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* Episode 1: Astral Equinox
** Celenic Stronghold, the very first level of the game, introduces many mechanics, weapons and concepts of the game. It also gives you the first taste of what scope the game will have in terms of locations: '' this is an entire garrison located in the mountain'', with many twisted corridors to explore and ''nine!'' secrets to find. This is a starter level, mind you, and it's already huge and visually impressive.
** Astral Acolytes, your [[StarterVillain first antagonitstic faction]], first hunts you down in this level. You'd expect them to be absolute weaklings, but you'd only be half right: they're simple, but not weak. Even the simplest Mooks that fall from one hit of your axe can kill you if you're not paying attention, there are Deacons carrying a copy of Whisper's Edge you can enter a long range duel with, Angels that shoot ''lightning at you'' and towering giants that shoot waves of flames.
*** Special mention goes to Starlight Defenders. These wear signature red armor, unlike other Acolytes, and are known for tossing grenades that ''they themselves are immune to''. Should you get close, they're not afraid to ''punch you with their grenades doing massive damage''. They're even the only foes of the episode who get a special introduction: as you're walking on a bridge not too far from exit, you hear a deep growl before a grenade lands before your feet and blows up the bridge under you!
** Bastion of the Blue Moon is even more impressive, with many open spaces, hidden passages and surprises to find. Closer to the end of the level you're even greeted with a small gauntlet of all foes from the episode that spans two floors, with Defenders bombing you from above as the rest of Acolytes try to hack or blast you to bits.
** Vaults of Midnight, penultimate level of the episode, is where real challenge comes in. Enemies are numerous, corridors are confusing and take many shapes and sizes, there are multiple open rooms where Angels try to swarm you, all while you hunt for a key to get to the heart of this world. The combat is almost uninterrupted, fitting for training grounds preceding the boss level, but given variety and quantity for enemies, very fun. This is also the level where you're officially introduced to Celestial Claw, so have fun blasting your foes with planets!
** At the Lunar Sanctuary, you come across your first boss of the game, Moon Guardian. And once again, this being the first boss, he's simpler than the rest, but still packs a punch and is fun to engage in combat. He's towering, has cool armor, GlowingEyesOfDoom and gigantic halberd that shoots crescent projectiles at you. These projectiles are semi-homing, do substantial damage and bounce off walls many times, trying their best to get redirected straight to your face. Should you try to engage in a close fight, he does a powerful SpinAttack that can take away more than 60 hp on higher difficulties while knocking you back. While he prefers long range combat and his spin attack has cooldown, he's not completely defenseless. You can try to run away from him, but ''there are no invisible walls at his arena'', meaning he'll follow you and will still try to kill you! And this is just the beginning of the game. So commence combat with him, make him fall to the floor and shatter to pieces and the victory is yours!
* Episode 2: Domain Of The Sentinels:
** This is where the game slowly begins getting harder and even more impressive, beginning with the foes of this world: The Sentinels. Unlike previous foes, these are stated to have been brutal, [[FantasticRacism xenophobic]] Perfectionist race even before the Evil Force came. Now that the evil has conquered them, they're reduced to a mindless army of hosts for PuppeteerParasite spawn, altered to have fleshy growths and many eyes, attacking anyone in search for more hosts. Some resemble their old forms, others are either partially or completely overtaken by parasites, all providing engaging combat, while showing just how dangerous this mysterious evil is.
** Citadel of the Watchers, a border fortification of Sentinels, does good job at showcasing how drastically different the worlds are. Instead of clean and greatly decorated halls housed by acolytes of the Moon, this is a bulky, grimy building with SigilSpam of the Sentinels, messages about importance of perfection scattered on walls, moving traps that guard keys to important areas and paths that assemble themselves at a push of a button, all while numerous statues showing how Sentinels looked like before keeping silent watch over the facility.
** Forgone Fortress is regarded by many to be their favorite early level, and it shows: this is a huge tower with a spacious central room you have to ascend, many surprise attacks, well-hidden secrets and unofficial introduction to Invisibility power-up. Perhaps a highlight of this already good level is at the top of the Fortress, where you have to navigate small connected platforms above the floor to reach the key to exit room, while fighting off many foes and especially flying Watchers, whose psychic attacks can knock you off.
** Halls Of Doom (it had to happen some time) is where Sentinels indulged in killing their enemies by either throwing them into the abyss below or making them go through spike trap gauntlets. Sure enough, the enemy numbers rack up even more, with stronger foes appearing in greater quantities, amplifying the difficulty and awesomeness of the most trap-filled level yet. It ends with you gaining access to the tower, where you're put up against a horde of every single enemy from the Episode while you have to push buttons to create yourself a way to ascend even more, only to end the level by finding a drop at the very top of the tower that leads straight to the boss level.
*** Of course, let's also not forget the introduction of Aeturnum. As you wander around the open part of the Halls, you come across a purple spaghetti lying at the edge of the facility. After you pick it up, a huge horde appears behind your back, ready to strike. Shoot your new magic BFG into the crowd and watch the sparks fly as the everything is obliterated.
** Sentinel's Sanctuary pits you against the source of parasitic infection that has overtaken Sentinels - [[EldritchAbomination The Scrounge]]. Based off the previous episode's boss, you'd probably expect to fight a towering Sentinel with the greatest stage of infection yet, but instead you're greeted by an [[BlobMonster enormous slime]], with [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyes all over its body]], protruding orange tendrils and glowing bulbs. Instead of trying to stay in a long range, this thing actively hops around the arena, reaching you even if you decide to hide from it on the upper layer, blasts you with eyeballs similar to the most powerful enemy of the episode,Flesh Walker, and, uniquely among bosses, [[FlunkyBoss periodically summons]] his Sons in large quantities [[WeaponizedOffspring to attack you]] by going in your face and blowing up. All while it makes growling noises as a guttural BattleCry. And unlike Moon Guardian, he doesn't fall as quickly until you gather enough souls from his spawn. Beat the living thing out of him and watch him inflate and pop like a fleshy balloon. This also destroys the pool of water filled with more of his spawn in the center of the arena, allowing you to enter the portal to end the episode.
* Episode 3: The Sacred Path:
** The enemy variety continues to surprise, as this time the Champion must face off against elemental enemies. Some are stone warriors who simply guard the path, others are brought to life by the evil force. Even the waters are not safe as numerous animated stone fishes patrol the pools, threatening anyone brave enough to take a swim. This time, besides having a new behavior and attacks, some foes have small interactions with each other as well as LogicalWeakness. For example, Fire Wraiths take double damage from Staff of Azure Orb due to it's water-based projectiles, but can also turn Creepers, living vegetation monsters, into more Flame Wraiths should they cross with their fireball attacks. Stone Guardians, meanwhile, take double damage from Celestial Claw.
*** Special mention goes to Shrub Niggurath and Giant Protector. The first is a reference to one of the most powerful entities from Cthulhu Mythos, as well as the final boss of {{VideoGame/Quake}}, which the game is partially inspired by. Unlike that version, this one is a huge animated vegetation that, while stationary and tough, is able to attack the Champion by rapidly lobbing acid projectiles that can leave lasting damaging acid pools. Giant Protector, meanwhile, is perhaps the biggest monster of this episode, a MightyGlacier at its finest: he's slow, tough, has glowing red eye and instead of normal stones Protectors hurl at you, he throws huge ''lava'' balls that explode on contact with anything it hits!
** The aforementioned path is a part of the same world as The Gateway, but overrun by evil corruption, so the atmosphere is the one of the hub world cranked to 11. Journeyman's Way, the first level, is essentially you slowly building your path to the door on the other side of a huge growth pit in the main room by traversing many hidden paths connected to it. New foes make themselves known almost immediately, there are many lava lakes and dangerous falls present and you even get the first taste of magical air currents that can carry you around. All topped off by the enemy encounter above said main room: as you finally reach the second floor, an ominous message can be seen on the wall:"The Giant guards the path". The very next room greets you with many Protectors you can awake all at once or one by one, but as soon as you reach the end of the room, an enormous stone cylcops with glowing eye assembles itself, jumps down and begins tossing lava balls at you!
** Aposte's Shrine seems like a good possible location for an Indiana Jones movie. It has everything: ancient foes, newly-introduced stone faces that breath fire, ambushes, waterways you have to navigate to go further and filled to brim with animated stone fishes, old switches and paths - perhaps the most massive level yet, and the one where you're never sure where your path may go next.
** Pilgrim's Temple begins rather normal, with you having to beat waves of foes to find a key to the gates of the temple. But once you get inside, you have to ascend the massive stairs fighting foes and also learning about the travels of a mysterious Pilgrim, who visited many worlds, unaware they were overtaken by evil. After you finally enter the temple itself, fight its guardians in order to access the ascending platform and reach the top, you're greeted with two messages that [[WhamLine drop a massive bombshell on Pilgrim's fate]]: he slowly succumbed to evil until overtaken completely, his spirit, tethered to the grounds of Temple's Sanctuary, driven by desire for expanding its power, murdering everyone who would dare to follow his path. The level ends after one final gauntlet, which allows you to open the door to the Sanctuary using a button located in a mysterious obelisk.
** Ancient Sanctuary immediately drops some hints about what awaits you: giant stone eyes carved above the entrance and around the Sanctuary, and an ominous "You're being watched". As you enter the Sanctuary proper, you're treated to the sight of strangely empty boss arena, with most of it containing lava lakes with some platforms to navigate, as well as alcoves full of mana and weapons to the sides. Approach the center and you're greeted with the most epic boss intro yet: after a guttural incantation is heard from seemingly nowhere, ''a giant ghostly eye materializes in the centre of the room, summons a huge tornado that attracts giant stone bricks and begins hurling them at you! '' Meet Corrupt Spirit.
*** The boss battle itself is awesome for multiple reasons. Unlike previous ones, Spirit is a StationaryBoss, but he doesn't need to move: he uses the tornado to throw stone bricks at you that deal substantial damage and have a ''huge'' knockback, doing it in groups where each brick can either track your current position or predict it. The same bricks are used as a huge shield, which make hitting the boss himself very difficult. Whittle him to 40%, and he'll be revealed to be a SequentialBoss by adding lava lakes to previously-safer alcoves, [[EvilLaugh laughing at the Champion having safe zones taken from him]]. Knock him down even more, ''and he literally TurnsRed as lava balls begin to be shot out of every single lava pool''. So you have to dodge or shoot down bricks he throws at you, while collecting mana around the arena filled with lava and utterly bombarded by lava balls. This entire combination is enough to make the jaw drop from the epicness. Put him to rest at last, and you're done with Sacred Path.
* Episode 4: Solar Solstice:
** Ah, planet Astronomica. This episode sees us return to it once more, but this time venture the side of the planet belonging to priests of the Sun. And due to their culture being very to Lunar Acolytes, you'll find that the local foes are basically more advanced counterparts to Episode 1 enemies, with some exceptions. Basic foes are now more aggressive, ''madly jumping at you to hack with their axes'', there are soldiers with huge shields [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe that can deflect]] [[AttackReflector your projectiles]] and throwable DamageOverTime flaming spears, flying Seraphs that shoot sun projectiles and even high ranking members of society that can summon flaming trails from the ground. And then there's a freaking Sol Butcher, a towering, tough purple mountain with especially sharp blade that acts as a ''stronger'' version of your Whisper's edge. A huge difference from Episode 1, but that only makes this new faction more exciting to fight.
** The new episode begins with a Bright Pass, a multi-floor temple used for prayers and sungazing. It features some of the most stunning views and musical score yet, with mountains lit by the ever present rising sun, golden sun decorations donning many walls and a huge multitude of various torches emphasizing the sun priests' religion. You have to use many different switches to build a path out of floating sun decorations between floors, fight off gradually introduced hordes of cultists and a learn a lot about their current situation as you strive to reach the depths of the temple basement to proceed further.
** The Illumination Complex doesn't fall behind. An absolutely massive system of barracks, vantage towers and waterways, this lakeside base is full of ambushes, gauntlets and newly-introduced fireball traps. All while you have to manipulate the present waterway system to allow yourself to move around the various parts of the complex.
** The Tower of Light, being the concentration of the best-trained warriors and holy energy, features the most intense non-boss combat of the episode. Foes are aplenty, take strategic positions, and have greater quantities of stronger foes to annihilate you. The best part begins as soon as you enter the Tower itself, where you must ascend to the top using air currents and building stairs. The second-to-top floor even introduces Flight power up, which you must use to not only press a ton of switches at different heights to access the final door, but also to engage into the air-to-land combat, as the concentration of projectiles and leaping foes reaches its maximum.
** As soon as you enter the Solar Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind.
*** The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
* Episode 5: The Forges:
** The Forges. ThatOneLevel collection for some, one of the greatest episodes for others. To begin with, we have one of the most numerous and standing-out factions in the whole game: dispersing with creatures, parasites or mad cultists, the episode instead provides a vast array of [[MechaMooks evil autonomous machines]], powered by huge amounts of energy present in the Forges' geographical areas and tasked with maintaining the various traps and machinery of the Forges. They range from strange spiked balls to robots with explosive harpoons and laser eyes to absolute monstrosities that can disperse hot nails faster than conventional miniguns. The many waters and acid pools are practically infested with robotic fish and even the energy of the Forges itself is attacking you in form of an angry spirit. All of these are sure to provide the toughest challenge yet, but when was whacking various scrapheads not fun? And that's not to mention these are basically robots ''in a magical setting! ''
** Ruins of Rust is what happens if you take the droid factory from Attack of the Clones and put it on Kamino. The floor emanates green energy from cracks, various huge buildings are often lit up by a thunderstorm, new robotic foes await at every corner and you get the first taste of the most-trap filled episode of the whole game with its many spinning gears, elevators, falls and ambushes. You also get to know the Overseer enemy, which has a hook he can use to ''pull you into these falls and traps. '' All this can be frustrating, but it also requires strategic planning of your resources and the combat itself still remains fun and engaging, not to mention the pleasure overcoming the difficult states.
** The Crucible Of Pain begins with a more that justified warning: "Prepare yourself for the pain ahead". Perhaps ''the'' most trap-filled level of the game, this is a point where the difficulty really amps up. There are twisting hallwaya, looked doors, many button sequences some of which have hidden buttons you must shoot, laser traps, swinging blades, green energy floors, rolling wheels that crush you, spikes... And once again, this adds more layers to the game as now you need to do platforming, dodging the traps and planning strategically even more so. This level also introduces the most dangerous, but, perhaps, the most cool enemy of the episode: the appropriately named Painmaster. It can easily be considered a mini-boss of the episode: [[SpikesOfVillainy spikes all over the body]], most health out of any Forges foe, he may not be the fastest, but if he catches up, he's gonna rain hell of hot nails [[DeathOfAThousandCuts that, while do little damage by themselves, fly out quickly and in ''huge'' quantities]], so much that he can kill you in seconds if you stop moving. If you managed to get enough skill from previous episodes, you'll find all of this not too controller-breakingly difficult and very engaging. Even if not, you'll be getting lots of practice...
** The Gantlet of Torment(yes, that's how you spell it), while sounding as scary as the previous level, is actually not too heavy on the traps and more leaning towards platforming. Moving platforms and waterways(or, more accurately, acidways) are a plenty, you'll often find yourself backtracking and visiting previous rooms from a different angle, all while ascending higher and higher to the top of the complex. Highlights include a huge room with a spinning mechanism that connects to multiple rooms and paths and is pivotal to your ascension, as well as a platforming segment where you must retrieve silver key while jumping around platforms with constantly changing aptitude and possibly dodging attacks of multiple Overseers. A good finisher for a difficult, but awesome set of levels.
** Forsaken Sanctuary, the climax boss level of the episode, is longer than the previous ones. You have to navigate a set of walkways surrounding a suspiciously empty plast of energy-affected ground. You'd think this is a boss arena, but you aren't there yet: you have to find a button for emergency release control, which allows you to disperse some liquid from the giant pipe which melts the ground ''and reveals a whole hidden section underneath. '' Jumping down, you're greeted with a long and slighly narrow corridor with three similar pipes, mana and weapons scattered about and a huge circular room with what seems to be a ''pillar of molten metal'' at its centre. Approach the pillar, if you dare, and you'll be treated to a sight of the pillar disappearing, ''revealing a huge walking armor who's been probably standing there the whole time unaffected, that proceeds to taunt you before rushing at you with it's huge sword. '' Champion, Forgemaster. Forgemaster, ''your latest victim''.
** Now comes the time for the fight itself. This guy can do lunges with his huge sword that knocks you back, hit the ground with it to create flame trails and even launch bouncing fireballs. Because his arena has a rather incoventional shape, these attacks can be more difficult to dodge than if it was a normal arena, but they look absolutely epic. But the main difference from other boss fights is the fact that Forgemaster is a PuzzleBoss: he can't be normally hurt due to strengthening himself with molten metal. This is where the pipes come in: you must press the buttons at the right moment to douse him with what's either the most advanced coolant or acid that removed the molten metal shield. That doesn't leave him defenseless, howvere: with the change of the color scheme, he retains the lunge attack without knockback and gains an entirely new attack in place of flame trails, where he ''summons a green energy pillar from the ground at your immediate location''. All in all, a tough and epic boss. Blast this villainous machine and watch him get blown to pieces. You have beaten the toughest episode yet, congratulations!
* Episode 6: The Arcane Expanse:
** If the Forges were conflicting on its position of one of the best, this episode is universally agreed to be one of the best. And it shows, beginning with the faction of corrupted arcane mages and their creations. CrystallineCreature foes come in many shapes, from spiders and snakes to dangerous beasts, there are mages that can dodge you attacks, mages that attack similarly either to your Celestial Claw or Star of Torment (since these weapons were created in this world) and even towering Alpha mages that have ''an interdimensional eye'' in the place of their heads that launch energy barrages. The magic aspect is cranked to eleven, an epic penultimate challenge.
** The world of Arcane Expanse is not what you'd expect: it's a magical dimension where mages experimented with fabric of reality itself so much it's often distorted or practically non-existent. The Arcland Verge gives a taste of repercussions of these experiments, with many floating islands you must traverse with the use for portals, multi-floor temples with many intricate decorations and general magical theme pushed to the max. The music has one of the best tracks, complimenting the atmosphere even further.
** The Hexed Passage. ''Dear Lord. '' You might think that the description of non-euclidian dimension is a joke, but it's not. AlienGeometries, optical illusions and [[BiggerOnTheInside dimensions that don't correlate]] are a constant theme of this level, providing the most mind-boggling and mind-blowing experience of traversing a level yet. Once you beat it normally, check it out with no-clipping cheat. The execution of this many illusions is simple, but effective, you have to see it for yourself.
** The Circle features the titular meeting place, which you must ascend in order to reach the portal to the other structure of the mages. There are multiple button sequences, gigantic stone statues of the highest ranking mages of the Expanse and a new way to traverse the environment: water bubble hopping. That's right, there are floating water bubbles, so you have to ''swim in the air from one bubble to another'' in order to advance. Get used to this way of transportation the first time you do it, since this level has a lot of the water hopping sequences. Not to mention the concentration of the toughest foes, such as Alpha Battlemages and Crybeasts rising drastically. A good second-to-final challenge of a good episode.
** The Unholy Sanctuary. If you thought you were going to fight the leader of the mages, the Archmage of Chaos, you'd be wrong. Sometime in his life, the Archmage, corrupted by evil, made a DealWithTheDevil: his soul in exchange for summoning two dangerous beings. The exit from this world is locked behind a button which needs a key, but the other thing that should trigger your suspicion is the fact you're given every weapon from the game. Once you see a key at the bottom of a huge drop, you can land there to find yourself in a huge water bubble, near which the gravity is smaller than in other parts of Expanse. Than, out of nowhere, with loud roar, two huge beasts appear, monstrous serpents known as the Twin Terror. And you? ''Their dinner''.
*** The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you to keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. They shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing. You also have to track where you are at in the water bubble you're suspended in, since if you fall, you have to aim at one of the platforms that summon winds to bring you back up, or else it's instant death. The Terrors know this, since they also possess a ramming attack that can knock you back, meaning you ''also'' have to take into account their position to see when they're charging attack to either dodge it in time or damage them with certain weapons to make them change direction. Not too bad for a penultimate (at least for the episode release order). Beat them and watch them turn to sparks, because now you need to prepare the final challenge.
** Celenic Stronghold, the very first level of the game, introduces many mechanics, weapons and concepts of the game. It also gives you the first taste of what scope the game will have in terms of locations: '' this is an entire garrison located in the mountain'', with many twisted corridors to explore and ''nine!'' secrets to find. This is a starter level, mind you, and it's already huge and visually impressive.
** Astral Acolytes, your [[StarterVillain first antagonitstic faction]], first hunts you down in this level. You'd expect them to be absolute weaklings, but you'd only be half right: they're simple, but not weak. Even the simplest Mooks that fall from one hit of your axe can kill you if you're not paying attention, there are Deacons carrying a copy of Whisper's Edge you can enter a long range duel with, Angels that shoot ''lightning at you'' and towering giants that shoot waves of flames.
*** Special mention goes to Starlight Defenders. These wear signature red armor, unlike other Acolytes, and are known for tossing grenades that ''they themselves are immune to''. Should you get close, they're not afraid to ''punch you with their grenades doing massive damage''. They're even the only foes of the episode who get a special introduction: as you're walking on a bridge not too far from exit, you hear a deep growl before a grenade lands before your feet and blows up the bridge under you!
** Bastion of the Blue Moon is even more impressive, with many open spaces, hidden passages and surprises to find. Closer to the end of the level you're even greeted with a small gauntlet of all foes from the episode that spans two floors, with Defenders bombing you from above as the rest of Acolytes try to hack or blast you to bits.
** Vaults of Midnight, penultimate level of the episode, is where real challenge comes in. Enemies are numerous, corridors are confusing and take many shapes and sizes, there are multiple open rooms where Angels try to swarm you, all while you hunt for a key to get to the heart of this world. The combat is almost uninterrupted, fitting for training grounds preceding the boss level, but given variety and quantity for enemies, very fun. This is also the level where you're officially introduced to Celestial Claw, so have fun blasting your foes with planets!
** At the Lunar Sanctuary, you come across your first boss of the game, Moon Guardian. And once again, this being the first boss, he's simpler than the rest, but still packs a punch and is fun to engage in combat. He's towering, has cool armor, GlowingEyesOfDoom and gigantic halberd that shoots crescent projectiles at you. These projectiles are semi-homing, do substantial damage and bounce off walls many times, trying their best to get redirected straight to your face. Should you try to engage in a close fight, he does a powerful SpinAttack that can take away more than 60 hp on higher difficulties while knocking you back. While he prefers long range combat and his spin attack has cooldown, he's not completely defenseless. You can try to run away from him, but ''there are no invisible walls at his arena'', meaning he'll follow you and will still try to kill you! And this is just the beginning of the game. So commence combat with him, make him fall to the floor and shatter to pieces and the victory is yours!
* Episode 2: Domain Of The Sentinels:
** This is where the game slowly begins getting harder and even more impressive, beginning with the foes of this world: The Sentinels. Unlike previous foes, these are stated to have been brutal, [[FantasticRacism xenophobic]] Perfectionist race even before the Evil Force came. Now that the evil has conquered them, they're reduced to a mindless army of hosts for PuppeteerParasite spawn, altered to have fleshy growths and many eyes, attacking anyone in search for more hosts. Some resemble their old forms, others are either partially or completely overtaken by parasites, all providing engaging combat, while showing just how dangerous this mysterious evil is.
** Citadel of the Watchers, a border fortification of Sentinels, does good job at showcasing how drastically different the worlds are. Instead of clean and greatly decorated halls housed by acolytes of the Moon, this is a bulky, grimy building with SigilSpam of the Sentinels, messages about importance of perfection scattered on walls, moving traps that guard keys to important areas and paths that assemble themselves at a push of a button, all while numerous statues showing how Sentinels looked like before keeping silent watch over the facility.
** Forgone Fortress is regarded by many to be their favorite early level, and it shows: this is a huge tower with a spacious central room you have to ascend, many surprise attacks, well-hidden secrets and unofficial introduction to Invisibility power-up. Perhaps a highlight of this already good level is at the top of the Fortress, where you have to navigate small connected platforms above the floor to reach the key to exit room, while fighting off many foes and especially flying Watchers, whose psychic attacks can knock you off.
** Halls Of Doom (it had to happen some time) is where Sentinels indulged in killing their enemies by either throwing them into the abyss below or making them go through spike trap gauntlets. Sure enough, the enemy numbers rack up even more, with stronger foes appearing in greater quantities, amplifying the difficulty and awesomeness of the most trap-filled level yet. It ends with you gaining access to the tower, where you're put up against a horde of every single enemy from the Episode while you have to push buttons to create yourself a way to ascend even more, only to end the level by finding a drop at the very top of the tower that leads straight to the boss level.
*** Of course, let's also not forget the introduction of Aeturnum. As you wander around the open part of the Halls, you come across a purple spaghetti lying at the edge of the facility. After you pick it up, a huge horde appears behind your back, ready to strike. Shoot your new magic BFG into the crowd and watch the sparks fly as the everything is obliterated.
** Sentinel's Sanctuary pits you against the source of parasitic infection that has overtaken Sentinels - [[EldritchAbomination The Scrounge]]. Based off the previous episode's boss, you'd probably expect to fight a towering Sentinel with the greatest stage of infection yet, but instead you're greeted by an [[BlobMonster enormous slime]], with [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyes all over its body]], protruding orange tendrils and glowing bulbs. Instead of trying to stay in a long range, this thing actively hops around the arena, reaching you even if you decide to hide from it on the upper layer, blasts you with eyeballs similar to the most powerful enemy of the episode,Flesh Walker, and, uniquely among bosses, [[FlunkyBoss periodically summons]] his Sons in large quantities [[WeaponizedOffspring to attack you]] by going in your face and blowing up. All while it makes growling noises as a guttural BattleCry. And unlike Moon Guardian, he doesn't fall as quickly until you gather enough souls from his spawn. Beat the living thing out of him and watch him inflate and pop like a fleshy balloon. This also destroys the pool of water filled with more of his spawn in the center of the arena, allowing you to enter the portal to end the episode.
* Episode 3: The Sacred Path:
** The enemy variety continues to surprise, as this time the Champion must face off against elemental enemies. Some are stone warriors who simply guard the path, others are brought to life by the evil force. Even the waters are not safe as numerous animated stone fishes patrol the pools, threatening anyone brave enough to take a swim. This time, besides having a new behavior and attacks, some foes have small interactions with each other as well as LogicalWeakness. For example, Fire Wraiths take double damage from Staff of Azure Orb due to it's water-based projectiles, but can also turn Creepers, living vegetation monsters, into more Flame Wraiths should they cross with their fireball attacks. Stone Guardians, meanwhile, take double damage from Celestial Claw.
*** Special mention goes to Shrub Niggurath and Giant Protector. The first is a reference to one of the most powerful entities from Cthulhu Mythos, as well as the final boss of {{VideoGame/Quake}}, which the game is partially inspired by. Unlike that version, this one is a huge animated vegetation that, while stationary and tough, is able to attack the Champion by rapidly lobbing acid projectiles that can leave lasting damaging acid pools. Giant Protector, meanwhile, is perhaps the biggest monster of this episode, a MightyGlacier at its finest: he's slow, tough, has glowing red eye and instead of normal stones Protectors hurl at you, he throws huge ''lava'' balls that explode on contact with anything it hits!
** The aforementioned path is a part of the same world as The Gateway, but overrun by evil corruption, so the atmosphere is the one of the hub world cranked to 11. Journeyman's Way, the first level, is essentially you slowly building your path to the door on the other side of a huge growth pit in the main room by traversing many hidden paths connected to it. New foes make themselves known almost immediately, there are many lava lakes and dangerous falls present and you even get the first taste of magical air currents that can carry you around. All topped off by the enemy encounter above said main room: as you finally reach the second floor, an ominous message can be seen on the wall:"The Giant guards the path". The very next room greets you with many Protectors you can awake all at once or one by one, but as soon as you reach the end of the room, an enormous stone cylcops with glowing eye assembles itself, jumps down and begins tossing lava balls at you!
** Aposte's Shrine seems like a good possible location for an Indiana Jones movie. It has everything: ancient foes, newly-introduced stone faces that breath fire, ambushes, waterways you have to navigate to go further and filled to brim with animated stone fishes, old switches and paths - perhaps the most massive level yet, and the one where you're never sure where your path may go next.
** Pilgrim's Temple begins rather normal, with you having to beat waves of foes to find a key to the gates of the temple. But once you get inside, you have to ascend the massive stairs fighting foes and also learning about the travels of a mysterious Pilgrim, who visited many worlds, unaware they were overtaken by evil. After you finally enter the temple itself, fight its guardians in order to access the ascending platform and reach the top, you're greeted with two messages that [[WhamLine drop a massive bombshell on Pilgrim's fate]]: he slowly succumbed to evil until overtaken completely, his spirit, tethered to the grounds of Temple's Sanctuary, driven by desire for expanding its power, murdering everyone who would dare to follow his path. The level ends after one final gauntlet, which allows you to open the door to the Sanctuary using a button located in a mysterious obelisk.
** Ancient Sanctuary immediately drops some hints about what awaits you: giant stone eyes carved above the entrance and around the Sanctuary, and an ominous "You're being watched". As you enter the Sanctuary proper, you're treated to the sight of strangely empty boss arena, with most of it containing lava lakes with some platforms to navigate, as well as alcoves full of mana and weapons to the sides. Approach the center and you're greeted with the most epic boss intro yet: after a guttural incantation is heard from seemingly nowhere, ''a giant ghostly eye materializes in the centre of the room, summons a huge tornado that attracts giant stone bricks and begins hurling them at you! '' Meet Corrupt Spirit.
*** The boss battle itself is awesome for multiple reasons. Unlike previous ones, Spirit is a StationaryBoss, but he doesn't need to move: he uses the tornado to throw stone bricks at you that deal substantial damage and have a ''huge'' knockback, doing it in groups where each brick can either track your current position or predict it. The same bricks are used as a huge shield, which make hitting the boss himself very difficult. Whittle him to 40%, and he'll be revealed to be a SequentialBoss by adding lava lakes to previously-safer alcoves, [[EvilLaugh laughing at the Champion having safe zones taken from him]]. Knock him down even more, ''and he literally TurnsRed as lava balls begin to be shot out of every single lava pool''. So you have to dodge or shoot down bricks he throws at you, while collecting mana around the arena filled with lava and utterly bombarded by lava balls. This entire combination is enough to make the jaw drop from the epicness. Put him to rest at last, and you're done with Sacred Path.
* Episode 4: Solar Solstice:
** Ah, planet Astronomica. This episode sees us return to it once more, but this time venture the side of the planet belonging to priests of the Sun. And due to their culture being very to Lunar Acolytes, you'll find that the local foes are basically more advanced counterparts to Episode 1 enemies, with some exceptions. Basic foes are now more aggressive, ''madly jumping at you to hack with their axes'', there are soldiers with huge shields [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe that can deflect]] [[AttackReflector your projectiles]] and throwable DamageOverTime flaming spears, flying Seraphs that shoot sun projectiles and even high ranking members of society that can summon flaming trails from the ground. And then there's a freaking Sol Butcher, a towering, tough purple mountain with especially sharp blade that acts as a ''stronger'' version of your Whisper's edge. A huge difference from Episode 1, but that only makes this new faction more exciting to fight.
** The new episode begins with a Bright Pass, a multi-floor temple used for prayers and sungazing. It features some of the most stunning views and musical score yet, with mountains lit by the ever present rising sun, golden sun decorations donning many walls and a huge multitude of various torches emphasizing the sun priests' religion. You have to use many different switches to build a path out of floating sun decorations between floors, fight off gradually introduced hordes of cultists and a learn a lot about their current situation as you strive to reach the depths of the temple basement to proceed further.
** The Illumination Complex doesn't fall behind. An absolutely massive system of barracks, vantage towers and waterways, this lakeside base is full of ambushes, gauntlets and newly-introduced fireball traps. All while you have to manipulate the present waterway system to allow yourself to move around the various parts of the complex.
** The Tower of Light, being the concentration of the best-trained warriors and holy energy, features the most intense non-boss combat of the episode. Foes are aplenty, take strategic positions, and have greater quantities of stronger foes to annihilate you. The best part begins as soon as you enter the Tower itself, where you must ascend to the top using air currents and building stairs. The second-to-top floor even introduces Flight power up, which you must use to not only press a ton of switches at different heights to access the final door, but also to engage into the air-to-land combat, as the concentration of projectiles and leaping foes reaches its maximum.
** As soon as you enter the Solar Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind.
*** The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
* Episode 5: The Forges:
** The Forges. ThatOneLevel collection for some, one of the greatest episodes for others. To begin with, we have one of the most numerous and standing-out factions in the whole game: dispersing with creatures, parasites or mad cultists, the episode instead provides a vast array of [[MechaMooks evil autonomous machines]], powered by huge amounts of energy present in the Forges' geographical areas and tasked with maintaining the various traps and machinery of the Forges. They range from strange spiked balls to robots with explosive harpoons and laser eyes to absolute monstrosities that can disperse hot nails faster than conventional miniguns. The many waters and acid pools are practically infested with robotic fish and even the energy of the Forges itself is attacking you in form of an angry spirit. All of these are sure to provide the toughest challenge yet, but when was whacking various scrapheads not fun? And that's not to mention these are basically robots ''in a magical setting! ''
** Ruins of Rust is what happens if you take the droid factory from Attack of the Clones and put it on Kamino. The floor emanates green energy from cracks, various huge buildings are often lit up by a thunderstorm, new robotic foes await at every corner and you get the first taste of the most-trap filled episode of the whole game with its many spinning gears, elevators, falls and ambushes. You also get to know the Overseer enemy, which has a hook he can use to ''pull you into these falls and traps. '' All this can be frustrating, but it also requires strategic planning of your resources and the combat itself still remains fun and engaging, not to mention the pleasure overcoming the difficult states.
** The Crucible Of Pain begins with a more that justified warning: "Prepare yourself for the pain ahead". Perhaps ''the'' most trap-filled level of the game, this is a point where the difficulty really amps up. There are twisting hallwaya, looked doors, many button sequences some of which have hidden buttons you must shoot, laser traps, swinging blades, green energy floors, rolling wheels that crush you, spikes... And once again, this adds more layers to the game as now you need to do platforming, dodging the traps and planning strategically even more so. This level also introduces the most dangerous, but, perhaps, the most cool enemy of the episode: the appropriately named Painmaster. It can easily be considered a mini-boss of the episode: [[SpikesOfVillainy spikes all over the body]], most health out of any Forges foe, he may not be the fastest, but if he catches up, he's gonna rain hell of hot nails [[DeathOfAThousandCuts that, while do little damage by themselves, fly out quickly and in ''huge'' quantities]], so much that he can kill you in seconds if you stop moving. If you managed to get enough skill from previous episodes, you'll find all of this not too controller-breakingly difficult and very engaging. Even if not, you'll be getting lots of practice...
** The Gantlet of Torment(yes, that's how you spell it), while sounding as scary as the previous level, is actually not too heavy on the traps and more leaning towards platforming. Moving platforms and waterways(or, more accurately, acidways) are a plenty, you'll often find yourself backtracking and visiting previous rooms from a different angle, all while ascending higher and higher to the top of the complex. Highlights include a huge room with a spinning mechanism that connects to multiple rooms and paths and is pivotal to your ascension, as well as a platforming segment where you must retrieve silver key while jumping around platforms with constantly changing aptitude and possibly dodging attacks of multiple Overseers. A good finisher for a difficult, but awesome set of levels.
** Forsaken Sanctuary, the climax boss level of the episode, is longer than the previous ones. You have to navigate a set of walkways surrounding a suspiciously empty plast of energy-affected ground. You'd think this is a boss arena, but you aren't there yet: you have to find a button for emergency release control, which allows you to disperse some liquid from the giant pipe which melts the ground ''and reveals a whole hidden section underneath. '' Jumping down, you're greeted with a long and slighly narrow corridor with three similar pipes, mana and weapons scattered about and a huge circular room with what seems to be a ''pillar of molten metal'' at its centre. Approach the pillar, if you dare, and you'll be treated to a sight of the pillar disappearing, ''revealing a huge walking armor who's been probably standing there the whole time unaffected, that proceeds to taunt you before rushing at you with it's huge sword. '' Champion, Forgemaster. Forgemaster, ''your latest victim''.
** Now comes the time for the fight itself. This guy can do lunges with his huge sword that knocks you back, hit the ground with it to create flame trails and even launch bouncing fireballs. Because his arena has a rather incoventional shape, these attacks can be more difficult to dodge than if it was a normal arena, but they look absolutely epic. But the main difference from other boss fights is the fact that Forgemaster is a PuzzleBoss: he can't be normally hurt due to strengthening himself with molten metal. This is where the pipes come in: you must press the buttons at the right moment to douse him with what's either the most advanced coolant or acid that removed the molten metal shield. That doesn't leave him defenseless, howvere: with the change of the color scheme, he retains the lunge attack without knockback and gains an entirely new attack in place of flame trails, where he ''summons a green energy pillar from the ground at your immediate location''. All in all, a tough and epic boss. Blast this villainous machine and watch him get blown to pieces. You have beaten the toughest episode yet, congratulations!
* Episode 6: The Arcane Expanse:
** If the Forges were conflicting on its position of one of the best, this episode is universally agreed to be one of the best. And it shows, beginning with the faction of corrupted arcane mages and their creations. CrystallineCreature foes come in many shapes, from spiders and snakes to dangerous beasts, there are mages that can dodge you attacks, mages that attack similarly either to your Celestial Claw or Star of Torment (since these weapons were created in this world) and even towering Alpha mages that have ''an interdimensional eye'' in the place of their heads that launch energy barrages. The magic aspect is cranked to eleven, an epic penultimate challenge.
** The world of Arcane Expanse is not what you'd expect: it's a magical dimension where mages experimented with fabric of reality itself so much it's often distorted or practically non-existent. The Arcland Verge gives a taste of repercussions of these experiments, with many floating islands you must traverse with the use for portals, multi-floor temples with many intricate decorations and general magical theme pushed to the max. The music has one of the best tracks, complimenting the atmosphere even further.
** The Hexed Passage. ''Dear Lord. '' You might think that the description of non-euclidian dimension is a joke, but it's not. AlienGeometries, optical illusions and [[BiggerOnTheInside dimensions that don't correlate]] are a constant theme of this level, providing the most mind-boggling and mind-blowing experience of traversing a level yet. Once you beat it normally, check it out with no-clipping cheat. The execution of this many illusions is simple, but effective, you have to see it for yourself.
** The Circle features the titular meeting place, which you must ascend in order to reach the portal to the other structure of the mages. There are multiple button sequences, gigantic stone statues of the highest ranking mages of the Expanse and a new way to traverse the environment: water bubble hopping. That's right, there are floating water bubbles, so you have to ''swim in the air from one bubble to another'' in order to advance. Get used to this way of transportation the first time you do it, since this level has a lot of the water hopping sequences. Not to mention the concentration of the toughest foes, such as Alpha Battlemages and Crybeasts rising drastically. A good second-to-final challenge of a good episode.
** The Unholy Sanctuary. If you thought you were going to fight the leader of the mages, the Archmage of Chaos, you'd be wrong. Sometime in his life, the Archmage, corrupted by evil, made a DealWithTheDevil: his soul in exchange for summoning two dangerous beings. The exit from this world is locked behind a button which needs a key, but the other thing that should trigger your suspicion is the fact you're given every weapon from the game. Once you see a key at the bottom of a huge drop, you can land there to find yourself in a huge water bubble, near which the gravity is smaller than in other parts of Expanse. Than, out of nowhere, with loud roar, two huge beasts appear, monstrous serpents known as the Twin Terror. And you? ''Their dinner''.
*** The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you to keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. They shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing. You also have to track where you are at in the water bubble you're suspended in, since if you fall, you have to aim at one of the platforms that summon winds to bring you back up, or else it's instant death. The Terrors know this, since they also possess a ramming attack that can knock you back, meaning you ''also'' have to take into account their position to see when they're charging attack to either dodge it in time or damage them with certain weapons to make them change direction. Not too bad for a penultimate (at least for the episode release order). Beat them and watch them turn to sparks, because now you need to prepare the final challenge.
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* Episode 1: Astral Equinox
** Celenic Stronghold, the very first level of the game, introduces many mechanics, weapons and concepts of the game. It also gives you the first taste of what scope the game will have in terms of locations: '' this is an entire garrison located in the mountain'', with many twisted corridors to explore and ''nine!'' secrets to find. This is a starter level, mind you, and it's already huge and visually impressive.
** Astral Acolytes, your [[StarterVillain first antagonitstic faction]], first hunts you down in this level. You'd expect them to be absolute weaklings, but you'd only be half right: they're simple, but not weak. Even the simplest Mooks that fall from one hit of your axe can kill you if you're not paying attention, there are Deacons carrying a copy of Whisper's Edge you can enter a long range duel with, Angels that shoot ''lightning at you'' and towering giants that shoot waves of flames.
*** Special mention goes to Starlight Defenders. These wear signature red armor, unlike other Acolytes, and are known for tossing grenades that ''they themselves are immune to''. Should you get close, they're not afraid to ''punch you with their grenades doing massive damage''. They're even the only foes of the episode who get a special introduction: as you're walking on a bridge not too far from exit, you hear a deep growl before a grenade lands before your feet and blows up the bridge under you!
** Bastion of the Blue Moon is even more impressive, with many open spaces, hidden passages and surprises to find. Closer to the end of the level you're even greeted with a small gauntlet of all foes from the episode that spans two floors, with Defenders bombing you from above as the rest of Acolytes try to hack or blast you to bits.
** Vaults of Midnight, penultimate level of the episode, is where real challenge comes in. Enemies are numerous, corridors are confusing and take many shapes and sizes, there are multiple open rooms where Angels try to swarm you, all while you hunt for a key to get to the heart of this world. The combat is almost uninterrupted, fitting for training grounds preceding the boss level, but given variety and quantity for enemies, very fun. This is also the level where you're officially introduced to Celestial Claw, so have fun blasting your foes with planets!
** At the Lunar Sanctuary, you come across your first boss of the game, Moon Guardian. And once again, this being the first boss, he's simpler than the rest, but still packs a punch and is fun to engage in combat. He's towering, has cool armor, GlowingEyesOfDoom and gigantic halberd that shoots crescent projectiles at you. These projectiles are semi-homing, do substantial damage and bounce off walls many times, trying their best to get redirected straight to your face. Should you try to engage in a close fight, he does a powerful SpinAttack that can take away more than 60 hp on higher difficulties while knocking you back. While he prefers long range combat and his spin attack has cooldown, he's not completely defenseless. You can try to run away from him, but ''there are no invisible walls at his arena'', meaning he'll follow you and will still try to kill you! And this is just the beginning of the game. So commence combat with him, make him fall to the floor and shatter to pieces and the victory is yours!
* Episode 2: Domain Of The Sentinels:
** This is where the game slowly begins getting harder and even more impressive, beginning with the foes of this world: The Sentinels. Unlike previous foes, these are stated to have been brutal, [[FantasticRacism xenophobic]] Perfectionist race even before the Evil Force came. Now that the evil has conquered them, they're reduced to a mindless army of hosts for PuppeteerParasite spawn, altered to have fleshy growths and many eyes, attacking anyone in search for more hosts. Some resemble their old forms, others are either partially or completely overtaken by parasites, all providing engaging combat, while showing just how dangerous this mysterious evil is.
** Citadel of the Watchers, a border fortification of Sentinels, does good job at showcasing how drastically different the worlds are. Instead of clean and greatly decorated halls housed by acolytes of the Moon, this is a bulky, grimy building with SigilSpam of the Sentinels, messages about importance of perfection scattered on walls, moving traps that guard keys to important areas and paths that assemble themselves at a push of a button, all while numerous statues showing how Sentinels looked like before keeping silent watch over the facility.
** Forgone Fortress is regarded by many to be their favorite early level, and it shows: this is a huge tower with a spacious central room you have to ascend, many surprise attacks, well-hidden secrets and unofficial introduction to Invisibility power-up. Perhaps a highlight of this already good level is at the top of the Fortress, where you have to navigate small connected platforms above the floor to reach the key to exit room, while fighting off many foes and especially flying Watchers, whose psychic attacks can knock you off.
** Halls Of Doom (it had to happen some time) is where Sentinels indulged in killing their enemies by either throwing them into the abyss below or making them go through spike trap gauntlets. Sure enough, the enemy numbers rack up even more, with stronger foes appearing in greater quantities, amplifying the difficulty and awesomeness of the most trap-filled level yet. It ends with you gaining access to the tower, where you're put up against a horde of every single enemy from the Episode while you have to push buttons to create yourself a way to ascend even more, only to end the level by finding a drop at the very top of the tower that leads straight to the boss level.
*** Of course, let's also not forget the introduction of Aeturnum. As you wander around the open part of the Halls, you come across a purple spaghetti lying at the edge of the facility. After you pick it up, a huge horde appears behind your back, ready to strike. Shoot your new magic BFG into the crowd and watch the sparks fly as the everything is obliterated.
** Sentinel's Sanctuary pits you against the source of parasitic infection that has overtaken Sentinels - [[EldritchAbomination The Scrounge]]. Based off the previous episode's boss, you'd probably expect to fight a towering Sentinel with the greatest stage of infection yet, but instead you're greeted by an [[BlobMonster enormous slime]], with [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyes all over its body]], protruding orange tendrils and glowing bulbs. Instead of trying to stay in a long range, this thing actively hops around the arena, reaching you even if you decide to hide from it on the upper layer, blasts you with eyeballs similar to the most powerful enemy of the episode,Flesh Walker, and, uniquely among bosses, [[FlunkyBoss periodically summons]] his Sons in large quantities [[WeaponizedOffspring to attack you]] by going in your face and blowing up. All while it makes growling noises as a guttural BattleCry. And unlike Moon Guardian, he doesn't fall as quickly until you gather enough souls from his spawn. Beat the living thing out of him and watch him inflate and pop like a fleshy balloon. This also destroys the pool of water filled with more of his spawn in the center of the arena, allowing you to enter the portal to end the episode.
* Episode 3: The Sacred Path:
** The enemy variety continues to surprise, as this time the Champion must face off against elemental enemies. Some are stone warriors who simply guard the path, others are brought to life by the evil force. Even the waters are not safe as numerous animated stone fishes patrol the pools, threatening anyone brave enough to take a swim. This time, besides having a new behavior and attacks, some foes have small interactions with each other as well as LogicalWeakness. For example, Fire Wraiths take double damage from Staff of Azure Orb due to it's water-based projectiles, but can also turn Creepers, living vegetation monsters, into more Flame Wraiths should they cross with their fireball attacks. Stone Guardians, meanwhile, take double damage from Celestial Claw.
*** Special mention goes to Shrub Niggurath and Giant Protector. The first is a reference to one of the most powerful entities from Cthulhu Mythos, as well as the final boss of {{VideoGame/Quake}}, which the game is partially inspired by. Unlike that version, this one is a huge animated vegetation that, while stationary and tough, is able to attack the Champion by rapidly lobbing acid projectiles that can leave lasting damaging acid pools. Giant Protector, meanwhile, is perhaps the biggest monster of this episode, a MightyGlacier at its finest: he's slow, tough, has glowing red eye and instead of normal stones Protectors hurl at you, he throws huge ''lava'' balls that explode on contact with anything it hits!
** The aforementioned path is a part of the same world as The Gateway, but overrun by evil corruption, so the atmosphere is the one of the hub world cranked to 11. Journeyman's Way, the first level, is essentially you slowly building your path to the door on the other side of a huge growth pit in the main room by traversing many hidden paths connected to it. New foes make themselves known almost immediately, there are many lava lakes and dangerous falls present and you even get the first taste of magical air currents that can carry you around. All topped off by the enemy encounter above said main room: as you finally reach the second floor, an ominous message can be seen on the wall:"The Giant guards the path". The very next room greets you with many Protectors you can awake all at once or one by one, but as soon as you reach the end of the room, an enormous stone cylcops with glowing eye assembles itself, jumps down and begins tossing lava balls at you!
** Aposte's Shrine seems like a good possible location for an Indiana Jones movie. It has everything: ancient foes, newly-introduced stone faces that breath fire, ambushes, waterways you have to navigate to go further and filled to brim with animated stone fishes, old switches and paths - perhaps the most massive level yet, and the one where you're never sure where your path may go next.
** Pilgrim's Temple begins rather normal, with you having to beat waves of foes to find a key to the gates of the temple. But once you get inside, you have to ascend the massive stairs fighting foes and also learning about the travels of a mysterious Pilgrim, who visited many worlds, unaware they were overtaken by evil. After you finally enter the temple itself, fight its guardians in order to access the ascending platform and reach the top, you're greeted with two messages that [[WhamLine drop a massive bombshell on Pilgrim's fate]]: he slowly succumbed to evil until overtaken completely, his spirit, tethered to the grounds of Temple's Sanctuary, driven by desire for expanding its power, murdering everyone who would dare to follow his path. The level ends after one final gauntlet, which allows you to open the door to the Sanctuary using a button located in a mysterious obelisk.
** Ancient Sanctuary immediately drops some hints about what awaits you: giant stone eyes carved above the entrance and around the Sanctuary, and an ominous "You're being watched". As you enter the Sanctuary proper, you're treated to the sight of strangely empty boss arena, with most of it containing lava lakes with some platforms to navigate, as well as alcoves full of mana and weapons to the sides. Approach the center and you're greeted with the most epic boss intro yet: after a guttural incantation is heard from seemingly nowhere, ''a giant ghostly eye materializes in the centre of the room, summons a huge tornado that attracts giant stone bricks and begins hurling them at you! '' Meet Corrupt Spirit.
*** The boss battle itself is awesome for multiple reasons. Unlike previous ones, Spirit is a StationaryBoss, but he doesn't need to move: he uses the tornado to throw stone bricks at you that deal substantial damage and have a ''huge'' knockback, doing it in groups where each brick can either track your current position or predict it. The same bricks are used as a huge shield, which make hitting the boss himself very difficult. Whittle him to 40%, and he'll be revealed to be a SequentialBoss by adding lava lakes to previously-safer alcoves, [[EvilLaugh laughing at the Champion having safe zones taken from him]]. Knock him down even more, ''and he literally TurnsRed as lava balls begin to be shot out of every single lava pool''. So you have to dodge or shoot down bricks he throws at you, while collecting mana around the arena filled with lava and utterly bombarded by lava balls. This entire combination is enough to make the jaw drop from the epicness. Put him to rest at last, and you're done with Sacred Path.
* Episode 4: Solar Solstice:
** Ah, planet Astronomica. This episode sees us return to it once more, but this time venture the side of the planet belonging to priests of the Sun. And due to their culture being very to Lunar Acolytes, you'll find that the local foes are basically more advanced counterparts to Episode 1 enemies, with some exceptions. Basic foes are now more aggressive, ''madly jumping at you to hack with their axes'', there are soldiers with huge shields [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe that can deflect]] [[AttackReflector your projectiles]] and throwable DamageOverTime flaming spears, flying Seraphs that shoot sun projectiles and even high ranking members of society that can summon flaming trails from the ground. And then there's a freaking Sol Butcher, a towering, tough purple mountain with especially sharp blade that acts as a ''stronger'' version of your Whisper's edge. A huge difference from Episode 1, but that only makes this new faction more exciting to fight.
** The new episode begins with a Bright Pass, a multi-floor temple used for prayers and sungazing. It features some of the most stunning views and musical score yet, with mountains lit by the ever present rising sun, golden sun decorations donning many walls and a huge multitude of various torches emphasizing the sun priests' religion. You have to use many different switches to build a path out of floating sun decorations between floors, fight off gradually introduced hordes of cultists and a learn a lot about their current situation as you strive to reach the depths of the temple basement to proceed further.
** The Illumination Complex doesn't fall behind. An absolutely massive system of barracks, vantage towers and waterways, this lakeside base is full of ambushes, gauntlets and newly-introduced fireball traps. All while you have to manipulate the present waterway system to allow yourself to move around the various parts of the complex.
** The Tower of Light, being the concentration of the best-trained warriors and holy energy, features the most intense non-boss combat of the episode. Foes are aplenty, take strategic positions, and have greater quantities of stronger foes to annihilate you. The best part begins as soon as you enter the Tower itself, where you must ascend to the top using air currents and building stairs. The second-to-top floor even introduces Flight power up, which you must use to not only press a ton of switches at different heights to access the final door, but also to engage into the air-to-land combat, as the concentration of projectiles and leaping foes reaches its maximum.
** As soon as you enter the Solar Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind.
*** The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
* Episode 5: The Forges:
** The Forges. ThatOneLevel collection for some, one of the greatest episodes for others. To begin with, we have one of the most numerous and standing-out factions in the whole game: dispersing with creatures, parasites or mad cultists, the episode instead provides a vast array of [[MechaMooks evil autonomous machines]], powered by huge amounts of energy present in the Forges' geographical areas and tasked with maintaining the various traps and machinery of the Forges. They range from strange spiked balls to robots with explosive harpoons and laser eyes to absolute monstrosities that can disperse hot nails faster than conventional miniguns. The many waters and acid pools are practically infested with robotic fish and even the energy of the Forges itself is attacking you in form of an angry spirit. All of these are sure to provide the toughest challenge yet, but when was whacking various scrapheads not fun? And that's not to mention these are basically robots ''in a magical setting! ''
** Ruins of Rust is what happens if you take the droid factory from Attack of the Clones and put it on Kamino. The floor emanates green energy from cracks, various huge buildings are often lit up by a thunderstorm, new robotic foes await at every corner and you get the first taste of the most-trap filled episode of the whole game with its many spinning gears, elevators, falls and ambushes. You also get to know the Overseer enemy, which has a hook he can use to ''pull you into these falls and traps. '' All this can be frustrating, but it also requires strategic planning of your resources and the combat itself still remains fun and engaging, not to mention the pleasure overcoming the difficult states.
** The Crucible Of Pain begins with a more that justified warning: "Prepare yourself for the pain ahead". Perhaps ''the'' most trap-filled level of the game, this is a point where the difficulty really amps up. There are twisting hallwaya, looked doors, many button sequences some of which have hidden buttons you must shoot, laser traps, swinging blades, green energy floors, rolling wheels that crush you, spikes... And once again, this adds more layers to the game as now you need to do platforming, dodging the traps and planning strategically even more so. This level also introduces the most dangerous, but, perhaps, the most cool enemy of the episode: the appropriately named Painmaster. It can easily be considered a mini-boss of the episode: [[SpikesOfVillainy spikes all over the body]], most health out of any Forges foe, he may not be the fastest, but if he catches up, he's gonna rain hell of hot nails [[DeathOfAThousandCuts that, while do little damage by themselves, fly out quickly and in ''huge'' quantities]], so much that he can kill you in seconds if you stop moving. If you managed to get enough skill from previous episodes, you'll find all of this not too controller-breakingly difficult and very engaging. Even if not, you'll be getting lots of practice...
** The Gantlet of Torment(yes, that's how you spell it), while sounding as scary as the previous level, is actually not too heavy on the traps and more leaning towards platforming. Moving platforms and waterways(or, more accurately, acidways) are a plenty, you'll often find yourself backtracking and visiting previous rooms from a different angle, all while ascending higher and higher to the top of the complex. Highlights include a huge room with a spinning mechanism that connects to multiple rooms and paths and is pivotal to your ascension, as well as a platforming segment where you must retrieve silver key while jumping around platforms with constantly changing aptitude and possibly dodging attacks of multiple Overseers. A good finisher for a difficult, but awesome set of levels.
** Forsaken Sanctuary, the climax boss level of the episode, is longer than the previous ones. You have to navigate a set of walkways surrounding a suspiciously empty plast of energy-affected ground. You'd think this is a boss arena, but you aren't there yet: you have to find a button for emergency release control, which allows you to disperse some liquid from the giant pipe which melts the ground ''and reveals a whole hidden section underneath. '' Jumping down, you're greeted with a long and slighly narrow corridor with three similar pipes, mana and weapons scattered about and a huge circular room with what seems to be a ''pillar of molten metal'' at its centre. Approach the pillar, if you dare, and you'll be treated to a sight of the pillar disappearing, ''revealing a huge walking armor who's been probably standing there the whole time unaffected, that proceeds to taunt you before rushing at you with it's huge sword. '' Champion, Forgemaster. Forgemaster, ''your latest victim''.
** Now comes the time for the fight itself. This guy can do lunges with his huge sword that knocks you back, hit the ground with it to create flame trails and even launch bouncing fireballs. Because his arena has a rather incoventional shape, these attacks can be more difficult to dodge than if it was a normal arena, but they look absolutely epic. But the main difference from other boss fights is the fact that Forgemaster is a PuzzleBoss: he can't be normally hurt due to strengthening himself with molten metal. This is where the pipes come in: you must press the buttons at the right moment to douse him with what's either the most advanced coolant or acid that removed the molten metal shield. That doesn't leave him defenseless, howvere: with the change of the color scheme, he retains the lunge attack without knockback and gains an entirely new attack in place of flame trails, where he ''summons a green energy pillar from the ground at your immediate location''. All in all, a tough and epic boss. Blast this villainous machine and watch him get blown to pieces. You have beaten the toughest episode yet, congratulations!
* Episode 6: The Arcane Expanse:
** If the Forges were conflicting on its position of one of the best, this episode is universally agreed to be one of the best. And it shows, beginning with the faction of corrupted arcane mages and their creations. CrystallineCreature foes come in many shapes, from spiders and snakes to dangerous beasts, there are mages that can dodge you attacks, mages that attack similarly either to your Celestial Claw or Star of Torment (since these weapons were created in this world) and even towering Alpha mages that have ''an interdimensional eye'' in the place of their heads that launch energy barrages. The magic aspect is cranked to eleven, an epic penultimate challenge.
** The world of Arcane Expanse is not what you'd expect: it's a magical dimension where mages experimented with fabric of reality itself so much it's often distorted or practically non-existent. The Arcland Verge gives a taste of repercussions of these experiments, with many floating islands you must traverse with the use for portals, multi-floor temples with many intricate decorations and general magical theme pushed to the max. The music has one of the best tracks, complimenting the atmosphere even further.
** The Hexed Passage. ''Dear Lord. '' You might think that the description of non-euclidian dimension is a joke, but it's not. AlienGeometries, optical illusions and [[BiggerOnTheInside dimensions that don't correlate]] are a constant theme of this level, providing the most mind-boggling and mind-blowing experience of traversing a level yet. Once you beat it normally, check it out with no-clipping cheat. The execution of this many illusions is simple, but effective, you have to see it for yourself.
** The Circle features the titular meeting place, which you must ascend in order to reach the portal to the other structure of the mages. There are multiple button sequences, gigantic stone statues of the highest ranking mages of the Expanse and a new way to traverse the environment: water bubble hopping. That's right, there are floating water bubbles, so you have to ''swim in the air from one bubble to another'' in order to advance. Get used to this way of transportation the first time you do it, since this level has a lot of the water hopping sequences. Not to mention the concentration of the toughest foes, such as Alpha Battlemages and Crybeasts rising drastically. A good second-to-final challenge of a good episode.
** The Unholy Sanctuary. If you thought you were going to fight the leader of the mages, the Archmage of Chaos, you'd be wrong. Sometime in his life, the Archmage, corrupted by evil, made a DealWithTheDevil: his soul in exchange for summoning two dangerous beings. The exit from this world is locked behind a button which needs a key, but the other thing that should trigger your suspicion is the fact you're given every weapon from the game. Once you see a key at the bottom of a huge drop, you can land there to find yourself in a huge water bubble, near which the gravity is smaller than in other parts of Expanse. Than, out of nowhere, with loud roar, two huge beasts appear, monstrous serpents known as the Twin Terror. And you? ''Their dinner''.
*** The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you to keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. They shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing. You also have to track where you are at in the water bubble you're suspended in, since if you fall, you have to aim at one of the platforms that summon winds to bring you back up, or else it's instant death. The Terrors know this, since they also possess a ramming attack that can knock you back, meaning you ''also'' have to take into account their position to see when they're charging attack to either dodge it in time or damage them with certain weapons to make them change direction. Not too bad for a penultimate (at least for the episode release order). Beat them and watch them turn to sparks, because now you need to prepare the final challenge.
** Celenic Stronghold, the very first level of the game, introduces many mechanics, weapons and concepts of the game. It also gives you the first taste of what scope the game will have in terms of locations: '' this is an entire garrison located in the mountain'', with many twisted corridors to explore and ''nine!'' secrets to find. This is a starter level, mind you, and it's already huge and visually impressive.
** Astral Acolytes, your [[StarterVillain first antagonitstic faction]], first hunts you down in this level. You'd expect them to be absolute weaklings, but you'd only be half right: they're simple, but not weak. Even the simplest Mooks that fall from one hit of your axe can kill you if you're not paying attention, there are Deacons carrying a copy of Whisper's Edge you can enter a long range duel with, Angels that shoot ''lightning at you'' and towering giants that shoot waves of flames.
*** Special mention goes to Starlight Defenders. These wear signature red armor, unlike other Acolytes, and are known for tossing grenades that ''they themselves are immune to''. Should you get close, they're not afraid to ''punch you with their grenades doing massive damage''. They're even the only foes of the episode who get a special introduction: as you're walking on a bridge not too far from exit, you hear a deep growl before a grenade lands before your feet and blows up the bridge under you!
** Bastion of the Blue Moon is even more impressive, with many open spaces, hidden passages and surprises to find. Closer to the end of the level you're even greeted with a small gauntlet of all foes from the episode that spans two floors, with Defenders bombing you from above as the rest of Acolytes try to hack or blast you to bits.
** Vaults of Midnight, penultimate level of the episode, is where real challenge comes in. Enemies are numerous, corridors are confusing and take many shapes and sizes, there are multiple open rooms where Angels try to swarm you, all while you hunt for a key to get to the heart of this world. The combat is almost uninterrupted, fitting for training grounds preceding the boss level, but given variety and quantity for enemies, very fun. This is also the level where you're officially introduced to Celestial Claw, so have fun blasting your foes with planets!
** At the Lunar Sanctuary, you come across your first boss of the game, Moon Guardian. And once again, this being the first boss, he's simpler than the rest, but still packs a punch and is fun to engage in combat. He's towering, has cool armor, GlowingEyesOfDoom and gigantic halberd that shoots crescent projectiles at you. These projectiles are semi-homing, do substantial damage and bounce off walls many times, trying their best to get redirected straight to your face. Should you try to engage in a close fight, he does a powerful SpinAttack that can take away more than 60 hp on higher difficulties while knocking you back. While he prefers long range combat and his spin attack has cooldown, he's not completely defenseless. You can try to run away from him, but ''there are no invisible walls at his arena'', meaning he'll follow you and will still try to kill you! And this is just the beginning of the game. So commence combat with him, make him fall to the floor and shatter to pieces and the victory is yours!
* Episode 2: Domain Of The Sentinels:
** This is where the game slowly begins getting harder and even more impressive, beginning with the foes of this world: The Sentinels. Unlike previous foes, these are stated to have been brutal, [[FantasticRacism xenophobic]] Perfectionist race even before the Evil Force came. Now that the evil has conquered them, they're reduced to a mindless army of hosts for PuppeteerParasite spawn, altered to have fleshy growths and many eyes, attacking anyone in search for more hosts. Some resemble their old forms, others are either partially or completely overtaken by parasites, all providing engaging combat, while showing just how dangerous this mysterious evil is.
** Citadel of the Watchers, a border fortification of Sentinels, does good job at showcasing how drastically different the worlds are. Instead of clean and greatly decorated halls housed by acolytes of the Moon, this is a bulky, grimy building with SigilSpam of the Sentinels, messages about importance of perfection scattered on walls, moving traps that guard keys to important areas and paths that assemble themselves at a push of a button, all while numerous statues showing how Sentinels looked like before keeping silent watch over the facility.
** Forgone Fortress is regarded by many to be their favorite early level, and it shows: this is a huge tower with a spacious central room you have to ascend, many surprise attacks, well-hidden secrets and unofficial introduction to Invisibility power-up. Perhaps a highlight of this already good level is at the top of the Fortress, where you have to navigate small connected platforms above the floor to reach the key to exit room, while fighting off many foes and especially flying Watchers, whose psychic attacks can knock you off.
** Halls Of Doom (it had to happen some time) is where Sentinels indulged in killing their enemies by either throwing them into the abyss below or making them go through spike trap gauntlets. Sure enough, the enemy numbers rack up even more, with stronger foes appearing in greater quantities, amplifying the difficulty and awesomeness of the most trap-filled level yet. It ends with you gaining access to the tower, where you're put up against a horde of every single enemy from the Episode while you have to push buttons to create yourself a way to ascend even more, only to end the level by finding a drop at the very top of the tower that leads straight to the boss level.
*** Of course, let's also not forget the introduction of Aeturnum. As you wander around the open part of the Halls, you come across a purple spaghetti lying at the edge of the facility. After you pick it up, a huge horde appears behind your back, ready to strike. Shoot your new magic BFG into the crowd and watch the sparks fly as the everything is obliterated.
** Sentinel's Sanctuary pits you against the source of parasitic infection that has overtaken Sentinels - [[EldritchAbomination The Scrounge]]. Based off the previous episode's boss, you'd probably expect to fight a towering Sentinel with the greatest stage of infection yet, but instead you're greeted by an [[BlobMonster enormous slime]], with [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyes all over its body]], protruding orange tendrils and glowing bulbs. Instead of trying to stay in a long range, this thing actively hops around the arena, reaching you even if you decide to hide from it on the upper layer, blasts you with eyeballs similar to the most powerful enemy of the episode,Flesh Walker, and, uniquely among bosses, [[FlunkyBoss periodically summons]] his Sons in large quantities [[WeaponizedOffspring to attack you]] by going in your face and blowing up. All while it makes growling noises as a guttural BattleCry. And unlike Moon Guardian, he doesn't fall as quickly until you gather enough souls from his spawn. Beat the living thing out of him and watch him inflate and pop like a fleshy balloon. This also destroys the pool of water filled with more of his spawn in the center of the arena, allowing you to enter the portal to end the episode.
* Episode 3: The Sacred Path:
** The enemy variety continues to surprise, as this time the Champion must face off against elemental enemies. Some are stone warriors who simply guard the path, others are brought to life by the evil force. Even the waters are not safe as numerous animated stone fishes patrol the pools, threatening anyone brave enough to take a swim. This time, besides having a new behavior and attacks, some foes have small interactions with each other as well as LogicalWeakness. For example, Fire Wraiths take double damage from Staff of Azure Orb due to it's water-based projectiles, but can also turn Creepers, living vegetation monsters, into more Flame Wraiths should they cross with their fireball attacks. Stone Guardians, meanwhile, take double damage from Celestial Claw.
*** Special mention goes to Shrub Niggurath and Giant Protector. The first is a reference to one of the most powerful entities from Cthulhu Mythos, as well as the final boss of {{VideoGame/Quake}}, which the game is partially inspired by. Unlike that version, this one is a huge animated vegetation that, while stationary and tough, is able to attack the Champion by rapidly lobbing acid projectiles that can leave lasting damaging acid pools. Giant Protector, meanwhile, is perhaps the biggest monster of this episode, a MightyGlacier at its finest: he's slow, tough, has glowing red eye and instead of normal stones Protectors hurl at you, he throws huge ''lava'' balls that explode on contact with anything it hits!
** The aforementioned path is a part of the same world as The Gateway, but overrun by evil corruption, so the atmosphere is the one of the hub world cranked to 11. Journeyman's Way, the first level, is essentially you slowly building your path to the door on the other side of a huge growth pit in the main room by traversing many hidden paths connected to it. New foes make themselves known almost immediately, there are many lava lakes and dangerous falls present and you even get the first taste of magical air currents that can carry you around. All topped off by the enemy encounter above said main room: as you finally reach the second floor, an ominous message can be seen on the wall:"The Giant guards the path". The very next room greets you with many Protectors you can awake all at once or one by one, but as soon as you reach the end of the room, an enormous stone cylcops with glowing eye assembles itself, jumps down and begins tossing lava balls at you!
** Aposte's Shrine seems like a good possible location for an Indiana Jones movie. It has everything: ancient foes, newly-introduced stone faces that breath fire, ambushes, waterways you have to navigate to go further and filled to brim with animated stone fishes, old switches and paths - perhaps the most massive level yet, and the one where you're never sure where your path may go next.
** Pilgrim's Temple begins rather normal, with you having to beat waves of foes to find a key to the gates of the temple. But once you get inside, you have to ascend the massive stairs fighting foes and also learning about the travels of a mysterious Pilgrim, who visited many worlds, unaware they were overtaken by evil. After you finally enter the temple itself, fight its guardians in order to access the ascending platform and reach the top, you're greeted with two messages that [[WhamLine drop a massive bombshell on Pilgrim's fate]]: he slowly succumbed to evil until overtaken completely, his spirit, tethered to the grounds of Temple's Sanctuary, driven by desire for expanding its power, murdering everyone who would dare to follow his path. The level ends after one final gauntlet, which allows you to open the door to the Sanctuary using a button located in a mysterious obelisk.
** Ancient Sanctuary immediately drops some hints about what awaits you: giant stone eyes carved above the entrance and around the Sanctuary, and an ominous "You're being watched". As you enter the Sanctuary proper, you're treated to the sight of strangely empty boss arena, with most of it containing lava lakes with some platforms to navigate, as well as alcoves full of mana and weapons to the sides. Approach the center and you're greeted with the most epic boss intro yet: after a guttural incantation is heard from seemingly nowhere, ''a giant ghostly eye materializes in the centre of the room, summons a huge tornado that attracts giant stone bricks and begins hurling them at you! '' Meet Corrupt Spirit.
*** The boss battle itself is awesome for multiple reasons. Unlike previous ones, Spirit is a StationaryBoss, but he doesn't need to move: he uses the tornado to throw stone bricks at you that deal substantial damage and have a ''huge'' knockback, doing it in groups where each brick can either track your current position or predict it. The same bricks are used as a huge shield, which make hitting the boss himself very difficult. Whittle him to 40%, and he'll be revealed to be a SequentialBoss by adding lava lakes to previously-safer alcoves, [[EvilLaugh laughing at the Champion having safe zones taken from him]]. Knock him down even more, ''and he literally TurnsRed as lava balls begin to be shot out of every single lava pool''. So you have to dodge or shoot down bricks he throws at you, while collecting mana around the arena filled with lava and utterly bombarded by lava balls. This entire combination is enough to make the jaw drop from the epicness. Put him to rest at last, and you're done with Sacred Path.
* Episode 4: Solar Solstice:
** Ah, planet Astronomica. This episode sees us return to it once more, but this time venture the side of the planet belonging to priests of the Sun. And due to their culture being very to Lunar Acolytes, you'll find that the local foes are basically more advanced counterparts to Episode 1 enemies, with some exceptions. Basic foes are now more aggressive, ''madly jumping at you to hack with their axes'', there are soldiers with huge shields [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe that can deflect]] [[AttackReflector your projectiles]] and throwable DamageOverTime flaming spears, flying Seraphs that shoot sun projectiles and even high ranking members of society that can summon flaming trails from the ground. And then there's a freaking Sol Butcher, a towering, tough purple mountain with especially sharp blade that acts as a ''stronger'' version of your Whisper's edge. A huge difference from Episode 1, but that only makes this new faction more exciting to fight.
** The new episode begins with a Bright Pass, a multi-floor temple used for prayers and sungazing. It features some of the most stunning views and musical score yet, with mountains lit by the ever present rising sun, golden sun decorations donning many walls and a huge multitude of various torches emphasizing the sun priests' religion. You have to use many different switches to build a path out of floating sun decorations between floors, fight off gradually introduced hordes of cultists and a learn a lot about their current situation as you strive to reach the depths of the temple basement to proceed further.
** The Illumination Complex doesn't fall behind. An absolutely massive system of barracks, vantage towers and waterways, this lakeside base is full of ambushes, gauntlets and newly-introduced fireball traps. All while you have to manipulate the present waterway system to allow yourself to move around the various parts of the complex.
** The Tower of Light, being the concentration of the best-trained warriors and holy energy, features the most intense non-boss combat of the episode. Foes are aplenty, take strategic positions, and have greater quantities of stronger foes to annihilate you. The best part begins as soon as you enter the Tower itself, where you must ascend to the top using air currents and building stairs. The second-to-top floor even introduces Flight power up, which you must use to not only press a ton of switches at different heights to access the final door, but also to engage into the air-to-land combat, as the concentration of projectiles and leaping foes reaches its maximum.
** As soon as you enter the Solar Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind.
*** The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
* Episode 5: The Forges:
** The Forges. ThatOneLevel collection for some, one of the greatest episodes for others. To begin with, we have one of the most numerous and standing-out factions in the whole game: dispersing with creatures, parasites or mad cultists, the episode instead provides a vast array of [[MechaMooks evil autonomous machines]], powered by huge amounts of energy present in the Forges' geographical areas and tasked with maintaining the various traps and machinery of the Forges. They range from strange spiked balls to robots with explosive harpoons and laser eyes to absolute monstrosities that can disperse hot nails faster than conventional miniguns. The many waters and acid pools are practically infested with robotic fish and even the energy of the Forges itself is attacking you in form of an angry spirit. All of these are sure to provide the toughest challenge yet, but when was whacking various scrapheads not fun? And that's not to mention these are basically robots ''in a magical setting! ''
** Ruins of Rust is what happens if you take the droid factory from Attack of the Clones and put it on Kamino. The floor emanates green energy from cracks, various huge buildings are often lit up by a thunderstorm, new robotic foes await at every corner and you get the first taste of the most-trap filled episode of the whole game with its many spinning gears, elevators, falls and ambushes. You also get to know the Overseer enemy, which has a hook he can use to ''pull you into these falls and traps. '' All this can be frustrating, but it also requires strategic planning of your resources and the combat itself still remains fun and engaging, not to mention the pleasure overcoming the difficult states.
** The Crucible Of Pain begins with a more that justified warning: "Prepare yourself for the pain ahead". Perhaps ''the'' most trap-filled level of the game, this is a point where the difficulty really amps up. There are twisting hallwaya, looked doors, many button sequences some of which have hidden buttons you must shoot, laser traps, swinging blades, green energy floors, rolling wheels that crush you, spikes... And once again, this adds more layers to the game as now you need to do platforming, dodging the traps and planning strategically even more so. This level also introduces the most dangerous, but, perhaps, the most cool enemy of the episode: the appropriately named Painmaster. It can easily be considered a mini-boss of the episode: [[SpikesOfVillainy spikes all over the body]], most health out of any Forges foe, he may not be the fastest, but if he catches up, he's gonna rain hell of hot nails [[DeathOfAThousandCuts that, while do little damage by themselves, fly out quickly and in ''huge'' quantities]], so much that he can kill you in seconds if you stop moving. If you managed to get enough skill from previous episodes, you'll find all of this not too controller-breakingly difficult and very engaging. Even if not, you'll be getting lots of practice...
** The Gantlet of Torment(yes, that's how you spell it), while sounding as scary as the previous level, is actually not too heavy on the traps and more leaning towards platforming. Moving platforms and waterways(or, more accurately, acidways) are a plenty, you'll often find yourself backtracking and visiting previous rooms from a different angle, all while ascending higher and higher to the top of the complex. Highlights include a huge room with a spinning mechanism that connects to multiple rooms and paths and is pivotal to your ascension, as well as a platforming segment where you must retrieve silver key while jumping around platforms with constantly changing aptitude and possibly dodging attacks of multiple Overseers. A good finisher for a difficult, but awesome set of levels.
** Forsaken Sanctuary, the climax boss level of the episode, is longer than the previous ones. You have to navigate a set of walkways surrounding a suspiciously empty plast of energy-affected ground. You'd think this is a boss arena, but you aren't there yet: you have to find a button for emergency release control, which allows you to disperse some liquid from the giant pipe which melts the ground ''and reveals a whole hidden section underneath. '' Jumping down, you're greeted with a long and slighly narrow corridor with three similar pipes, mana and weapons scattered about and a huge circular room with what seems to be a ''pillar of molten metal'' at its centre. Approach the pillar, if you dare, and you'll be treated to a sight of the pillar disappearing, ''revealing a huge walking armor who's been probably standing there the whole time unaffected, that proceeds to taunt you before rushing at you with it's huge sword. '' Champion, Forgemaster. Forgemaster, ''your latest victim''.
** Now comes the time for the fight itself. This guy can do lunges with his huge sword that knocks you back, hit the ground with it to create flame trails and even launch bouncing fireballs. Because his arena has a rather incoventional shape, these attacks can be more difficult to dodge than if it was a normal arena, but they look absolutely epic. But the main difference from other boss fights is the fact that Forgemaster is a PuzzleBoss: he can't be normally hurt due to strengthening himself with molten metal. This is where the pipes come in: you must press the buttons at the right moment to douse him with what's either the most advanced coolant or acid that removed the molten metal shield. That doesn't leave him defenseless, howvere: with the change of the color scheme, he retains the lunge attack without knockback and gains an entirely new attack in place of flame trails, where he ''summons a green energy pillar from the ground at your immediate location''. All in all, a tough and epic boss. Blast this villainous machine and watch him get blown to pieces. You have beaten the toughest episode yet, congratulations!
* Episode 6: The Arcane Expanse:
** If the Forges were conflicting on its position of one of the best, this episode is universally agreed to be one of the best. And it shows, beginning with the faction of corrupted arcane mages and their creations. CrystallineCreature foes come in many shapes, from spiders and snakes to dangerous beasts, there are mages that can dodge you attacks, mages that attack similarly either to your Celestial Claw or Star of Torment (since these weapons were created in this world) and even towering Alpha mages that have ''an interdimensional eye'' in the place of their heads that launch energy barrages. The magic aspect is cranked to eleven, an epic penultimate challenge.
** The world of Arcane Expanse is not what you'd expect: it's a magical dimension where mages experimented with fabric of reality itself so much it's often distorted or practically non-existent. The Arcland Verge gives a taste of repercussions of these experiments, with many floating islands you must traverse with the use for portals, multi-floor temples with many intricate decorations and general magical theme pushed to the max. The music has one of the best tracks, complimenting the atmosphere even further.
** The Hexed Passage. ''Dear Lord. '' You might think that the description of non-euclidian dimension is a joke, but it's not. AlienGeometries, optical illusions and [[BiggerOnTheInside dimensions that don't correlate]] are a constant theme of this level, providing the most mind-boggling and mind-blowing experience of traversing a level yet. Once you beat it normally, check it out with no-clipping cheat. The execution of this many illusions is simple, but effective, you have to see it for yourself.
** The Circle features the titular meeting place, which you must ascend in order to reach the portal to the other structure of the mages. There are multiple button sequences, gigantic stone statues of the highest ranking mages of the Expanse and a new way to traverse the environment: water bubble hopping. That's right, there are floating water bubbles, so you have to ''swim in the air from one bubble to another'' in order to advance. Get used to this way of transportation the first time you do it, since this level has a lot of the water hopping sequences. Not to mention the concentration of the toughest foes, such as Alpha Battlemages and Crybeasts rising drastically. A good second-to-final challenge of a good episode.
** The Unholy Sanctuary. If you thought you were going to fight the leader of the mages, the Archmage of Chaos, you'd be wrong. Sometime in his life, the Archmage, corrupted by evil, made a DealWithTheDevil: his soul in exchange for summoning two dangerous beings. The exit from this world is locked behind a button which needs a key, but the other thing that should trigger your suspicion is the fact you're given every weapon from the game. Once you see a key at the bottom of a huge drop, you can land there to find yourself in a huge water bubble, near which the gravity is smaller than in other parts of Expanse. Than, out of nowhere, with loud roar, two huge beasts appear, monstrous serpents known as the Twin Terror. And you? ''Their dinner''.
*** The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you to keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. They shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing. You also have to track where you are at in the water bubble you're suspended in, since if you fall, you have to aim at one of the platforms that summon winds to bring you back up, or else it's instant death. The Terrors know this, since they also possess a ramming attack that can knock you back, meaning you ''also'' have to take into account their position to see when they're charging attack to either dodge it in time or damage them with certain weapons to make them change direction. Not too bad for a penultimate (at least for the episode release order). Beat them and watch them turn to sparks, because now you need to prepare the final challenge.
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! The Black Labyrinth DLC!
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! The Black Labyrinth DLC!DLC
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*** The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you to keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. They shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing. You also have to track where you are at in the water bubble you're suspended in, since if you fall, you have to aim at one of the platforms that summon winds to bring you back up, or else it's instant death. The Terrors know this, since they also possess a ramming attack that can knock you back, meaning you ''also'' have to take into account their position to see when they're charging attack to either dodge it in time or damage them with certain weapons to make them change direction. Not too bad for a penultimate (at least for the episode release order). Beat them and watch them turn to sparks, because now you need to prepare the final challenge.
to:
*** The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you to keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. They shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing. You also have to track where you are at in the water bubble you're suspended in, since if you fall, you have to aim at one of the platforms that summon winds to bring you back up, or else it's instant death. The Terrors know this, since they also possess a ramming attack that can knock you back, meaning you ''also'' have to take into account their position to see when they're charging attack to either dodge it in time or damage them with certain weapons to make them change direction. Not too bad for a penultimate (at least for the episode release order). Beat them and watch them turn to sparks, because now you need to prepare the final challenge.challenge.
! The Black Labyrinth DLC!
! The Black Labyrinth DLC!
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Changed line(s) 70 (click to see context) from:
*** The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you too keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. They shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing. You also have to track where you are at in the water bubble you're suspended in, since if you fall, you have to aim at one of the platforms that summon winds to bring you back up, or else it's instant death. The Terrors know this, since they also possess a ramming attack that can knock you back, meaning you ''also'' have to take into account their position to see when they're charging attack to either dodge it in time or damage them with certain weapons to make them change direction.
to:
*** The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you too to keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. They shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing. You also have to track where you are at in the water bubble you're suspended in, since if you fall, you have to aim at one of the platforms that summon winds to bring you back up, or else it's instant death. The Terrors know this, since they also possess a ramming attack that can knock you back, meaning you ''also'' have to take into account their position to see when they're charging attack to either dodge it in time or damage them with certain weapons to make them change direction. Not too bad for a penultimate (at least for the episode release order). Beat them and watch them turn to sparks, because now you need to prepare the final challenge.
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* If the Forges were conflicting on its position of one of the best, this episode is universally agreed to be one of the best. And it shows, beginning with the faction of corrupted arcane mages and their creations. CrystallineCreature foes come in many shapes, from spiders and snakes to dangerous beasts, there are mages that can dodge you attacks, mages that attack similarly either to your Celestial Claw or Star of Torment (since these weapons were created in this world) and even towering Alpha mages that have ''an interdimensional eye'' in the place of their heads that launch energy barrages. The magic aspect is cranked to eleven, an epic penultimate challenge.
to:
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Changed line(s) 70 (click to see context) from:
*** The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you too keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. The shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing.
to:
*** The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you too keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. The They shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing.semi-homing. You also have to track where you are at in the water bubble you're suspended in, since if you fall, you have to aim at one of the platforms that summon winds to bring you back up, or else it's instant death. The Terrors know this, since they also possess a ramming attack that can knock you back, meaning you ''also'' have to take into account their position to see when they're charging attack to either dodge it in time or damage them with certain weapons to make them change direction.
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** The Unholy Sanctuary. If you thought you were going to fight the leader of the mages, the Archmage of Chaos, you'd be wrong. Sometime in his life, the Archmage, corrupted by evil, made a DealWithTheDevil: his soul in exchange for summoning two dangerous beings. The exit from this world is locked behind a button which needs a key, but the other thing that should trigger your suspicion is the fact you're given every weapon from the game. Once you see a key at the bottom of a huge drop, you can land there to find yourself in a huge water bubble, near which the gravity is smaller than in other parts of Expanse. Than, out of nowhere, with loud roar, two huge beasts appear, monstrous serpents known as the Twin Terror. And you? ''Their dinner''.
to:
** The Unholy Sanctuary. If you thought you were going to fight the leader of the mages, the Archmage of Chaos, you'd be wrong. Sometime in his life, the Archmage, corrupted by evil, made a DealWithTheDevil: his soul in exchange for summoning two dangerous beings. The exit from this world is locked behind a button which needs a key, but the other thing that should trigger your suspicion is the fact you're given every weapon from the game. Once you see a key at the bottom of a huge drop, you can land there to find yourself in a huge water bubble, near which the gravity is smaller than in other parts of Expanse. Than, out of nowhere, with loud roar, two huge beasts appear, monstrous serpents known as the Twin Terror. And you? ''Their dinner''.dinner''.
***The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you too keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. The shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing.
***The fight itself is very chaotic, requiring you too keep track of multiple things at once. The Terrors are fast, tough and often hard to hit. The shoot out sound waves either in large chain bursts or one by one with semi-homing.
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Changed line(s) 69 (click to see context) from:
** The Unholy Sanctuary. If you thought you were going to fight the leader of the mages, the Archmage of Chaos, you'd be wrong. Sometime in his life, the Archmage, corrupted by evil, made a DealWithTheDevil: his soul in exchange for summoning two dangerous beings. The exit from this world is locked behind a button which needs a key.
to:
** The Unholy Sanctuary. If you thought you were going to fight the leader of the mages, the Archmage of Chaos, you'd be wrong. Sometime in his life, the Archmage, corrupted by evil, made a DealWithTheDevil: his soul in exchange for summoning two dangerous beings. The exit from this world is locked behind a button which needs a key.key, but the other thing that should trigger your suspicion is the fact you're given every weapon from the game. Once you see a key at the bottom of a huge drop, you can land there to find yourself in a huge water bubble, near which the gravity is smaller than in other parts of Expanse. Than, out of nowhere, with loud roar, two huge beasts appear, monstrous serpents known as the Twin Terror. And you? ''Their dinner''.
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None
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! WARN thNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
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! WARN thNMARKED WARNING! UNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
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Changed line(s) 66 (click to see context) from:
** The world of Arcane Expanse is not what you'd expect: it's a magical dimension where mages experimented with fabric of reality itself so much it's often distorted or practically non-existent. The Arcland Verge
to:
** The world of Arcane Expanse is not what you'd expect: it's a magical dimension where mages experimented with fabric of reality itself so much it's often distorted or practically non-existent. The Arcland VergeVerge gives a taste of repercussions of these experiments, with many floating islands you must traverse with the use for portals, multi-floor temples with many intricate decorations and general magical theme pushed to the max. The music has one of the best tracks, complimenting the atmosphere even further.
** The Hexed Passage. ''Dear Lord. '' You might think that the description of non-euclidian dimension is a joke, but it's not. AlienGeometries, optical illusions and [[BiggerOnTheInside dimensions that don't correlate]] are a constant theme of this level, providing the most mind-boggling and mind-blowing experience of traversing a level yet. Once you beat it normally, check it out with no-clipping cheat. The execution of this many illusions is simple, but effective, you have to see it for yourself.
** The Circle features the titular meeting place, which you must ascend in order to reach the portal to the other structure of the mages. There are multiple button sequences, gigantic stone statues of the highest ranking mages of the Expanse and a new way to traverse the environment: water bubble hopping. That's right, there are floating water bubbles, so you have to ''swim in the air from one bubble to another'' in order to advance. Get used to this way of transportation the first time you do it, since this level has a lot of the water hopping sequences. Not to mention the concentration of the toughest foes, such as Alpha Battlemages and Crybeasts rising drastically. A good second-to-final challenge of a good episode.
**The Unholy Sanctuary. If you thought you were going to fight the leader of the mages, the Archmage of Chaos, you'd be wrong. Sometime in his life, the Archmage, corrupted by evil, made a DealWithTheDevil: his soul in exchange for summoning two dangerous beings. The exit from this world is locked behind a button which needs a key.
** The Hexed Passage. ''Dear Lord. '' You might think that the description of non-euclidian dimension is a joke, but it's not. AlienGeometries, optical illusions and [[BiggerOnTheInside dimensions that don't correlate]] are a constant theme of this level, providing the most mind-boggling and mind-blowing experience of traversing a level yet. Once you beat it normally, check it out with no-clipping cheat. The execution of this many illusions is simple, but effective, you have to see it for yourself.
** The Circle features the titular meeting place, which you must ascend in order to reach the portal to the other structure of the mages. There are multiple button sequences, gigantic stone statues of the highest ranking mages of the Expanse and a new way to traverse the environment: water bubble hopping. That's right, there are floating water bubbles, so you have to ''swim in the air from one bubble to another'' in order to advance. Get used to this way of transportation the first time you do it, since this level has a lot of the water hopping sequences. Not to mention the concentration of the toughest foes, such as Alpha Battlemages and Crybeasts rising drastically. A good second-to-final challenge of a good episode.
**The Unholy Sanctuary. If you thought you were going to fight the leader of the mages, the Archmage of Chaos, you'd be wrong. Sometime in his life, the Archmage, corrupted by evil, made a DealWithTheDevil: his soul in exchange for summoning two dangerous beings. The exit from this world is locked behind a button which needs a key.
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None
Changed line(s) 63 (click to see context) from:
** Now comes the time for the fight itself. This guy can do lunges with his huge sword that knocks you back, hit the ground with it to create flame trails and even launch bouncing fireballs. Because his arena has a rather incoventional shape, these attacks can be more difficult to dodge than if it was a normal arena, but they look absolutely epic. But the main difference from other boss fights is the fact that Forgemaster is a PuzzleBoss: he can't be normally hurt due to strengthening himself with molten metal. This is where the pipes come in: you must press the buttons at the right moment to douse him with what's either the most advanced coolant or acid that removed the molten metal shield. That doesn't leave him defenseless, howvere: with the change of the color scheme, he retains the lunge attack without knockback and gains an entirely new attack in place of flame trails, where he ''summons a a green energy pillar from the ground at your immediate location''. All in all, a tough and epic boss.
to:
** Now comes the time for the fight itself. This guy can do lunges with his huge sword that knocks you back, hit the ground with it to create flame trails and even launch bouncing fireballs. Because his arena has a rather incoventional shape, these attacks can be more difficult to dodge than if it was a normal arena, but they look absolutely epic. But the main difference from other boss fights is the fact that Forgemaster is a PuzzleBoss: he can't be normally hurt due to strengthening himself with molten metal. This is where the pipes come in: you must press the buttons at the right moment to douse him with what's either the most advanced coolant or acid that removed the molten metal shield. That doesn't leave him defenseless, howvere: with the change of the color scheme, he retains the lunge attack without knockback and gains an entirely new attack in place of flame trails, where he ''summons a a green energy pillar from the ground at your immediate location''. All in all, a tough and epic boss. Blast this villainous machine and watch him get blown to pieces. You have beaten the toughest episode yet, congratulations!
*Episode 6: The Arcane Expanse:
*If the Forges were conflicting on its position of one of the best, this episode is universally agreed to be one of the best. And it shows, beginning with the faction of corrupted arcane mages and their creations. CrystallineCreature foes come in many shapes, from spiders and snakes to dangerous beasts, there are mages that can dodge you attacks, mages that attack similarly either to your Celestial Claw or Star of Torment (since these weapons were created in this world) and even towering Alpha mages that have ''an interdimensional eye'' in the place of their heads that launch energy barrages. The magic aspect is cranked to eleven, an epic penultimate challenge.
** The world of Arcane Expanse is not what you'd expect: it's a magical dimension where mages experimented with fabric of reality itself so much it's often distorted or practically non-existent. The Arcland Verge
*Episode 6: The Arcane Expanse:
*If the Forges were conflicting on its position of one of the best, this episode is universally agreed to be one of the best. And it shows, beginning with the faction of corrupted arcane mages and their creations. CrystallineCreature foes come in many shapes, from spiders and snakes to dangerous beasts, there are mages that can dodge you attacks, mages that attack similarly either to your Celestial Claw or Star of Torment (since these weapons were created in this world) and even towering Alpha mages that have ''an interdimensional eye'' in the place of their heads that launch energy barrages. The magic aspect is cranked to eleven, an epic penultimate challenge.
** The world of Arcane Expanse is not what you'd expect: it's a magical dimension where mages experimented with fabric of reality itself so much it's often distorted or practically non-existent. The Arcland Verge
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! WARNING! UNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
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! WARNING! UNMARKED WARN thNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Changed line(s) 62 (click to see context) from:
** Forsaken Sanctuary, the climax boss level of the episode, is longer than the previous ones. You have to navigate a set of walkways surrounding a suspiciously empty plast of energy-affected ground. You'd think this is a boss arena, but you aren't there yet: you have to find a button for emergency release control, which allows you to disperse some liquid from the giant pipe which melts the ground ''and reveals a whole hidden section underneath. '' Jumping down, you're greeted with a long and slighly narrow corridor with three similar pipes, mana and weapons scattered about and a huge circular room with what seems to be a ''pillar of molten metal'' at its centre. Approach the pillar, if you dare, and you'll be treated to a sight of the pillar disappearing, ''revealing a huge walking armor who's been probably standing there the whole time unaffected, that proceeds to taunt you before rushing at you with it's huge sword. '' Champion, Forgemaster. Forgemaster, ''your latest victim''.
to:
** Forsaken Sanctuary, the climax boss level of the episode, is longer than the previous ones. You have to navigate a set of walkways surrounding a suspiciously empty plast of energy-affected ground. You'd think this is a boss arena, but you aren't there yet: you have to find a button for emergency release control, which allows you to disperse some liquid from the giant pipe which melts the ground ''and reveals a whole hidden section underneath. '' Jumping down, you're greeted with a long and slighly narrow corridor with three similar pipes, mana and weapons scattered about and a huge circular room with what seems to be a ''pillar of molten metal'' at its centre. Approach the pillar, if you dare, and you'll be treated to a sight of the pillar disappearing, ''revealing a huge walking armor who's been probably standing there the whole time unaffected, that proceeds to taunt you before rushing at you with it's huge sword. '' Champion, Forgemaster. Forgemaster, ''your latest victim''.victim''.
**Now comes the time for the fight itself. This guy can do lunges with his huge sword that knocks you back, hit the ground with it to create flame trails and even launch bouncing fireballs. Because his arena has a rather incoventional shape, these attacks can be more difficult to dodge than if it was a normal arena, but they look absolutely epic. But the main difference from other boss fights is the fact that Forgemaster is a PuzzleBoss: he can't be normally hurt due to strengthening himself with molten metal. This is where the pipes come in: you must press the buttons at the right moment to douse him with what's either the most advanced coolant or acid that removed the molten metal shield. That doesn't leave him defenseless, howvere: with the change of the color scheme, he retains the lunge attack without knockback and gains an entirely new attack in place of flame trails, where he ''summons a a green energy pillar from the ground at your immediate location''. All in all, a tough and epic boss.
**Now comes the time for the fight itself. This guy can do lunges with his huge sword that knocks you back, hit the ground with it to create flame trails and even launch bouncing fireballs. Because his arena has a rather incoventional shape, these attacks can be more difficult to dodge than if it was a normal arena, but they look absolutely epic. But the main difference from other boss fights is the fact that Forgemaster is a PuzzleBoss: he can't be normally hurt due to strengthening himself with molten metal. This is where the pipes come in: you must press the buttons at the right moment to douse him with what's either the most advanced coolant or acid that removed the molten metal shield. That doesn't leave him defenseless, howvere: with the change of the color scheme, he retains the lunge attack without knockback and gains an entirely new attack in place of flame trails, where he ''summons a a green energy pillar from the ground at your immediate location''. All in all, a tough and epic boss.
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Changed line(s) 62 (click to see context) from:
** Forsaken Sanctuary, the climax boss level of the episode, is longer than the previous ones. You have to navigate a set of walkways surrounding a suspiciously empty plast of energy-affected ground. You'd think this is a boss arena, but you aren't there yet: you have to find a button for emergency release control, which allows you to disperse some liquid from the giant pipe which melts the ground ''and reveals a whole hidden section underneath. '' Jumping down, you're greeted with a long and slighly narrow corridor with three similar pipes, mana and weapons scattered about and a huge circular room with what seems to be a ''pillar of molten metal'' at its centre. Approach the pillar, if you dare, and you'll be treated to a sight of the pillar disappearing, ''revealing a huge walking armor who's been probably standing there the whole time unaffected, that proceeds to taunt you before rushing at your thing it's huge sword. '' Champion, Forgemaster. Forgemaster, ''your latest victim''.
to:
** Forsaken Sanctuary, the climax boss level of the episode, is longer than the previous ones. You have to navigate a set of walkways surrounding a suspiciously empty plast of energy-affected ground. You'd think this is a boss arena, but you aren't there yet: you have to find a button for emergency release control, which allows you to disperse some liquid from the giant pipe which melts the ground ''and reveals a whole hidden section underneath. '' Jumping down, you're greeted with a long and slighly narrow corridor with three similar pipes, mana and weapons scattered about and a huge circular room with what seems to be a ''pillar of molten metal'' at its centre. Approach the pillar, if you dare, and you'll be treated to a sight of the pillar disappearing, ''revealing a huge walking armor who's been probably standing there the whole time unaffected, that proceeds to taunt you before rushing at your thing you with it's huge sword. '' Champion, Forgemaster. Forgemaster, ''your latest victim''.
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Changed line(s) 60 (click to see context) from:
** The Crucible Of Pain begins with a more that justified warning: "Prepare yourself for the pain ahead". Perhaps ''the'' most trap-filled level of the game, this is a point where the difficulty really amps up. There are twisting hallwaya, looked doors, many button sequences some of which have hidden buttons you must shoot, laser traps, swinging blades, green energy floors, rolling wheels that crush you, spikes... And once again, this adds more layers to the game as now you need to do platforming, dodging the traps and planning strategically even more so. This level also introduces the most dangerous, but, perhaps, the most cool enemy of the episode: the appropriately named Painmaster. It can easily be considered a mini-boss of the episode: [[SpikesOfVillainy spikes all over the body]], most health out of any Forges foe, he may not be the fastest, but if he catches up, he's gonna rain hell of hot nails [[DeathFromAThousandCuts that, while do little damage by themselves, fly out quickly and in ''huge'' quantities]], so much that he can kill you in seconds if you stop moving.
to:
** The Crucible Of Pain begins with a more that justified warning: "Prepare yourself for the pain ahead". Perhaps ''the'' most trap-filled level of the game, this is a point where the difficulty really amps up. There are twisting hallwaya, looked doors, many button sequences some of which have hidden buttons you must shoot, laser traps, swinging blades, green energy floors, rolling wheels that crush you, spikes... And once again, this adds more layers to the game as now you need to do platforming, dodging the traps and planning strategically even more so. This level also introduces the most dangerous, but, perhaps, the most cool enemy of the episode: the appropriately named Painmaster. It can easily be considered a mini-boss of the episode: [[SpikesOfVillainy spikes all over the body]], most health out of any Forges foe, he may not be the fastest, but if he catches up, he's gonna rain hell of hot nails [[DeathFromAThousandCuts [[DeathOfAThousandCuts that, while do little damage by themselves, fly out quickly and in ''huge'' quantities]], so much that he can kill you in seconds if you stop moving.moving. If you managed to get enough skill from previous episodes, you'll find all of this not too controller-breakingly difficult and very engaging. Even if not, you'll be getting lots of practice...
**The Gantlet of Torment(yes, that's how you spell it), while sounding as scary as the previous level, is actually not too heavy on the traps and more leaning towards platforming. Moving platforms and waterways(or, more accurately, acidways) are a plenty, you'll often find yourself backtracking and visiting previous rooms from a different angle, all while ascending higher and higher to the top of the complex. Highlights include a huge room with a spinning mechanism that connects to multiple rooms and paths and is pivotal to your ascension, as well as a platforming segment where you must retrieve silver key while jumping around platforms with constantly changing aptitude and possibly dodging attacks of multiple Overseers. A good finisher for a difficult, but awesome set of levels.
**Forsaken Sanctuary, the climax boss level of the episode, is longer than the previous ones. You have to navigate a set of walkways surrounding a suspiciously empty plast of energy-affected ground. You'd think this is a boss arena, but you aren't there yet: you have to find a button for emergency release control, which allows you to disperse some liquid from the giant pipe which melts the ground ''and reveals a whole hidden section underneath. '' Jumping down, you're greeted with a long and slighly narrow corridor with three similar pipes, mana and weapons scattered about and a huge circular room with what seems to be a ''pillar of molten metal'' at its centre. Approach the pillar, if you dare, and you'll be treated to a sight of the pillar disappearing, ''revealing a huge walking armor who's been probably standing there the whole time unaffected, that proceeds to taunt you before rushing at your thing it's huge sword. '' Champion, Forgemaster. Forgemaster, ''your latest victim''.
**The Gantlet of Torment(yes, that's how you spell it), while sounding as scary as the previous level, is actually not too heavy on the traps and more leaning towards platforming. Moving platforms and waterways(or, more accurately, acidways) are a plenty, you'll often find yourself backtracking and visiting previous rooms from a different angle, all while ascending higher and higher to the top of the complex. Highlights include a huge room with a spinning mechanism that connects to multiple rooms and paths and is pivotal to your ascension, as well as a platforming segment where you must retrieve silver key while jumping around platforms with constantly changing aptitude and possibly dodging attacks of multiple Overseers. A good finisher for a difficult, but awesome set of levels.
**Forsaken Sanctuary, the climax boss level of the episode, is longer than the previous ones. You have to navigate a set of walkways surrounding a suspiciously empty plast of energy-affected ground. You'd think this is a boss arena, but you aren't there yet: you have to find a button for emergency release control, which allows you to disperse some liquid from the giant pipe which melts the ground ''and reveals a whole hidden section underneath. '' Jumping down, you're greeted with a long and slighly narrow corridor with three similar pipes, mana and weapons scattered about and a huge circular room with what seems to be a ''pillar of molten metal'' at its centre. Approach the pillar, if you dare, and you'll be treated to a sight of the pillar disappearing, ''revealing a huge walking armor who's been probably standing there the whole time unaffected, that proceeds to taunt you before rushing at your thing it's huge sword. '' Champion, Forgemaster. Forgemaster, ''your latest victim''.
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** The Forges. ThatOneLevel collection for some, one of the greatest episodes for others. To begin with, we have one of the most numerous and standing-out factions in the whole game: dispersing with creatures, parasites or mad cultists, the episode instead provides a vast array of [[RoboticMook evil autonomous machines]], powered by huge amounts of energy present in the Forges' geographical areas and tasked with maintaining the various traps and machinery of the Forges. They range from strange spiked balls to robots with explosive harpoons and laser eyes to absolute monstrosities that can disperse hot nails faster than conventional miniguns. The many waters and acid pools are practically infested with robotic fish and even the energy of the Forges itself is attacking you in form of an angry spirit. All of these are sure to provide the toughest challenge yet, but when was whacking various scrapheads not fun? And that's not to mention these are basically robots ''in a magical setting! ''
** Ruins of Rust is what happens if you take the droid factory from Attack of the Clones and put it on Kamino. The floor emanates green energy from cracks, various huge buildings are often lit up by a thunderstorm, new robotic foes await at every corner and you get the first taste of the most-trap filled episode of the whole game with its many spinning gears, elevators, falls
** Ruins of Rust is what happens if you take the droid factory from Attack of the Clones and put it on Kamino. The floor emanates green energy from cracks, various huge buildings are often lit up by a thunderstorm, new robotic foes await at every corner and you get the first taste of the most-trap filled episode of the whole game with its many spinning gears, elevators, falls
to:
** The Forges. ThatOneLevel collection for some, one of the greatest episodes for others. To begin with, we have one of the most numerous and standing-out factions in the whole game: dispersing with creatures, parasites or mad cultists, the episode instead provides a vast array of [[RoboticMook [[MechaMooks evil autonomous machines]], powered by huge amounts of energy present in the Forges' geographical areas and tasked with maintaining the various traps and machinery of the Forges. They range from strange spiked balls to robots with explosive harpoons and laser eyes to absolute monstrosities that can disperse hot nails faster than conventional miniguns. The many waters and acid pools are practically infested with robotic fish and even the energy of the Forges itself is attacking you in form of an angry spirit. All of these are sure to provide the toughest challenge yet, but when was whacking various scrapheads not fun? And that's not to mention these are basically robots ''in a magical setting! ''
** Ruins of Rust is what happens if you take the droid factory from Attack of the Clones and put it on Kamino. The floor emanates green energy from cracks, various huge buildings are often lit up by a thunderstorm, new robotic foes await at every corner and you get the first taste of the most-trap filled episode of the whole game with its many spinning gears, elevators,fallsfalls and ambushes. You also get to know the Overseer enemy, which has a hook he can use to ''pull you into these falls and traps. '' All this can be frustrating, but it also requires strategic planning of your resources and the combat itself still remains fun and engaging, not to mention the pleasure overcoming the difficult states.
**The Crucible Of Pain begins with a more that justified warning: "Prepare yourself for the pain ahead". Perhaps ''the'' most trap-filled level of the game, this is a point where the difficulty really amps up. There are twisting hallwaya, looked doors, many button sequences some of which have hidden buttons you must shoot, laser traps, swinging blades, green energy floors, rolling wheels that crush you, spikes... And once again, this adds more layers to the game as now you need to do platforming, dodging the traps and planning strategically even more so. This level also introduces the most dangerous, but, perhaps, the most cool enemy of the episode: the appropriately named Painmaster. It can easily be considered a mini-boss of the episode: [[SpikesOfVillainy spikes all over the body]], most health out of any Forges foe, he may not be the fastest, but if he catches up, he's gonna rain hell of hot nails [[DeathFromAThousandCuts that, while do little damage by themselves, fly out quickly and in ''huge'' quantities]], so much that he can kill you in seconds if you stop moving.
** Ruins of Rust is what happens if you take the droid factory from Attack of the Clones and put it on Kamino. The floor emanates green energy from cracks, various huge buildings are often lit up by a thunderstorm, new robotic foes await at every corner and you get the first taste of the most-trap filled episode of the whole game with its many spinning gears, elevators,
**The Crucible Of Pain begins with a more that justified warning: "Prepare yourself for the pain ahead". Perhaps ''the'' most trap-filled level of the game, this is a point where the difficulty really amps up. There are twisting hallwaya, looked doors, many button sequences some of which have hidden buttons you must shoot, laser traps, swinging blades, green energy floors, rolling wheels that crush you, spikes... And once again, this adds more layers to the game as now you need to do platforming, dodging the traps and planning strategically even more so. This level also introduces the most dangerous, but, perhaps, the most cool enemy of the episode: the appropriately named Painmaster. It can easily be considered a mini-boss of the episode: [[SpikesOfVillainy spikes all over the body]], most health out of any Forges foe, he may not be the fastest, but if he catches up, he's gonna rain hell of hot nails [[DeathFromAThousandCuts that, while do little damage by themselves, fly out quickly and in ''huge'' quantities]], so much that he can kill you in seconds if you stop moving.
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* The Forges. ThatOneEpisode for some, BestEpisodeEver for others.
to:
**Ruins of Rust is what happens if you take the droid factory from Attack of the Clones and put it on Kamino. The floor emanates green energy from cracks, various huge buildings are often lit up by a thunderstorm, new robotic foes await at every corner and you get the first taste of the most-trap filled episode of the whole game with its many spinning gears, elevators, falls
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Changed line(s) 56 (click to see context) from:
*** The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
to:
*** The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.pride.
*Episode 5: The Forges:
*The Forges. ThatOneEpisode for some, BestEpisodeEver for others.
*Episode 5: The Forges:
*The Forges. ThatOneEpisode for some, BestEpisodeEver for others.
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Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
** As soon as you enter the Solar Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind. *** The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
to:
** As soon as you enter the Solar Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind. behind.
*** The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
*** The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
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Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
** As soon as you enter the Solar Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind. **The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
to:
** As soon as you enter the Solar Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind. **The *** The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
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Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
** As soon as you enter the Solar Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind. ***The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
to:
** As soon as you enter the Solar Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind. ***The **The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
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Changed line(s) 55 (click to see context) from:
** As soon as you enter the Solar Complex, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind. ***The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
to:
** As soon as you enter the Solar Complex, Sanctuary, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind. ***The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
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Changed line(s) 52 (click to see context) from:
** The new episode begins with a Bright Pass, a multi-floor temple used for prayers and sungazing. It features some of the most stunning views and musical score yet, with mountains lit by the ever present rising sun, golden sun decorations donning many walls and torches
to:
** The new episode begins with a Bright Pass, a multi-floor temple used for prayers and sungazing. It features some of the most stunning views and musical score yet, with mountains lit by the ever present rising sun, golden sun decorations donning many walls and torchesa huge multitude of various torches emphasizing the sun priests' religion. You have to use many different switches to build a path out of floating sun decorations between floors, fight off gradually introduced hordes of cultists and a learn a lot about their current situation as you strive to reach the depths of the temple basement to proceed further.
**The Illumination Complex doesn't fall behind. An absolutely massive system of barracks, vantage towers and waterways, this lakeside base is full of ambushes, gauntlets and newly-introduced fireball traps. All while you have to manipulate the present waterway system to allow yourself to move around the various parts of the complex.
**The Tower of Light, being the concentration of the best-trained warriors and holy energy, features the most intense non-boss combat of the episode. Foes are aplenty, take strategic positions, and have greater quantities of stronger foes to annihilate you. The best part begins as soon as you enter the Tower itself, where you must ascend to the top using air currents and building stairs. The second-to-top floor even introduces Flight power up, which you must use to not only press a ton of switches at different heights to access the final door, but also to engage into the air-to-land combat, as the concentration of projectiles and leaping foes reaches its maximum.
**As soon as you enter the Solar Complex, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind. ***The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
**The Illumination Complex doesn't fall behind. An absolutely massive system of barracks, vantage towers and waterways, this lakeside base is full of ambushes, gauntlets and newly-introduced fireball traps. All while you have to manipulate the present waterway system to allow yourself to move around the various parts of the complex.
**The Tower of Light, being the concentration of the best-trained warriors and holy energy, features the most intense non-boss combat of the episode. Foes are aplenty, take strategic positions, and have greater quantities of stronger foes to annihilate you. The best part begins as soon as you enter the Tower itself, where you must ascend to the top using air currents and building stairs. The second-to-top floor even introduces Flight power up, which you must use to not only press a ton of switches at different heights to access the final door, but also to engage into the air-to-land combat, as the concentration of projectiles and leaping foes reaches its maximum.
**As soon as you enter the Solar Complex, you might notice how the arena is different from the previous ones: instead of being a part of a building with solid ground, it's suspended high in the air, the closest to the sun one can get. This means that you have to navigate it very carefully or risk dying instantly if you fall off. You also learn that the boss himself, the Solar Saint, is not as simple as he looks, by reading the only messages there are: he's not just the high priest of the Sun, ''he lives on it''. And as soon as you reach the centre of the arena, the sky gets brighter as the man himself descends down to fight you and, after seemingly uttering a threat or a taunt, begins to kick your behind. ***The boss in some ways resembles the Moon Guardian, once again proving how similar their cultures are: he's extremely tall and bulky, has GlowingEyesOfDoom, but carries a sun hammer instead of a halberd. Fitting for a boss of a later episode, he's much more powerful, however. Instead of trying to stay out of range, he actively tries to get as close as possible, as his hammer strikes are not only powerful and have knock back that can make you fall off, but they also have no cooldown! If you do stay out of range, he can swing his hammer around to throw sun bombs in a circle around him, which are harder to dodge than they look to be. His most dangerous attack, however, has him ''leap in the sky, predict your movement and land there with a huge shockwave''. Yes, it's somewhat easy to dodge, but if you let it connect even once on higher difficulties, it deals so much damage it's basically game over. And if you think that's all he has, think again! The dude has one more trick up his sleeve: drop him to 15% hp and he drops everything to actively bombard you with sun bombs in a way similar to a minigun, always following your position and killing you extremely quickly should you stand still. Survive that and, after he crumbles to pieces, ''the sun itself goes out''. With the Solstice freed, return to the Gateway with pride.
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**
to:
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** Ancient Sanctuary immediately drops you hints about what awaits you: giant stone eyes carved above the entrance and around the Sanctuary, and an ominous "You're being watched". As you enter the Sanctuary proper, you're treated to the sight of strangely empty boss arena, with most of it containing lava lakes with some platforms to navigate, as well as alcoves full of mana and weapons to the sides. Approach the center and you're greeted with the most epic boss intro yet: after a guttural incantation is heard from seemingly nowhere, ''a giant ghostly eye materializes in the centre of the room, summons a huge tornado that attracts giant stone bricks and begins hurling them at you! '' Meet Corrupt Spirit.
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** Ancient Sanctuary immediately drops you some hints about what awaits you: giant stone eyes carved above the entrance and around the Sanctuary, and an ominous "You're being watched". As you enter the Sanctuary proper, you're treated to the sight of strangely empty boss arena, with most of it containing lava lakes with some platforms to navigate, as well as alcoves full of mana and weapons to the sides. Approach the center and you're greeted with the most epic boss intro yet: after a guttural incantation is heard from seemingly nowhere, ''a giant ghostly eye materializes in the centre of the room, summons a huge tornado that attracts giant stone bricks and begins hurling them at you! '' Meet Corrupt Spirit.
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Changed line(s) 44 (click to see context) from:
*** Special mention goes to Shrub Niggurath and Giant Protector. The first is a reference to one of the most powerful entity from Cthulhu Mythos, as well as the final boss of {{VideoGame/Quake}}, which the game is partially inspired by. Unlike that version, this one is a huge animated vegetation that is, while stationary and tough, is able to attack the Champion by lobbing acid projectiles that can leave lasting damaging acid pools. Giant Protector, meanwhile, is perhaps the biggest monster of this episode, a MightyGlacier at its finest: he's slow, tough, has glowing red eye and instead of normal stones Protectors hurl at you, he throws huge ''lava'' balls that explode on contact with anything it hits!
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*** Special mention goes to Shrub Niggurath and Giant Protector. The first is a reference to one of the most powerful entity entities from Cthulhu Mythos, as well as the final boss of {{VideoGame/Quake}}, which the game is partially inspired by. Unlike that version, this one is a huge animated vegetation that is, that, while stationary and tough, is able to attack the Champion by rapidly lobbing acid projectiles that can leave lasting damaging acid pools. Giant Protector, meanwhile, is perhaps the biggest monster of this episode, a MightyGlacier at its finest: he's slow, tough, has glowing red eye and instead of normal stones Protectors hurl at you, he throws huge ''lava'' balls that explode on contact with anything it hits!
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** The enemy variety continues to surprise, as this time the Champion must face off against elemental enemies. Some are stone warriors who simply guard the path, others are brought to life by the evil force. Even the waters are not safe as numerous animated stone fishes patrol the pools, threatening anyone brave enough to take a swim. This time, besides having a new behavior and attacks, this does introduce small interactions between each other as well as enemies with LogicalWeakness. For example, Fire Wraiths take double damage from Staff of Azure Orb due to it's water-based projectiles, but can also turn Creepers, living vegetation monsters, into more Flame Wraiths should they cross with their fireball attacks. Stone Guardians, meanwhile, take double damage from Celestial Claw.
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** The enemy variety continues to surprise, as this time the Champion must face off against elemental enemies. Some are stone warriors who simply guard the path, others are brought to life by the evil force. Even the waters are not safe as numerous animated stone fishes patrol the pools, threatening anyone brave enough to take a swim. This time, besides having a new behavior and attacks, this does introduce some foes have small interactions between with each other as well as enemies with LogicalWeakness. For example, Fire Wraiths take double damage from Staff of Azure Orb due to it's water-based projectiles, but can also turn Creepers, living vegetation monsters, into more Flame Wraiths should they cross with their fireball attacks. Stone Guardians, meanwhile, take double damage from Celestial Claw.
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*** The lore behind it proves this even further: was [[ForgedByTheGods made by the Old Gods themselves]], was hidden behind a huge trial to test the worthiness of one to wield it, has been used by many great heroes previously, can sense evil and even ''acts as a key to the travelling between many worlds''. And that's your starter weapon.
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*** The lore behind it proves this even further: it was [[ForgedByTheGods made by the Old Gods themselves]], was hidden behind a huge trial to test the worthiness of one to wield it, has been used by many great heroes previously, can sense evil and even ''acts as a key to the travelling between many worlds''. And that's your starter weapon.
