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PayPalPossibly still the absolute best action-roguelike survivor-like ever made, Halls of Torment has expanded with The Boglands DLC and a big free update. Note: a DLC key was provided to GamingOnLinux.
What is it? Halls of Torment looks a bit like the original classic Diablo, but its gameplay is based on Vampire Survivors. You pick a character class, and then run through a series of different halls to take down as many enemies as possible, while collecting experience to level up and completely over-power your character. It has the delicious sort of action that allows you to completely hyper-focus on it as you just tear through enemy after enemy. It gives the kind of pure chaos towards the end of a run that you can't help but appreciate it.
Check out The Boglands release trailer below:
Direct Link
It already had a lot of content to play through with multiple characters each with their own style, along with multiple rooms to battle through and lots of quests and now there's just more of it? The Boglands should be a no-brainer. The main problem with the DLC though, is that you need to have spent quite a long time in the game to actually be able to unlock the new content, because it requires hunting down potion ingredients across different halls (maps) to access it. A problem amplified by the 30 minute runs every time, which just feels a bit too long. It never wastes your time, but 30 minutes every time feels like a lot. I think I've been spoiled by the many other survivor-likes that have released with more compact runs.
Not an issue for seasoned players I imagine, maybe I'm just rubbish and that required me to put more time into it due to many failed runs, but I think you have to be really into Halls of Torment for the DLC to actually be worth it. Some of the enemy combinations really are tough to beat when put together. Then again, all it takes is one seriously good run to complete a whole bunch of quests, I think I was just unlucky at the start.
Thankfully, with all the quests you get to go through and their various rewards, I think it's worth it. Especially if you do enjoy over-powering your characters and constantly trying out new combinations using the special abilities you pick up from the maps and defeating the mini-bosses.
As for the DLC content, the new characters and maps certainly add a different flavour to the game, that may not be to everyone's tastes but it's fun to see the developers trying to do something a little different with it. It's been a little unstable and unbalanced since the DLC release though, but it's getting better after a couple of patches.
DLC Highlights:
- A New Stage:
Trudge through a murky swamp teeming with insects, spirits, and ancient walking trees. Time is not your enemy here—survival is. Victory lies not in the grains of sand in the hourglass, but in the piles of slain foes.- Two New Heroes:
- The Crone summons twisted plant life to ensnare enemies and spread Decay, a creeping affliction that weakens defense and shatters block chance.
- The Alchemist hurls volatile mixtures imbued with elemental powers—customizable for fire, ice, lightning, or earth. He thrives in chaos, and favors builds that harness multiple elements at once.
- 50+ New Quests:
Earn rewards by experimenting with new mechanics, braving the Boglands, and mastering your tools.- New Abilities & Gear:
Unlock three new abilities and a dozen new items—each designed to synergize with the Crone's control and the Alchemist's raw elemental creativity.- Decay Mechanic & Earth Element:
Unleash the new Earth element and apply Decay—a long-lasting, armor-cracking curse that softens even the toughest foes.- 6 New Artifacts:
Customize your runs with powerful stage modifiers. Risk meets reward as these ancient objects twist the rules to your favor—or demise.More Traits. More Blessings. More Ways to Die.
Expand your build potential with potion-focused blessings and new traits waiting to be uncovered.
Plus there's also the free update that gives you The Bard as a new end-game character with their own unique abilities too, along with a few assorted other new items sprinkled into the game. Plus, some bug fixes and balancing changes and a few bits of improvements for gamepad controller players. I haven't seen any controller issues since the update, it all feels like a perfect fit for a gamepad.
It's still easily one of the best designed survivor-likes available today. Not played it before? You're in for a treat.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Unfortunately, I finished all in the first one (bought at its releasing), ~40h time play. Do the DLC worth its 4€?
I like to play the sorceress especially on the bridge level. Upgrading till feeling the powa of electricity :D
I would love to find some goals or missions. Or more farming like in Diablo with more boss that lay down items (armor, helmet, etc.); Or a system where you find items that could be upgraded for example by mixing together two of them of the same class in the base camp to add their effects.
... And a VERY HARD level, where surviving would be really challenging out of combining the right items and magic.
Here is one of the more interesting/popular negative reviews:
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972499706/recommended/3919420/
All of this lead me to the conclusion, "I need to check this out", so I bought the DLC.
.. And a VERY HARD level, where surviving would be really challenging out of combining the right items and magic.
You mean something like The Vault?
I looked at new The Boglands DLC for my favorite action-roguelike survivor-like game, Halls of Torment. I was surprised when I saw that the user reviews were "Mixed" with 101 reviews (70 positive, 31 negative). Some of the English reviews talked about bugs, game crashes and balancing issues. There is also a couple that mentioned problems with "growth traits." Since I did not own the DLC, I could not confirm or deny any of these claims.
Not sure what are those reviews talking about, I already spent few hours in the Boglands and didn't saw any bug or game crash. With balancing I'm not sure, the Boglands is really hard even when you have all the 500 original quests already completed and maxed out almost everything. It's still easier than The Vault, which could make even the easiest enemies a health sponges after 30 minutes. The growth traits are not bad, it just took me two games to figure out how to best use them (maxing out the related trait first and then picking it up).
The new classes are really fun, each of them with their own specific mechanic (especially bard, which has it's own abilities).
You mean something like The Vault?
The main difference between The Vault and Boglands is that in The Vault trigger for boss was to destroy the crystals, here you need to kill 20 000 enemies, but both of them are very hard to survive and you need to have been prepared.
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