Hello everyone, this is Bread. In this devlog, we would like to talk about sequence breaking.
In our game, if you follow the normal progression route, it takes around half an hour of exploration and a boss fight before the protagonist can obtain a new ability. But players who truly understand the game and its rules can get it in just 30 seconds!
By cleverly using Bolt’s downward slash and the ability to jump out of the mech, a route that would normally take dozens of minutes can be shortened to just a few seconds.
And no, this is not a bug.
It is a reward for players who really understand the game.
In Metroidvania games, new abilities are often used to control the order of exploration. Players usually need something like a double jump or a dash before they can reach new areas.
But once players become familiar with a game, many of them naturally want to break through these designed limitations. That is sequence breaking.
Besides developing games, I also often play Metroidvania games myself. Please forgive me for being drawn in by excellent games like MIO, because I have also had plenty of thoughts about sequence breaking.
When making Bolt & Whalington, we did not want to completely block off opportunities to deviate from the standard route. As long as it does not break the save file, lock the player’s progression, or cause them to miss important content, we would like to keep these possibilities in the game.
Because at its core, this is also a kind of reward for exploration.
So, what would you do?
Would you honestly defeat the boss first, or would you spend less time and “steal” the ability directly?
Finally, if you are interested in our game, please consider adding it to your wishlist. It helps us a lot.