u/ebknightwrites

At first, I was struggling hard (I gave up on returnal). I was playing with a lot of modifiers, dying a lot, and honestly feeling like I was fighting the game more than mastering it. But once I started understanding the systems better, especially weapon proficiency, traits, power weapons, and how long runs can snowball, everything changed.

I made it through the first four biomes, got my level up into the 40s, and had around 22,000 currency built up. I just finished the third boss, activated the bridge, and I’m sitting around level 45 now. The higher your level gets, the more powerful the weapon drops become, and the better the traits start to feel. That progression feels so good.

What I really appreciate is that the weapons may look simple at first, and honestly there could be more weapon variety, but once you start getting strong traits, the weapons begin to feel completely different. The traits do real work. They synergize with each other, they change how you play, and they can turn a weapon you thought was average into something that absolutely carries a run.

For me, once I got the right Crossbow traits, the whole game opened up. Razor Bolt, Additional Shot, and Reflected Charge made me feel like I finally had control. Then pairing that with a strong Power Weapon made me feel like I could actually fight back instead of just surviving. When the build is working, you can start spamming your Power Weapon, clearing rooms, surviving chaos, and feeling like the run is yours.

And that’s what I love about it. The game still asks you to get better, but it also lets you become powerful. It does not feel like fake progression. The better I get, the stronger my weapons become, and the less I feel like I need to rely on modifiers just to survive.

If it eventually gets too easy, I’ll turn modifiers back on and challenge myself. But right now, I’m enjoying the feeling of earning power after struggling. That loop is really satisfying.

Saros is awesome. It took a while for it to fully click, but once it did, I started to understand what the game is really doing.

P.s.

I kept googling why people think the crossbow was OP now I see why.

I forgot about this line in MorningStar after Victra killed a gold.

Ps. The gold name was Felicia