Difficulty

So one of the major complaints of the game was that it was too difficult.

During development, playetesters and myself thought that the difficulty curve was right on the knife-edge for fun/difficulty/engaging. But I failed to realize that our skills were developing much faster than the average new players would.

So I spent the last 2 days implementing an Easy mode. This isn't just a straightforward easy mode, however.

I thought that just adding a simple "3 hits" and you die would be quite boring. Players who were less experienced would likely want to experience the "hard" mode to hone their skills, but players who were already quite skilled would have no incentive to try out the easy mode. More on this in just a second.

To start off, I implemented a straightforward health system.

Positioned near the crosshair to prevent crazy eye-jumping when you want to get the info you want to know. (The reload bar sort of suffers this issue too, but the green indicator should be good enough to get the info you need from your peripheral vision. I've not received many complaints but if you have an issue with it, let me know)

Health can be regained with a staple of humanity: Bread.

Despite being 3 hearts, you're actually able to withstand 4 hits. Why 4 you might ask?

Berserk Mode

Getting hit enables BERSERK mode.

Going berserk grants INSTANT reloads, a speed-boost, and invincibility for the duration. Coupled with some neat post-processing, I found this to be an incredibly FUN mechanic. Even playing easy mode when I very well have the skills for "Normal/Hard".

Difficulty can be adjusted at anytime via the pause menu.

Let me know what you think of it! Feedback is very much welcome!

Miscellaneous

• Fixed shotgun animator breaking if reloading during intro. (Thanks Naki!)
• Fixed the ability for cliff-divers to live out their true dreams (Thanks Shahmir!)
• Fixed an edge-case where players would leave during the start of the level and not be able to load back in (Thanks Naki!)
• Other misc bug fixes/adjustments.
• Added lots of bread

What's Next?

The relic tutorial shall be overhauled! It has been thus decreed! Some extra story elements that were cut will also be added.

Note: A friend at eerie games is going to stream the game on the 19th! Check out their project here: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/5ef9361f-6e5b-41a6-8296-738314747332/em... If you love tabletop you'll find their stuff real neat!