Roguelikes pose a unique challenge to players, asking them to put together the best run they can through their procedurally generated worlds with only a handful of random tools at their disposal. Some allow upgrades to persist upon death, making the next grind a little easier, while others wipe the player’s inventory and make them start from scratch.
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Post Voidis the latter type of roguelike, an incredibly fast and brutal arcade shooter that demands the best of its players and deals out a quick death if they aren’t up to the task. With upgrades disappearing upon death, it’s up to the player to survive long enough to get real use out of these unique and powerful abilities. Here’s everything players need to know aboutPost Void’supgrades and which ones are the best.
9Compass
Likemore thoughtful tactical shooters,Post Voidis a game with a purpose: getting to the end of the level in one piece. Compass helps players accomplish that by putting a pointer at the top of the screen that points in the direction the player needs to go. On paper this upgrade is useful, but in practice it’s a disaster.
Combat inPost Voidis fast and hectic, andhaving one’s eyes keep flickering to a direction on the HUD is an excellent way to get shot or eatenby an enemy who wasn’t similarly distracted. The Compass should pretty much only be taken if the other two upgrade options would cause the player to lose their current weapon. In every other case, there are better options than something that’s more of a distraction than anything else.
8Serious Mode
Serious Mode makes the player run faster backwards. This upgrade sounds useless but isn’t, at least not entirely. Running backwards deeper into the level is a terrible idea, since the player has no way of knowing where in the procedurally generated level they’re going, and enemies will be more than happy to capitalize on the player’s obliviousness.
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So what is Serious Mode used for?Its main use is to help the player beat a hasty retreat if they end up cornered and need to charge their Knife slash or reload their gun.In these situations, Serious Mode is incredibly useful. The problem is simply that these situations are niche and can largely be avoided by simply getting better at the game.
7Slow Bullets
Slow Bullets does exactly what it sounds like: slows down the enemies' bullets. About half of the enemies in the game use projectiles, so the application of this upgrade isn’t universal, butit can make a huge difference when the player is going against ranged enemies.
The player can slide to duck under enemy projectiles, but timing that slide can be difficult, especially if the player is new to the game. Slow Bullets gives the player just enough time to comfortably dodge these projectiles, and paired with intelligent strafing it can make surviving ranged battles far easier. As a side bonus, this upgrade gives players time to admire the projectiles being pelted at them.Post Voidmay not havethe best graphics around,but its intense art style shines in moments like these.
6Bigger Clips
Bigger Clips increases capacity of the player’s current gun, letting it hold more bullets. This upgrade increases the Pistol’s capacity by two shot and the Shotgun’s capacity by one, but that makes a big difference considering the Shotgun’s starting capacity is only two. In fact, Bigger Clips probably pairs best with the Shotgun since it helps that weapon overcome both its limited capacity and slow reload time.
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Bigger Clips can be acquired multiple times to further increase a gun’s capacity.This upgrade is useful, but on the Pistol and Uzi it doesn’t make a world of difference, and since the Knife can’t use it at all for obvious reasons, only one of the game’s four weapons gains a serious benefit from it, making Bigger Clips nice but somewhat niche.
5Big Idol
One thing that allthe best first-person shootershave in common is a plethora of ways to kill the player. How the player goes about the tough business of survival is a different matter. In some games, it’s by scavenging med-kits; in others, it’s by finding a recharge station to replenish their worn-down shields.InPost Voidthe player’s heal is measured by the life essence contained within the idol clutched in their left hand.
Life essence ticks down over time, even when the player isn’t being hurt by enemies, and it’s only a matter of seconds before it runs out. Big Idol adds one second to this countdown clock. Any buff to help is more than welcome, but Big Idol needs to be taken multiple times to make a real difference, keeping this upgrade from being the very best.
Given that the player has infinite ammunition, reloading might not seem like such a big deal. While running out of bullets might not be a concern, being forced to reload at the wrong moment and being killed mid-animation is a very real threat.
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The Reload Speed upgrade addresses this problem by decreasing the downtime between the player’s attacks.This is useful on every gun but is especially helpful for the Shotgun which suffers from a terrible reload speed starting off. Like some other upgrades, Reload Speed can be taken multiple times, stacking to further decrease the wait before the gun is ready again.
3Ghost
Don’t be fooled by the pixelated graphics and bright colors:Post Voidisn’tan FPS for kids.It’s easy to get swarmed by enemies and torn apart before the player has a chance to move, especially if the player takes a wrong turn in the game’s procedurally generated levels and runs into a dead end.
One of the biggest killers in the game is collision: running into an enemy slows the player down, and being slowed down by collision is often enough for the game’s frenzied monsters to rip the player to pieces and lead to a get Game Over screen. Ghost is helpful no matter the player’s build and strategy, but it’s a real life-saver when paired with the Knife since the player will always be in melee range to benefit from it.
2Rubber Bullets
One thing the game’samazing pixelated art styleis great for showing off is bullet impacts, and this upgrade cranks the joy of that up to a whole new level. The Rubber Bullets upgrade cases bullets to bounce off walls, dealing damage to enemies if the ricochet connects.
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Rubber Bullets do a couple of things fantastically well.The first is to decrease the punishment factor of the Shotgun, making it a little less miserable for the player if they miss with that finicky weapon and are forced to reload mid-battle. The second is to elevate the damage-dealing potential of the Uzi, letting the player make the most of the weapon’s spray-and-pray potential, coupled with the game’s narrow corridors, to turn any hallway or room into a death sentence. This upgrade doesn’t replace the need for accuracy and headshots, but it sure helps.
1Explosive Ammo
Explosive Ammo causes enemies to explode upon death. Unlike other upgrades, it works with every weapon, including the Knife which doesn’t benefit from most upgrades. Though it’s no help in a fight against a solo enemy, Explosive Ammo makes dealing with crowds of enemies a cinch. The player need only kill one enemy, and the rest will die with them.
Since the player heals inPost Voidby killing enemies, Explosive Ammo even doubles as a handy regeneration system, since the explosive blast of dying enemies will feed the player kills they wouldn’t otherwise have gotten, healing them up and keeping them in the fight longer.
