How does this compare to DoomRL

[Ghaleon]

I played a fair amount of DoomRL awhile back. Enough that, as a free game, I feel like the dev earned my money even if this game was poop. But money is kinda tight right now for me so I generally only buy humble bundle deals for games like.. half the time. Looking at this game at a glance I see a lot of traits and class options and stuff that appear straight from DoomRL. I imaigne the IP is no longer available, which is fine, nothing the dev can do about that I'm sure other than making a few hundred million and buying the IP or something =P. But I'm just curious if this game is a proper spiritual successor/sequel, or if it's mostly a remaster in terms of graphics and physics and all that. Does it have more weapons/enemies/stages/etc? Having an actual interfaced cover mechanic is nice. Blind firing around corners was always kinda silly and was really pretty much required in the first game on the highest difficulty levels. But what else is straight up improved? Is there potential for things I will prefer DoomRL over this (other than the Doom IP useage which isn't actually that important for me).

[Dev1]

Let's see - it has different dodge mechanic, cover mechanic, enemies tend to apply different status effects ( and u can apply them on the enemies too), there are randomized weapons, different movement changes, different enemies, even if some behave familiar, most of them have tricks that were not present in DRL. The game is also much quicker for someone who is not an avid speedrunner and still wants to clear all enemies out, has all talents overhauled and all three classes drastically different in play style and abilities , making each of them require it;s own strategies... list goes on. and it is not yet fully finished, with new things added each patch . Whether you prefer it to DRL or not is up to you, but i personally found it much more fun to play in short bursts than DRL ever been for me(no hard feelings Kornel ;D)

[Dev1]

Tl;dr - it is more than DRL in mechanics and tactics , and it will become even more:3

[Xn]

for me personally it already surpasses dRL in its current state! a lot of the perks and master traits you seemingly know by name from dRL have evolved and function differently (all to the better imo). there are several subsystems added to the dRL run&gun style like cover, pain, vision&weapon range. weapon variety yes&no; there are several new categories like smg&rifle and weapons can come in AV variants with random perks but assemblies are missing and exotics/uniques are not fleshed out (atm). enemy variety is basically 1:1 with a few noteworthy exceptions, f.e. pain elemental and archvile have no JH pendant (yet?); but note that not all enemies are direct dRL copys so it evens out.
edit:
one point i forgot to make; master perks have 3 tiers now and no longer block other perks so build variety is much greater now.

[Vathek1]

Originally posted by STRSPWN:

for me personally it already surpasses dRL in its current state! a lot of the perks and master traits you seemingly know by name from dRL have evolved and function differently (all to the better imo). there are several subsystems added to the dRL run&gun style like cover, pain, vision&weapon range. weapon variety yes&no; there are several new categories like smg&rifle and weapons can come in AV variants with random perks but assemblies are missing and exotics/uniques are not fleshed out (atm). enemy variety is basically 1:1 with a few noteworthy exceptions, f.e. pain elemental and archvile have no JH pendant (yet?); but note that not all enemies are direct dRL copys so it evens out.
edit:
one point i forgot to make; master perks have 3 tiers now and no longer block other perks so build variety is much greater now.

I strongly agree with your opinion. Whilst DRL is an excellent game in its own right, I feel that Jupiter Hell is an excellent evolution of the original.

For one, a successful run in Jupiter Hell is nowhere as dependent on item drops. In general, you can pursue pistol, shotgun, automatic, etc. builds without needing to rely on drops of exotic or rare weapons to make your chosen strategy viable. There isn't quite as much of a power gap between "normal" (or at least common weapon drops) and exotic/rare items. This isn't to say that exotic and rare weapons (e.g. the Micro Launcher and AWP 7.62mm Sniper Rifle) can't make a huge difference in your prospects, but I never really felt that I was screwed over by bad luck with weapon drops when compared to DRL. Any stupid deaths or most untenable situations I've encountered in this game were largely due to my own poor planning or overextension.

Moreover, whilst DRL arguably has more content and levels, given the hard work the devs have been putting into this game, I'm sure that sooner rather than later, Jupiter Hell will have as much to offer as DRL which had a longer development cycle than this game has had up to this point, if I'm not mistaken.

In short, if you liked DRL, you'll like this one. As our protagonist would likely say, if you haven't given Jupiter Hell a try, what are you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ waiting for?

[Johnni]

It is hard to say, what is straight up improved as everything is a matter of opinion. I'll try to lay out my opinion on different aspects of the two games. It should be said that the straight comparison between the two games may be somewhat unfair; as I understand it, the developer aims to make something entirely different of this title, even if there is recurring elements/names.

Visuals/presentation:
This is bound to be one aspect that splits the crowd. JH is clearly more technically accomplished with dynamic lights and smooth animations, while DRL was nostalgic and recognisable because of the IP. Personally, I prefered the charming monster sprites and the crisp overview of the top-down DRL, while the grittier 3d-isometric view of JH aims for a more sombre mood.

Mechanics:
The systems of JH seems deeper and will be even more so with further development. There is a lot to love here already and more will be added. Though JH is generally more complex, one rather large exemption is that the crafting system of DRL is left out to avoid the need for consulting data outside of the game. Some will miss that.

Design:
In many aspects JH resembles af 'cleaned up DRL'. As mentioned above, there are fewer things totally left up to chance - or at the very least variance seems less exaggerated. This surely makes the game more welcoming for new players, but may also make the game seem more monotonous than would otherwise be the case. It is remedied by the fact that a strong design concept is "horisontal complexity" meaning lots of divergent paths that do a lot for replayability. A lot of mechanics and quirks in DRL were unintended, emergent behaviors, which shaped the gameplay a lot. This time around the developers seem intend on avoiding such breaches in the program, resulting in a more focused, but perhabs also more confined, design.

Gameplay:
JH plays fast, although maybe not as fast as DRL felt with its mouse support. There is a strong emphasis on tacitical combat, which seems closer to traditional roguelike behavior than DRL did at times, and all but requires a more tempered pace. On the other hand, effective DRL gameplay on highest difficulty and more challenging modes required a very methodical and slow approach, which in my experience is less the case with JH.
Where playing to avoid damage was a reasonable strategy in DRL, in my experience JH is more about minimizing the amount of damage you take through tactically sound approaches. The individual enemy in JH may represent a challenge in and of itself, or may not, depending on your surroundings and equipment, where as DRL seemed more about scouting ahead and controlling the crowd. There definitely seems to be fewer instances of being swarmed by enemies in JH, as you encounter packs of <6 enemies most of the time and only rarily big mobs, just as the environment is more confined compared to the frequent open levels of DRL.

Overall:
All in all I'm glad I can play both games, but I will probably be playing much more JH moving forward. The novelty is part of it, but the generel direction of development is promising and new features are added every month that only enhance the experience. I am excited to follow the development of this game, as I came late to DRL and most games I have played extensively. For now, I would still say DRL plays better and ultimately is a bit more fun for me, but at the same time I have high hopes for the future of JH.