

[Selei]

While i cant exactly offer a confirmation of what NG+ is beyond the health decrease (which is part of increased difficulty, i imagine), the save issue does not extend beyond this case.

When selecting a save file to enter NG+, you select one other than your old save. If you accidentally select your odl save, it prompts you that it will overwrite that save if you accept again.

As was also mentioned by Alachronism, there is a backups folder for saves. Check there to see if your old save is still retrievable.

I'm sorry it wiped your drifter, but, this is a (potentially) isolated case.

[baby nurse]

It seems like an oversight on the dev teams part to not include outfits and guns in new game +. I just finished the forest in new game+ and the only difference is your new outfit is black and you only have 2 blocks of life.

I was kind of hopeing for new boss patterns or more mini bosses. The mini bosses in the south desert are great. Overall very disappointing new game+.

[Lucy]

Apparently the lack of a gun is a bug. Keep making saves until you have it. Also, the reason why you can't select a cape is because they give stat bonuses which would make it too easy.

[Wondercrab]

It seems very strange to call it New Game+ if nothing carries over. Usually NG+ options preserve at least some, if not all, of your character progression and allow you to experience the game again with all of your toys from the start, often with increased difficulty to keep things fresh and challenging.

If the NG+ in HLD is just a brand new game with less health, then that seems kind of awful. That's not a "New Game Plus", it's just a hard mode, and a rather shallow one by the sounds of things.

[KemonoRuka]

NG+ if you have already unlocked on your previouse data, all the weapons ,all the Skills, and Extra slots to your weapons and health pack and Etc,will all be in NG + except for the health, maybe being a difficult Hard mode , also im not sure with the capes, you maybe have to find them again, but maybe this is a good thing, so now you can focus on capes and finding the stuff again, with out having to go back to shops

[lordfrikk]

There's actually a really simple reason why you can't change outfit in NG+. As you might or might not know, each outfit carries some kind of effect, one increases grenade regeneration rate, other halves stamina usage in half etc. Well, the outfit you are wearing by default in NG+ also has an effect, which you might guessed is a) being unable to change it to anything else and b) reduce your health to 2 bars.

[MrRaggaedeman]

A summary of NG+
-your default cloak is black (-3 HP)
-the cloak cannot be changed, the sword and bot however can, including the effects they bring
-ochre set(+1HP) does not work
-you start with all skills unlocked
-everything else is gone (weapons, cloaks, all collectibles)
-that includes the purple cloak. So you have to do the dash challenge again

I recommend doing the dash challenge as soon as possible. The doubled energy is really nice to have since you'll have to rely on evading far more often than in NG. Go east first to get the shotgun, to make the bossfights easier. And for the love of god, don't do the crystal dash challenge in the area behind the 8 module door in the west zone. That shìt will make you insane.

Other than that, it's quite manageable and fun to go through the game with 2HP. Good luck and have fun

[brzoskswinia]

I imagine the north boss is a complete nightmare though.

[Gugelugu]

Originally posted by brzoskswinia:

I imagine the north boss is a complete nightmare though.

It is. It's complete 100% unfair ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. The game's ♥♥♥♥♥♥ input with 30 fps really starts to rear its head when you do new game plus because every small mistake (or the game's trash hit detection) causes you to start over. I can't count the number of times I've been killed on that fight when I was clearly standing on a non exploding tile or dashing just didn't work for some reason. This sad excuse for new game + is absolutely terrible. I expected at least some new content instead of the worst case of artificial difficulty I've ever experienced.

[GutterLush]

I hope this is changed to a more traditional new game plus soon.

[ΘSaniblues]

All NG+ does is make it so your health is locked at 2hp with all upgrades available from the beginning.

Also, it creates a new save file in the slot that you choose to do so, which can overwrite a previous save. You didn't actually have to nuke your old file.

[JamesMISC]

I made the same mistake as well, not realizing I didn't have to pick the same file that I had just beaten... but I'm looking EVERYWHERE for this backup folder you are talking about and it's nowhere to be found. Am I missing something here? I really want my save file back.

[alachronism]

Hey WillRapForFood, I had to search my hard drive for "hyperlightdrifter". There's a hidden folder in your user folder called AppData/Local (not really sure how to get to it other than searching). Inside should be be a folder called "HLD_BACKUPS". They should be in there!