How hard is agony mode compared to story?

[Rabble]

?

[Phoenix]

I haven't tried it yet.

[Phoenix]

After spending some time in Agony mode, it's a lot harder. You start out in a hub section that's built from The Pit, and get to choose either a male or female martyr avatar. After that you have a few things of specific note in the scenery.

There's three levels to the hub. Each level reflects the scenery you'll see if you enter a gate. The gates are T shaped and have either a gold or red skull switch. The gold switch is for Survival mode. The red switch is for Time Attack mode.

Survival mode: The goal is to find the level exit chamber without dying. There are side objectives that can be completed that are shown. Some are time based and you have to do them quick. Others are required to open the exit door.

Time Attack mode: The goal is to race through the level as fast as you can picking up as many gold statues as you can find while avoiding the demons.

Exit Chamber: This is the goal for either Survival mode or Time Attack mode. This will have a stairway down, a stairway up, and a mirror. The mirror allows you to change into a Succubus and go back into the level and fight demons that would otherwise kill you, as well as break into the purple rooms. The stairway down leads to a deeper level. The stairway up exits to the hub and gives you a score summary. The deeper you go the more difficult the objectives and there are more demons to deal with.

Golden Chambers: Found in the HUB area. These are rooms blocked with wooden slats. You must collect points from playing to enter these. You are rewarded with golden statues in each chamber that you can collect to count as knowledge points to open items in the gallery.

If you die in Agony mode YOU ARE DEAD and you will return to the hub area. There's no spirit mode other than when you first begin at the hub and choose your gender. The levels are procedurally generated from preexisting room sections that are snapped together. Typical hazards include collapsing floors with chomping teeth, at least 1 roaming Onoskelis, at least 1 roaming spider, sometimes chorts that guard a blood cauldron, sometimes snakes, sometimes spinning blade traps, sometimes pendulum traps. Sometimes you have to fight Baphomet as an objective, though the fight is optional. You get a lot of points for beating him, but if he catches you it's over. Torches are sparse, sometimes there's golden statues laying around (they're called powerups in Agony mode, and what they do beyond act as an objective I'm not sure but there's an icon for how many you've picked up). Examples of objectives includes killing x number of demons and/or martyrs, collecting x number of powerups, examining paintings, painting sigils, finding x number of golden martyr pieces, entering x number of rooms, defeating Baphomet, entering the exit chamber, entering the purple room, and so on.

A few tips:

Make sure you have the ability to kill spiders and snakes with a torch or you're going to have a bad time.

Don't try to fight Chorts unless you get the exit chamber open and can use the Succubus. The heart attack is the only way you're going to kill one of these.

AVOID THE ONOSKELIS AT ALL COSTS. She's the deadliest enemy in this mode and unless you're Succubus YOU WILL DIE if you piss her off.

Sometimes Onoskelis guards an objective you REALLY need. Throw a torch as hard as you can to pelt her with it from a distance. Wait until she runs off then sneak by. Don't do this unless you have more than one way out.

Don't pick a fight with a spider or snake if an Onoskelis or Chort is nearby.

If you do pick a fight with a spider and get into a grapple, be sure to kill it. If you don't and it grapples you again you'll lose the fight and die. Also, there's a glitch that if you don't kill that type of spider (fuzzy black vs flesh) and you die from something else, then begin a new level the next time that spider type jumps you the fight will be too hard and you'll die during the grapple. If you can't afford to fight the spider, eg, there's an Onoskelis nearby, wait for a better opportunity.

You CAN lure a Chort into a chomping teeth pit, but be careful if you try this as the Chort can knock you in. It also does not count as a demon kill if a demon falls into the teeth.

The martyr cannot open the purple room, period. Don't waste time trying.

You may or may not find Agony mode enjoyable, but it's definitely worth trying out after you've played through the main campaign once and especially if you've played as a Succubus as well.