THOTH may seem straightforward at first, but it reveals surprising layers of complexity. I’ve completed the main set of levels, but now I have a new challenge being thrown at me. Much harder, much more frustrating, yet somehow still just as fun. It keeps drawing me back with a hope: maybe this time I’ll actually do it.
Learning Mechanics
As I’ve been playing the game, I’ve started to understand some of the underlying mechanics. Learning and understanding the rules are the first step to getting good at this game. Some of the rules are obvious, whereas others are a bit more nuanced.
For example, destroying enemies, or draining them of colour, doesn’t kill them. They can still kill you. That becomes obvious right away. When you destroy all the enemies you move on to the next level. Again, obvious. But there are other subtle things about the enemies that you might not pick up on immediately.
One of these subtleties is that when an enemy is destroyed, it no longer blocks your bullets. This makes it easier to destroy the other enemies on the screen, but you still have to dodge them if you want to complete the level. Another is more subtle, and something I didn’t notice until I’d played for some time.
When an enemy is destroyed, its behaviour changes. In general, they move faster and they actually target you. This makes them harder to dodge, and amps up the challenge as you work your way toward the last enemy. It’s a clever design that allows you to ease into a new level, and increases the difficulty as you destroy more enemies. The game is filled with simple concepts like this, that naturally increase the difficulty as you progress through a level.
I won’t go into the mechanics of all the enemies here, except to say that it is interesting how much I am still learning about their behaviour even after finishing all 64 of the main levels. It’s important to keep learning, because after you have “finished” the main game, THOTH is ready to throw even more challenges at you.
The New Challenge
For most of the game, you have to complete 4 levels at a time to make progress. After every fourth level is completed, you get a checkpoint allowing you to start playing from that level at any point in the future. The levels descend in number from 64, introducing new challenges as you progress.
You can die twice per level, but after the first death, the walls become deadly to the touch, demanding more precision and caution of the player if they want to survive to the next level. This gives the player a chance to recover and keep progressing, but it forces them to be more cautious. You can’t just hug the walls, you have to be more careful with your movements. If you fail you have to go back.
After completing the 64 levels, you are given a new challenge: 08. In this challenge you have to complete 8 levels in a row, instead of just 4. With each level, the stakes rise, and one mistake could send you spiraling back. Dying once can be nerve-wracking, knowing that if you slip up one more time you have to go back to the last checkpoint. I’ve been stuck on this challenge for a while now, and still can’t progress past it.
To make matters worse, the levels you play are randomly generated. You can’t just keep practising the same levels over and over, you need to be ready for any one of a small pool of levels to be thrown at you. You’ve finished the easy levels, so the game isn’t playing nice guy anymore.
The game is sending you a clear message: if you want to keep going, you need to get good. No longer can you win by luck. You actually need to master the movement controls to avoid enemies effectively, and develop a deep understanding of the mechanics so you can create new strategies on the fly.
The Hidden Challenge
There is also a hidden challenge in the game, revealed by an achievement. There is a co-op mode allowing you to play the game with a friend. The twist here is that if either player dies, they turn into a chaotic mass of void shadow and charge toward the other player. This mass moves fast – too fast. One wrong move, one moment of hesitation, and the shadow will destroy you.
The twist is that you don’t need a partner to play this game mode. The other player, rather than being an ally, becomes an extra challenge. Can you finish the level before they get killed and their ghost starts coming for you?
This hidden challenge is, in fact, the hardest challenge in the entire game. If you manage to beat all 64 levels in a single sitting, you will be rewarded with an achievement.
Challenging Depth
This deceptively simple game reveals layers of challenge and depth as you play. After clearing the main levels, the game introduces an intense new mode that pushes your skills to the limit. Each attempt is a mix of frustration and thrill, drawing you back with the hope that maybe this time, you’ll beat the next challenge.
