Chip Mulligan has finally discovered a revolutionary piece of technology: a difficulty selector.
Update 0.6.8 is the biggest update to the Astral Bounty demo so far. It adds three distinct difficulty levels, separate highscore tables, a revamped introduction to the controls, and numerous improvements to performance, effects, and readability.
CHOOSE YOUR PAIN
EASY – Four hearts, cheaper shop upgrades, and free checkpoints and revivals. You keep your upgrades when hit. You can still lose them when you die, though. We’re friendly now, not harmless.
NORMAL – Three hearts, full shop prices, checkpoints paid with credits, and rising revival costs. When hit, your upgrades end up in an Upgrade Orb that you can recover.
BLOOD MONEY – Three hearts, full shop prices, no checkpoints, and no revivals. No Upgrade Orbs. The environment causes damage. Good luck!
The selected difficulty is locked to your profile once you begin its first level. You can create another profile at any time to try a different difficulty. Existing profiles continue on Normal.
A FAIRER HIGHSCORE HUNT
Easy, Normal, and Blood Money each have their own local Top 20 list. This means only runs played under the same rules are compared. After a run, the appropriate table opens automatically; switch between them with Q/E on the keyboard or LB/RB on a controller.
GET TO GRIPS WITH THE CONTROLS FASTER
The pre-level info screen has been reorganized and split into three short pages. Movement and shooting, upgrade actions, and the complete controls overview are now easier to understand. Keyboard and controller prompts still adapt automatically to your current bindings.
AND A FEW OTHER THINGS
Music and frequently used effects are prepared in the background to reduce first-use stutters.
Enemy projectiles remain clearly visible even in front of coins and other busy game elements.
The Crystal Core pulses more vividly and now has a properly expanding death wave.
The Diamond Bomb’s warning and implosion are brighter and easier to read.
A rare case of false damage at the edge of the first shop platform has been fixed.
The updated demo is available now. Pick your rules, chase a fresh highscore – and find out how much mercy you really need.