Greetings, Backlanders!
We are celebrating one week of release for Hell Clock, and it’s been an incredible ride so far! You have blown us away with your support, and we couldn’t be more grateful.
Today we’ll talk about the two most important pain-points the community has been reporting: the pacing/balance of the campaign; and the endgame.
If these are not what YOU are interested in, we invite you to check out our “State of the Game” post from last week, as I believe it is very much still representative of all of the issues that we plan to fix in the coming weeks.
So with that out of the way, let’s begin!
Campaign Pacing / Progression Balance
As we said in State of the Game, the feedback about the campaign balance caught us a bit off-guard. In hindsight it is pretty obvious, but we got “tunnel vision” in the months leading up to release and ended up with a progression balance aimed to please only die-hard ARPG nerds such as myself, to the detriment of the wider audience.
This is our mistake, and we have learned from it. It is not the fault of the player. Our game should offer a reasonable space for learning the systems, while at the same time being an entertaining experience without hours and hours without meaningful progress.
Ideally, we want to turn all of you into huge Exile-like nerds. So here’s our evil plan to achieve that:
Regular and Veteran Modes
When creating new save files, you will be able to choose between two difficulties: Regular and Veteran. These are fundamental changes to the campaign structure and pacing, so you will not be able to change this after the game has started (similar to Softcore/Hardcore).
To design Regular mode, we went through (almost literally!) ALL of your feedback, watched dozens of gameplay VODs, and I personally spent the entire weekend tweaking it.
This is a MAJOR overhaul of campaign pacing and enemy scaling that we hope will address most - if not all - of your gripes so far.
But what if you enjoyed the game as it is today? Do not worry, the “Veteran” difficulty is basically the current balance, relatively untouched. For technical reasons, any existing save file when this Update releases will be considered a “Veteran” save file. You will need to create new games to experience the new “Regular” mode. The two experiences are way too different for it to be a “toggle”.
Speaking of toggle, “Vengeance Mode” and “Relaxed Mode” will still function exactly the same as they do now. You can combine all of these options in any way you want: do you want to play a Hardcore Regular run with Vengeance Mode and Relaxed Mode turned on? You can do it!
As we said before, this is YOUR game, and the only “right” way to play video games is to have fun.
New Endgame Systems
In the months leading up to release, we’ve played Hell Clock internally with a mostly “ephemeral” playstyle, mostly not hoarding Relics and with a focus on the reset-heavy rogue-like nature of “Ascension”.
After release, we have discovered that the majority of players actually play it much differently: a LOT of you enjoy collecting everything, grinding it out, upgrading all Relics and hunting for those perfect rolls to perfect your builds.
While this also sounds obvious in hindsight (since these are staple things of the ARPG genre) we actually underestimated our own game and thought that people would not be as interested in putting so many hours into Hell Clock’s progression.
At the same time, while Ascension feedback has been very positive for people who actually were onboard with the concept, the majority of players are not even willing to give the game mode a try, and you have told us so loud and clear: you want a more “traditional” endgame, you want to push your builds to the limit, and you don’t want to lose any progress while doing so.
We heard you, and we’re already working hard on it! We were also not THAT naive - we knew we were trying something risky with Ascension, so we were already prepared to move very fast and change things around in case it wasn’t well-received.
Ascension is moving to a new Save File
If you’re particularly observant, you may have noticed something in the previous screenshot: Campaign and Ascension were different things.
When this Update launches, we will separate Ascension completely from your main Save file to avoid any confusion. After you beat Campaign once with any save files (whether it’s Regular or Veteran) you will unlock Ascension mode, but it will be a completely separate experience that will live in its own Save file.
And of course, all of the customization options from the Campaign are still available: you can play Ascension in Regular or Veteran difficulties, HC/SC, Relaxed mode and Vengeance mode.
We are also increasing the max save files in the game from 3 to 6. Any existing save files which contain both Campaign and Ascension progression will be split into two separate ones when the update releases.
We believe this is the right choice for Ascension moving forward.
Speaking as Mark: I am personally very invested in Ascension, and the new Endgame options and Save file separation will allow me to cater this game mode fully towards its audience, which will probably be more niche. This will allow me to do very creative and crazy things with this mode without worrying about alienating the wider audience. Think of this going forward as our own little “Ruthless Mode”, and I personally look forward to building it with you!
Coming NEXT WEEK:
Abyss & Oblivion + New Skill Tree
The first new Endgame system we want to introduce is called “Abyss & Oblivion”. If you have played Diablo 2, these will basically be our “Nightmare” and “Hell” modes. If you are unfamiliar with this concept, you can think of it as a “New Game+” and “New Game++”.
Abyss and Oblivion will allow you to venture beyond Act 3, keeping all of your existing progression. While we expect most players to be able to complete Abyss, be warned that Oblivion will test you: only the best builds and most hardened Backlanders will see the end of this journey.
You will gain 4 Constellation points when you enter Abyss for the first time, and you will also find 24 additional Cursed Shrines scattered throughout Abyss and Oblivion, providing you with a total of 38 Constellation Points for your late-endgame builds.
And yes, we will add full Constellation re-spec!
We will also introduce a new Skill Tree called “The Oblivion Bell”. As soon as you enter Abyss for the first time, it will fully replace the regular Bell from the Campaign. The Oblivion Bell will offer much deeper progression and customization options for your endgame adventures.
Here’s the breakdown for Abyss and Oblivion:
Abyss
* Bosses and Survival events no longer freeze the Hell Clock
* Bosses have new Mechanics
* Uses endgame Drop Tables
* New Dangerous Affixes added to Elites
* -25% to all Resistances
* New enemy scaling
* +12 total Constellation points via Cursed Shrines
Oblivion
* Even harder enemy scaling, will really test your characters
* -50% to all Resistances
* Elites have one additional Dangerous Affix
* Bosses have an Enrage timer
* +12 total Constellation points via Cursed Shrines
Although Abyss & Oblivion will be fun to play through, they do not represent the full vision of Hell Clock’s new vertical endgame. This is why we can’t leave before giving you this following sneak peek:
Coming FREE In 2026:
"Quem nunca teve um pesadelo... essa noite vai sonhar com Tiriri..."
Endless Nightmares is a mapping endgame, done in the Hell Clock style.
Cleanse the Nightmares and restore order with the guidance of Exu Tiriri, an Umbanda spiritual entity.
A new image of Exu Tiriri will be added to the hub at Quixeramobim after you beat the Campaign. Interacting with it will let Tiriri guide you through your very own custom Nightmare.
You will take your picks between randomly-generated Shards of Nightmare in a sequence. This will create a new 21-Floor Dungeon, and your decisions have shaped its dangers and rewards. Fully clearing Nightmares will unlock higher tier ones, up to T16 - see how high your build can push!
Endless Nightmares will take advantage of the upcoming endgame-exclusive Biomes and maps we’ll be making for The Cursed War to offer a deeply replayable and customizable experience, with randomly-generated dungeons shaped by your decisions.
We don’t want to spoil this mode too much, as it is still a few months away, so stay tuned for more Endless Nightmares previews in the near future!
Thank You!
This is it for now!
To reiterate: ALL of these changes (except for Endless Nightmares) are coming NEXT WEEK in patch 1.0.2. We can’t give an exact day yet because it will depend on QA testing and debugging, but we are aiming for the beginning of the week rather than the end.
Thank you so much for supporting our game. The main reason why we’ve been able to react so fast is that the majority of your feedback has been very clear, helpful and respectful. It helps a lot when the community tells us exactly what they want, as it fills us with confidence and motivation to make the changes.
Hell Clock is just beginning, and we look forward very much to how we’ll build upon this foundation together over the coming months.
Cheers!
~Mark and the Hell Clock Team