When you inevitably die, your XP goes toward global unlocks. However, you must have at least 100 tapes in the bank to make a withdrawal during a level. This comes in especially handy when you find the potion merchant selling three bottled mutations and you want an early advantage. While keys disappear on death, you can store tapes at a bank in the village hub. Most enemies drop one or two cassettes and floppy keys usually serve as a reward for side quests, which you then use to open the locked chest right next to the quest giver. You have two kinds of currency, floppy keys, and cassette tapes. All these elements make RAD a surprisingly fast-paced rougelite.
Likewise, cleared bunkers have teleporters connecting their front doors, eliminating backtracking through cleared hallways. The bunker sections have more traditional dungeon-crawling elements, but each dead end has either a secret or a teleporter pad that takes you back to the nearest hub room. RAD puts a lot of emphasis on optimized movement. Plus, as activating objects creates an oasis of greenery, it feels like you’re bringing permanent, positive change to this desert wasteland. This makes backtracking easy and allows you to more effectively kite enemies by running in circles around them. Walking over your trail doubles your movement speed, and all that feedback helps you internalize the map's layout. This is such a hugely important mechanic, I’d say it’s RAD’s main takeaway from a design point of view.Įvery time I found myself on a new island, I’d eventually find my old trail and it would suddenly click how the pieces fit together.
As a result of the Elder’s keytar treatment, you leave a trail of grass and flowers in your wake. RAD shines most in its passive, initially unnoticeable movement mechanics. I only died to the growing hordes of AOE-spamming mutants.ĭiscovering RAD’s Best Features Just activate the Easter Island head so it vomits purple light at the boss door. With the right mutations, bosses pose no threat. With the wrong mutations, bosses are a chore. Kiting a cyber minotaur with auto-aim magic missiles isn’t fun when the boss has no way to fight back.
The bat feels underpowered on its own, especially against badass mutants, but powerful mutations removed my agency. Sadly, it didn’t have the same satisfaction as steamrolling bosses with a broken combination of loot in The Binding of Isaac. Instead of using my bat, I just ran in circles, spawning minions until the fight ended. On my second run, my mutations could spawn infinite spider minions. I tried a hit and run strategy, chipping away at their health, but that was ineffective. The enemies darted around while firing off AOE attacks that proved difficult to dodge at close range.
The first time I went into the boss room, three melee mutants slaughtered me in seconds. Paradoxically, they both give you a fighting chance and completely unbalance gameplay. Ranged attacks flip the combat formula on its head. One debuff reduced my projectile range by half. They weaken your whole character, but not necessarily a specific mutation. Debuffs come from bad rolls on the mutation station. You can even earn stacks of the same mutation, increasing their power. Exo mutations are active abilities, usually ranged attacks, like a mind bullet. Endo mutations are passive buffs, like the ability to see all loot (even on hidden enemies). There are three types of mutations: Endo, Exo, and Debuff.
THE BINDING OF ISAAC RUSTED KEY UPGRADE
When the bar is full (or if you find a mutation upgrade station), you gain a new ability. Killing enemies or eating a special item grants you XP, which gives you an incentive to kill as many enemies as possible. If you want to survive the journey, you’ll need mutations. Growing RAD’s Radical Radioactive Mutations Let the giant metal skull fill you with radiation.