Duration: 0:00

4 views

0

Around 40 hours to complete SUFFERANCE MODE, the hardest mode. Brutal fuckin mode. I spent the biggest chunks of time on Layer 4 at around 14 hours and Layer 5 at 23 hours (not including final boss, which took a few minutes). This was after completing the easiest mode, Regret Mode, which took around 23 hours. So I had experience with the game going into the hardest mode. Like usual I jumped from the Easiest Mode to the Hardest. Frequent breaks didn't help as this took me around 3 additional months to clear this mode. Longer sessions probably would've been better as it often took me 30 minutes to warm up, and a good dose of caffeine. Often my sessions were only 30-40 minutes which isn't ideal for this game. The 2 hour sessions were usually more productive. I could tell when I didn't have the mental sharpness to play this game, and would pay for it during those sessions. I usually take pre-workout stims before my gaming sessions and with this one I had to be well stimulated, usually chasing the pre workout with a stim that I sipped during to stay sharp. Any lapse in that adrenalized state would get me hit and killed quickly. The challenge is maintaining that focus for 10 minute stints, as each level is a high intensity endurance round. The brutal Gun.Smoke for arcade was the game that got me to transition my weight lifting pre-workouts into gaming sessions back in 2018. A bad habit but it makes a difference. The longer 2 hour sessions can be tough with a game this relentless.

Out of my top 13 most extreme gaming challenges/modes in around 4,000 games beaten, I ranked this one at #5 on this difficulty. So the game definitely doesn't fuck around. Even the easiest mode is very hard. When jumping from Easy to Hardest the main thing I noticed was enemies move much faster and attack much sooner. Meaning a lot of projectiles and attacks to get blindsided by, especially with the extra damage you take on this mode. Since the game isn't single screen, like a typical shooter, you get blindsided very easily when moving the full length of the map, so that's one of the most dangerous transitions. Similar to Gun.Smoke for arcade, another brutal game I covered, the least assuming enemy is the most dangerous. For me the most dangerous single enemy is the spiders that shoot 3 bullets at a time. They do a lot of damage and are always firing at your last position. It makes screen transitions very dangerous. Initially I didn't think the difference between the easiest and hardest modes was that large, however my performance told a different story. Layer 4 took 6 hours on Regret (Easy) and 14 on SUFFERANCE. Layer 4 was the hardest stage for me on Regret, but on SUFFERANCE it was Layer 5 (Final Stage), taking around 23 hours as I mentioned. So thats 6 hours for the hardest stage on Easy versus 23 on the hardest. Its easy to overlook the differences but when stages are this long and intense any little fuck up can destroy a run.

I switched over to a Flydigi Apex 4 controller which was awesome with the No Deadzone setting. Meaning there is no real space between the stick movement and when an input registers. I was using a Scuf Envision which has some deadzone initially. The bumpers and triggers are a little faster to hit on the Scuf but the analogs weren't as quick and accurate for me as the Apex 4.

This one deserves a full breakdown, so I will break down all my strats the best I can, in a tutorial with commentary, coming soon. I will also finally review the game. For some reason I wanted to wait until I beat the hardest mode. There is ONE more mode. SEVER MODE. This is basically the permadeath mode. Requiring the player to beat the 5 stages without any deaths. There seems to atleast be a checkpoint or two on the final boss, but the stages are the main meat of the game. I may work on that some more too. If I complete SEVER MODE I will post up another tutorial for that.

Deaths are edited out. The game requires you to beat a stage without dying to unlock the next stage on that difficulty. So I show each stage played fresh, and not the 1000's of deaths. Your only checkpoints are between the Layers (stages). You can start the last Layer you got to from the beginning. Also the final boss has two checkpoints.

Stay tuned !!