This update brings a number of features to manage difficulty in addition to fixes and other features.
Priest Feedback
Some players have been having a tough time with the priest enemies that teleport and resurrect their allies. The strategy to defeat this enemy is to hit them immediately after they teleport as there is a short delay before they can do so again.
We have added a trail effect that decays so the player can immediately locate them after a teleport. The direction they have fled to is now obvious at close range, and at a distance, their exact location is easy to pinpoint. Better communicating this mechanic should make them less frustrating to deal with without changing the composition of encounters. This change has been applied to the Dark Priests too.
Secret Tracking
The map screen information will now indicate when all secrets are discovered in a level. This is a subtle addition as the game’s rewards are built around time trial completion rather than secret discovery. However, some players wanted to find all the secrets for their own sense of completion, so they are now recorded. This wasn’t tracked before so unfortunately it won’t be retroactive.
Assist Mode
Caesar’s Revenge is intended to be a hard game that can be conquered with practice. Generally, we are okay with the game not being for everyone (few games are) and being able to try something more niche is a great part about being indie. What has been interesting though is seeing players who enjoy the game loop, have played for several hours, but ultimately found the difficulty too high. As a response to this feedback, we have added an assist mode in this update to give players ways to manage the difficulty level while preserving the intended experience of the game.
There are currently four assist options that can now be enabled:
- Armor pickups will also fully restore health
- Ammo pickups yield extra ammunition (50% - 100% more)
- Damage reduction to enemy attacks (player takes 20% less damage)
- Start with a Charon's Obol - granting an instant respawn on death
Enabling the first three of these creates an experience much like the base game, while the Charon's Obol makes things noticeably easier as it is essentially an extra life / check point for each level.
Time trials and secret unlocks are not possible with assist features enabled and levels completed with assists are tracked. We hope this creates a sense of progression where players using these features may eventually replay completed levels once they master the game.
Bug Fixes
We have fixed dozens of smaller issues found by the community. Thank you to everyone who continues to post and send us feedback and improvements. There are still a number of things that have been noted that we would like to improve but are prioritized fixing current issues before suggestions that lean towards new features.
Content Creators
Many players discovered Caesar’s Revenge through the video Alpha Beta Gamer made at launch. We love what ABG does for the indie scene and really appreciate the exposure they brought to us. In this update we wanted to highlight some smaller creators that have been covering the game:
The Waffle Bros have been doing a playthrough and at the time of posting, are nearing the end of Act I. These guys are fun to watch (especially if you enjoy banter and have a crude sense of humor). The latest video is part 4 where they take on North:
Silver Seraphym has made a breakdown / review of the game that does a great job of capturing what Caesar’s Revenge is about. This creator really got what we were going for and I’d recommend the video for anyone thinking about getting the game who isn’t sure if the design will be for them.
Veni, vidi, vici!
Changelog
Adjusted Priest teleport effect to show trail and indicate their direction
Map screen now indicates if all secrets were found in a level
Assist options added (armor, ammo, damage reduction, Charon’s Obol)
Fixed issue with rebinding the pause key and not being able to be rebound back to ESC.
If the player is at maximum armour, further armour won’t be picked up / wasted
Fixed moving wall in Swamp secret that would accidentally kill the player
Adjusted placement of target time on level briefing screen so text isn’t cut off
Fixed head bobbing option not working
Option added to invert the scroll direction of the mouse wheel
Precise numbers added to the tooltip for mouse and controller sensitivity
Fixed snake fight in Odyssey that could be broken and cause the player to become trapped
Fixed a glitch on Aqueduct where a would activate at the wrong time
Gates that open at the start of a level no longer play a sound if they are off screen
Fixed slight stutter in the Ring
Extra armor added to a secret in Streets
Added missing secret triggers to Olympus
Ammo on weapons now displays over 100
Fixed glitch where some projectile weapons would shoot over enemies at point blank range
Fixed texture fighting in Library secret
Fixed invisible wall in Temple of Caesar
Fixed toilet extending through wall in Bath House
Fixed offset wall near beginning of Bath House
Fixed hole in wall and pillars extending too high in Aqueduct
Rotated statue in Fort to face where the player enters
Fixed statue clipping through wall in Forest Road
Fixed fence alignment in Crete