"Head start" option

[haughty grove]

What annoys me the most in roguelites is that early stages are always nothing but routine longer you play.
So how about a "Head start" that unlocks of you can clear the boss of previous stage lets say... 3 times in consecutive runs? And if you start from the later stage you'll get current tier weapons just to "emulate" earlier stage completion.
I'm not a fan of the new Huntdown being a roguelite but with options like this I think I can enjoy the experience much more than in the current state.

[west folio]

I think that's fair. I also think there should be more variety in the regions themselves.

[hexed tree]

I am a huge fan of roguelites and I love this game (just finished it) but I have to agree with you. This game is hard and player is forced to replay the same areas over and over because of that. Once I reached the second location and started learning all those enemies and bosses, each death was very painful as I had to go through the first location again and again and it already started to feel like a chore.

I honestly think that the hard difficulty is just hiding the current lack of content and "forces" you to replay it. Having an option to somehow skip the first location would just mean that the player would be able to finish the game in its current state even faster. Nevertheless I hope there will be some sort of optional shortcuts to bosses in the future (e.g. after X successful beating of that boss).

[viral oar]

All you say is standart for nearly every roguelike. that you have to start all over again is part of that. learning the enemys is part of that. you say youre a big fan of roguelikes but nearly want to have everything removed that defines that genre.

its your opinion and i respect that but it dont realy makes sense to me.

[haughty grove]

Being a standard for roguelikes doesn't mean it's a good experience overall.
I heard from a good amount of my friends who are much bigger fans of a genre than me that it is annoying indeed to face "true final boss" first attack, die and be forced to go for it again for 30 minutes - 1 hour just to die from its second attack.

I wouldn't bring it there if it wasn't OG Huntdown that allowed me to try any stage for any amount of time I wanted until I got my no-hit 100% completion.

[hexed tree]

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough. I mentioned having OPTIONAL shortcuts to bosses in the future so the player can actually choose if he wants to do the full location or rush through it (provided he has beaten the boss X times). I had no objections against starting over. I just think it would be better if you have the option to speed up the progression through initial areas if you ran them too many times.

And just because I'm fan of roguelites/roguelikes does not mean that I will love every game from this genre without any objections. Even the core mechanic can be slightly adjusted/expanded if it makes the game better and more fun to play.

[viral oar]

When they keep it optional or iclude it with an interisting mechanic im all in for that.

[haughty grove]

Speaking of it, player choosing "head start" can get less loot/money/experience than the one chosing to engage in full run.
I think I saw it implemented like this in a couple of games.

[hexed tree]

Honestly, I don't like that "head start" term as it kind of implies that you are not starting from the beginning which would go against the basic idea of roguelite so I would much rather prefer accelerated progressing rather than starting from later stage/location (not sure if you meant this).

And as Tyrannforce mentioned - having some unique (maybe high risk/high reward) game mechanic around it would be reasonable.. Just came to my mind that mechanic from OG Huntdown where you had to catch the guys with the suitcase. Maybe something in the fashion..

[haughty grove]

I thought accelerated progress is about you having all meta-currency updates already bought. Which we already have.
But I wanna, just like you said, to not start from the beginning especially when I can prove that I can destroy anything on my way there.

[viral oar]

Another good way to keep things fresh, espacialy in the beginning, is to provide alternative levels to choose from. for example instead of the starting city you can play a harbour district. windblown and dead cells do that and it works great for me.

but this is something for the future, when the game has more meat.

[golden laurel]

My head right now: I want to choose the M16 or AK47 before every mission.

[viral oar]

there is an AK?

[golden laurel]

Unfortunately, no…..
But the M16 is there.

The AK was due to my craving 😂

[viral oar]

ah ok. 😄

[west folio]

After about 6-7 hours i got a good feel for it, and when you pair that with a decent loadout it really isn't that difficult, it IS however a bit long to go through.

Im patient enough to not really mind but i don't blame people for wanting to skip new Detroit at the cost of no augs

[west folio]

Im sorry but my gun autism needs to correct you. Its an M4.

[golden laurel]

Shut Up!!! I wanna go back to those awesome action movies back in the day.

I joke. I get it 😅🙏

[west folio]

You do realize that the M4 is also an 80s gun, right?

[golden laurel]

But Rambo First Blood is my favorite

And I am Vietnamese if you know what I mean 👀