Torghast should just copy the Binding of Isaac's way of having a "Final Boss"

Community General Discussion
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Many people have been talking about whether or not Torghast should, or how it should have an ending. Not only does BoI have a good way of doing this, it also has a way of fixing other issues that have been seen in the Alpha with Torghast’s balancing.

In BoI, you basically do the same thing as we have seen in Alpha Torghast.

  • Climb randomized levels
  • Face stronger basic mobs the higher you climb
  • Face strong bosses at the end of each level

The only difference as of now, is that when you first start playing BoI, it has a final final boss.

However, on top of this, it has many meta-like systems of progression which are not currently present in Alpha’s version of Torghast as far as I am aware. Here are just a few.

  • After successfully killing the end boss a certain number of times, you unlock another chapter of differently themed more difficult floors which will have a new final final boss that you will have the option of facing in all of your future runs. Then after killing that new boss a certain number of times, you unlock more new themed floors, new boss, etc. continuing onto a grand final final final final boss.

  • Each chapter of floors is equally as difficult, and have equally difficult final bosses which are not constantly scaling - AKA the only power spikes happen AFTER you kill the final boss of a chapter, not after each floor

  • Completing certain accomplishments unlocks new “power ups” (Anima in Torghast) that you can then find in future runs

And heres a pretty special one -

  • If you are able to make it through to the end of the 4th(?) or so ‘final’ boss in a certain amount of time (this will only ever happen after you become very experienced and get pretty lucky) you unlock the option to do a “Boss Rush” room at the end of the chapter, which basically is a giant room where you get a choice of 4 ‘power up’ items for free but at the cost of having to face literally every boss in the entire game in rapid succession.

This way of structuring the concept of ‘final’ bosses not only solves the issue of having games which could theoretically last forever, it also helps to create predictable spikes in the power of enemies that you can play around. You will always know that you will have to face a SPECIFIC boss at a KNOWN point in EVERY run (with few exceptions).

TLDR: Copy paste Binding of Isaacs boss structure so the game has an ending final boss in every run, but also have the game extend in length after finishing the game multiple times.

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This is an exceptionally good idea.

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Binding of Isaac was fun on a bun and I think a lot of these systems would work really well in Torghast. I just hope that we don’t have to grind keys to get in.

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Binding of Isaac before or after that stupid DLC?

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I think it’s crucially important they do not use Horrific Visions’ model of progression as a model for Torghast.

There are many key issues for why it is problematic and unfun, but the main one is that Horrific Visons are designed to be unbeatable on your first run, and having to wait days until you can run again. If they were to implement that kind of design structure for a roguelike like Torghast, it would be an utter flop.

Roguelikes like BoI are designed around the idea of “Just one more run”. The fun is in the fact that you can keep running them to aquire skill, not power. By giving players more inherent power each run, it feels like 1. The game itself just screwed you over in your first runs by giving you a task that was literally impossible and 2. You do not deserve future victories, those were not earned because its not as if you played any better, you were just given +20% damage resist as a handicap.

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I personally dont like this idea. I prefer the option to play as much as I want without end if I want to. I mean Torghast is basically a gamemode in itself such as PvP or Raid. If I wanna pass my day doing it for fun why having a end

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BoI has an infinite run game mode, but infinity-run gamemodes in many roguelikes (IMO) are just not as fun as they sound. Or at the very least, not as fun as normal mode.

Although it goes against gut-feeling, I feel like the fact that a game has a certain amount of expected structure is exactly what makes it a game.