in terms of deep/abyssal loop, no, he is by far the weakest character in the game, the limited movement speed and hp make him the most vulnerable character in the game, and his inaccuracy makes the ultra shovel unusable, which is one of the most important weapons you need, he's fun, don't get me wrong, but completely awful (not to mention he gets one less mutation due to being unable to get Crown of Destiny, and basically is forced to lose one to take extra feet)
The melting hate is honestly not even an issue, most of the time you will have strong spirit and rhino skin, and once you press right click anything that can threaten you is just not an issue anymore
@@Evo-wx7wb as someone who has made it to L7 as melting I can safely say that the corpse explosions do not remove all threats and the max hp is a hell of a detriment, it's not melting hate, he's one of if not my favorite character to play, but he is not ideal
I quite like how NT basically initiated the trend for Rogue-like and -lite games to have the LOOP mechanic. The mechanic that let's you got into more or less infinity to either get more abilities or test how far you can get (and how crazy shit can become) RoR and NT are two games I know which give you the "I HAVE ASCENDED INTO GODHOOD" moment once you are deep into loop- that time where each of your attacks unleashes nuke sized annihilation and even standing still and existing kills shit
Well, the "each attack annihilates the whole level" is something nuclear throne did well, but I'd say risk of rain didn't do it that well. Enemies keep spawning, and you have to sit by the teleporter for two minutes while all the enemies die instantly... also, most of the time, you're either killing everything instantly, or you die, there's not really a middle ground. Nuclear throne is a lot more balanced in that regard. Also, the way nuclear throne scales through each loop is much more interesting than risk of rain, where the first loop adds... a few enemy types to each level. That's it. And two more champion types. So exciting. And new loops after that add nothing special. What exactly is the incentive for looping? It's not like there is a challenge, if you have the right build you can literally go infinite. Nobody wants to grind the game for 12 hours straight on a single run where the enemies all die instantly and you're never at risk of dying. In nuclear throne, the difficulty scales not just through new enemy types (which are added all the way up to loop 3), an ending that is exclusive to looping, new bosses, bosses get more powerful in ways that aren't just more damage/health, new weapons, new crowns? Not to mention the difficulty scaling isn't just 'enemies have 100% more health, good luck killing anything unless you have a game breaking combo'. The fact that enemies don't respawn in nuclear throne means that you can actually whittle away at the huge hordes of enemies and feel like you're making progress, instead of the only option to progress being "shoot at these 4 dudes for an hour until they die, also you're doing this again next level, have fun!"
@@godlyvex5543 I love Risk of Rain 2 but I definitely agree that it doesn't handle looping very well. After you've looped a couple times you realize the only point in it is to give you more time to get strong enough to fight the final boss.
@@206lbs.hercules5 Yeah, I have more hours in ror2 than nuclear throne, and liked it enough to get all of the achievements, but it would be so much better if looping were expanded upon
i'm honestly kinda sad how nuclear throne never got the full spotlight it deserves, as it was kinda forgotten about after its official release out of Early Access (though it being released in not the best of shapes kinda explains it) there's also one negative thing that's about the game, though it's mainly coming from a dude wtih 2000 hours in the game (who is also somehow still top 100 on thronebutt like how): i do wish there were more viable weapons for deep looping, since personally it gets kinda samey using the same two weapons and similar mutation spread kinda makes me with for a potential remaster of the game in the future but for now this is still an amazing game that i recommend anyone tries, it's an absolute blast
Honestly it's so bizarre, because it's one of those games I know people love and many people in the scene consider an all time great, but like you said it never really got the full spotlight it deserved. Also never really considered the shovel problem either, definitely because I am a piss baby but yeah, that probably would get extremely boring.
Eh, to me it's the inevitable nature of the game. . . In an ever increasing difficulty loop, the viable strategies will eventually narrow down into a meta. I don't think the devs ever expected anyone to get much further than Loop 4, to be honest. I remember even when L4 was reached for the first time after the IDPD Freaks were added to the game (I believe it was Ideaot who got there first) what a huge deal that was. I think that they simply should have kept the Elites in past L2, and had both Freaks and Elites in L3 and onward. That's the one thing that's inconsistent and out of place about the game to me: Making any aspect of it easier by removing an enemy type three loops in. That would have put an end to these ridiculous deep loop runs.
Great video, I'm one of the devs of Repentance and a lot of things from nuclear throne we used as inspiration in tboi repentance. In particular Tainted Jacob and Tainted Eve were inspired by Rogue and Rebel respectively. Like you said, the game isn't as replayable nor does it have as much stuff as something like Isaac, but it's really consistent. Highly recommend NT.
Know I typed it during the characters but honestly that's super cool, all of the Repentance Characters are honestly so fantastic and transformed TBOI into a much better game with their inclusion. Never even really connected those two and it makes a lot of sense, thanks for developing such a great expansion :P
@@DaveyGunface Thanks, but actually my buddy _kilburn did a lot of the heavy lifting with repentance design, and he too is a big fan of nuclear throne. I just made the rooms and enemies is all.
Still, pretty sick that you worked on that. Every part of it is really freaking good so honestly the credit remains insanely well deserved, but I'll check out some more of _kilburns work as well. Also gotta say, Isaac Renegade Angel is the crossover I never knew I needed, thank you for that
Also- the Throne boss fight has some slight lore implications. The implication is that the first Throne you fight is not the real throne, just a mechanical approximation of the Real Throne. If you played NT you probably got to know why you are looking for the Throne- each character wants their wish granted and Throne is said to grant you your wish once you sit on it. Idk if IDPD are behind the fake Throne or someone else made it, but the true Wish Granting Throne is the abomination you fight if you disable the generators, and just like a monkey's paw the wish it grants you is to try the game again- and maybe save people who get killed by IDPD in your absence (the menu level you enter before Throne II fight) And on fun lore side- I really love people's reaction when they get to know that Chicken and Crystal are ladies and that Steroids is a scientist
@@ker0356 Aside from that, they attack your base of operations- the camp from starting screen- when you are away. IDPD also spawn before the fight with fake throne which has implications that they know where The Palace is
For some reason I always thought that THE nuclear throne is located on the final location under white picture of a crown on the level progression line. But we can never reach this location, because we're getting teleported to the new loop the moment before.
I only knew crystal was a girl when me and my friend were playing co op and he unlocked her b skin he told me about it. Same with steroids but when we unlocked him normally. I just knew chicken was a girl
Dr. Steroids m.d.! Knew the world was ending so he injected a bunch of steroids! He's a swelled guy. Also yeah Chicken should be obvious since she's not called Rooster
Great video! 1:05:28 I am the statistic anomaly! I love Nuclear Throne, watched the development from very early on, then started Ultra mod way back at Update 19. It is surreal being called out like that, but thanks so much for the shoutout❤!
Hell yeah dude, love the stuff. Played a few rounds of my Robot guy right after this video was published too, needed to see the C Skin and ultras still :P Thanks for everything, again!
It is a shame that developers disappeared not only because this game would be a lot better with new things but because the aesthetics and the whole history that could have been told.good vid and I freaking love Y.V.
Fun fact about the game design talk with the end portal that appears when you kill all enemies, there's actually a really subtle sound cue when there's only one enemy left. It subconciously lets you know without being intrusive, and if you don't actively recognise it you feel like you've got a sixth sense that the portal is going to spawn soon.
I remember back in the day how big Nuclear Throne was, it's one of my absolute favourite games, it's a shame it hasn't gotten any further official support but mods are a thing and are pretty solid overall. Frankly the greatest sin is that the developers didn't keep the development videos on their Twitch so as far as I'm aware it's media and that sucks because they were amazing. Edit: The lore tidbits you wouldn't know otherwise are super fun and goofy and the game is full of them, many of them were brought up when asked during the development livestreams. Edit 2: There is indeed a bricking point, not only do you fight tougher enemies but enemies all gain additional hp, sure in theory you could keep going but at some point there will be too many enemies and not enough ammo since your damage doesn't scale, it's well beyond loop 8 is all I can say for sure.
@SpelunkyGuy101 Good luck with achieving that though since GMS is capable of going to multiple minutes per frame without hindering your computer's performance all that much, so it's more likely the maximum loop is whatever your patience can withstand :b
@Kyryl yes They come in various sizes, some examples: > Crystals originally did so much damage because they'd wrap your flesh all around themselves so the bigger the Crystal the more damage it did as it had surface to cover > Eyes had no gender because he can't speak, this was changed but I do not know the reason, I assume it's because he clearly can hum out words almost like speech or at least knows how to write :b > Big Bandit and Rebel are siblings > Little Hunter and Rogue were close friends > The Nuclear Throne is the source of the apocalypse but in game you'd only vaguely know this because of the floor tiles that occasionally show up in Crown Vaults > Rad canisters are either gameplay exclusive or lore related depending on which half of Vlambeer you'd ask > Guardians and Horror are mutated portals > When the player dies and they restart or return to menu they are jumping to a parallel dimension, I am unsure if this is also true for YV since he just teleports away from frustration which is also something you wouldn't know > IDPD are Finnish There's various more but I don't recall them all given how many years it's been since watching the development streams but several you can find on the Nuclear Throne wiki but know that there's probably plenty that are also missing.
Doseone is so underrated, he made YVs mansion theme, gungeons ost, one of the gun gods songs, and a lot of other stuff. Considering how much you enjoyed YVs mansion theme I recommend you listen to some of his other songs, like Enter the Gungeon, and all the songs from Enter the Guneon: Heart in Halves.
Watched the whole thing, glad you considered both the casual side and the high level gameplay when making this, usually top runs aren't even mentioned at all in these types of videos
48:08 there's actually a "glitch" that was left in the game where when big bandit charges you, you can swing with a melee weapon and he will be hit multiple times during his charge animation, which can result in very quick big bandit kills with even just a wrench iirc the same applies to the big doggy guardians in the palace when they pounce at you
It’s painful to see rogue like developers ignore Nuke Throne’s incredible formula. Gunplay feels smooth and has an endless armory. Enemies snap and shoot with no telegraphing besides some boss indication. Straight to the point with its difficulty, with loops being cutthroat and properly earned. Even spamming with characters that prioritize mindless shooting is addicting and fun. It’s barebones simplicity brought so much space for what is essentially a power-hungry rush as you navigate through the chaos. Glad to see the love. We need more games like Nuke Throne. Games are afraid to just go fast and quite literally just “run around and shoot da guy”.
This video popped into my recommended, having never watched a single one of your videos before. I leave it with my enjoyment for this game re-kindled and burning brighter than ever. Nuclear Throne was a game I literally grew up with, a friend introduced it to me way back in the 7th grade, 2015, and I cannot even imagine how many hours I spent playing this game when I should have been studying. Everyday I'd ask him if there was an update, and when there was, he'd transfer the newest version of the game onto a USB stick and I'd go from there. The struggles I went through trying to get to my first L2, and the triumphant feeling of beating Throne II and entering the portal to 1-1 L2, only to die about 15 seconds in. Nuclear Throne was actually the reason I even created a steam account in the first place, my username is even a reference to something from the game, and while I don't rank anywhere near the top guys in the game's community, the 527+ hours I've spent in the base game (who knows how many more playing NTT with numerous mods) have been some of the best fun I've had in front of a computer screen. I've even had a nice placement on a weekly leaderboard one time (steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2647425766). To sum it up, thank you for making this video, I'm glad I saw it, and I hope that others who see it that haven't tried the game before do so as soon as possible, it's unbelievable fun all the way through.
NT can be really fun sometimes, it's easy to lose track of time during a good run and it's intense all the way through. I think NT and Spelunky (HD) are some of the best roguelites.
Yeah you should check it out some time, honestly don't know if you stream at Twitch Dot TV Slash Master Underscore Underscore Underscore Sparky but maybe it'd be a good game to check out sometime? I don't know.
thanks for the video, this game is my childhood and always had a special place in my heart, its one of the games that started my love for roguelike/roguelites (the other one being tboi, that and nt were the only things i played/watched years ago) and im honestly really sad that no one really talks or knows about it anymore
I only picked up this game a few months ago and was disappointed to see how such a well made and fun game had a small following. Thanks for making this video and possibly helping to change that.
I am now 20 and am a game designer, going to school for the craft, and someone asked me what the most influential game was for me. Nuclear Throne was the fifth game I bought on PC. I must have been 10-13, and it gave me an adrenaline rush I’ve been chasing ever since. More importantly, when child me looked into the devs, the first thing on RU-vid is a GDC talk (think game dev TED talk). And I think that lecture sowed the seeds that brought me into this art form I love. So it’s a shame to me that this game goes forgotten, as I think it’s the most finely distilled an arcade shooter roguelike has ever been, and one of my main inspirations.
Gotta agree that the high consistency in Nuclear Throne runs makes progress way more satisfying. When I finally beat the Captain with Rogue I was shaking from adrenaline.
I don't play the game because I'm so bad at it I can barely beat a stage, but man, the music in this game is INSANELY good. Gun Locker is just a staple song in all of my playlists.
I've 100%'d this game TWICE (which, for the uninitiated, is of comparable difficulty to getting say, Dead God twice in Isaac) and commenting on the story, the reason I feel this game is so good is because it recognizes that it's a game first. The story is there, but it takes a complete backseat to game mechanics. Every location has some pretty interesting lore, there are character interactions, and some cool parallels that you can draw from the various locations in game that fill in the gaps, but absolutely none of it compromises the gameplay. You can take the time to observe these things over the course of your runs, or you can totally ignore it and 100% the game without knowing a single thing about the world. Also Y.V. for life
Why I love most about this game is that it's specifically not a "lite". There is virtually no permanent vertical progression, which means you don't just throw yourself at the game until your stats let you overpower the content. Any progress you make is due entirely to yourself becoming better at the game. You start dying to bandits, but then you get farther and farther and eventually you're going completely insane things that you never thought you'd be able to do.
Godamn this game is so based, I’ve gotten nt back on ps4 and used to watch sleepcycles (if anyone know or remembers him) but holy shit is it a shame that it’s such a niche game that not a lot of people talk about. Also the ost is so fucking badass
I played Nuclear Throne every morning before going to the university for about 2 years, awesome routine :D Always playing muscle guy trying to go for dual crossbow runs, ending up with grenade rifle and shovel but doing great!
I've clocked over 300 hours in Nuclear Throne and have unlocked about three dozen crowns yet I still suck ass at it. One of my favorite games ever. It's a perfect combo of fast action, quick improvisation and strategy, occasional bullet hell-esque dodging and an extremely cromulent upgrading system that can get insane if you know what you're doing.
Followed this game through it's whole development & it was amazing to see what an absolutely solid product they managed to come out with. 1,500 hours in it & I still come back sometimes, it becomes like a second sense eventually
“Alligators that have a really powerful shotgun blast” …I’m sorry, what? That is the most bizarre, cursed, and metal sentence I’ve heard in quite some time and you said it as though it’s just business as usual.
I 100%'d this game, still my proudest 100% but man was it a little tedious, especially with getting every crown for every character. That being said, god I fucking LOVE this game, Y.V is still my profile pic on steam, honestly a work of video game art just how fun and gripping this game is.
Okay this whole video on this game is cool and all, but my biggest takeaway from it is the fact Aviators was refferencing this game in his RoR2 song with lyrics "Temples high in trails of pain for a Moonlit Throne"
I remember finding chubbyemu when i was hyper fixated into NT, and I came to his channel after a break and was surprised at the content. Now I watch his old stuff and new stuff lol
Making this after completing my first run in a haze of adrenaline. Thank you so much for introducing me to this beautiful game and I gotta say, it was calming hearing Kings and Queens of Wastland after 20 odd minutes of fear. Fear of losing and having to restart. Fear of never beating it, as was the case of Hotline Miami. But I overcame it. Thank you Davy, from the bottom of my heart.
I know this rant barely relates to the video but I heard rogue-like so I'm gonna say it anyway. Stealth in rogue-likes is good and can be very engaging, but what I absolutely hate is games where either a) you have health regen and no incentive to go fast so hiding behind a wall for a minute to heal is practically neccasary if you don't want to end your run. or b) the most viable strategy is to take on one small fight after another and very slowly take out everyone because otherwise you'll be swarmed. Maybe its just me but even in any game at least I think you should reward aggresive and risky plays. Like the mentality of instead of hiding and waiting to regen, why don't I go get my healing.
oh hey an actually relevant ad for me for once lol. been going keto again and my usual water flavor packets have just a bit too many carbs that add up. next paycheck I'll probably grab one to try and hopefully remember to use your code
I'm avoiding spoilers so I'm not sure if you mentioned it in the video but this game runs at 60 fps in the steam beta, which is awesome. Not sure why it isn't in the base game though
nuclear throne does actually throw together rooms at least to some extentive seen parts of stages (mainly the desert) get repeated between runs, its just less noticeable because the parts are interconnected directly into one large area instead of being seperate rooms (also probably have entirely random tiles connecting them, making it even harder to tell)
Oh man. I used to watch this dude called sleep cycles when this game was getting updates and i got to watch the game from almost the start of development to the last update . This video reminded me of how much i loved this game and how much i enjoyed seeing and playing it while it was in development Thanks for the reminder that i have this game and how fun it is. Ill go play it again
NT is my favorite rogue like game by far, I have 250 hours and I'm only 2 achievements away from ultra mutant! I wish there was more content being created for this awesome game
The difference between Roguelikes and Roguelites is so comically superficial that people will yell at you that a game is a Roguelite if the game doesn't manually uninstall itself from your computer if you die. That being said, as far as I know Hades has a whole bunch of external progression across deaths so I think it just falls into Lite
I absolutely love NT, but I find it a little odd that you never brought up Enter the Gungeon when comparing it to other roguelites, when naturally it feels like the closest comparison. Personally, where i love the mechanics and mutations in NT, ultimately I feel like Gungeon offers significantly more in terms of unlockables and replayability.
That's actually because I never really got into Enter the Gungeon, and although you're entirely right on it being the easiest comparison it's one I wouldn't be able to make confident or accurate comparisons with. Hence the main comparisons were with my two other most played roguelites even if there are definitely better candidates.
the video is great and i will probably try the game (when i have money to buy it) but oh my god wungus and glass hurts my pre-survivors void grinding soul
I would like to consider myself an average person in a weird land of very strange individuals, so I'm glad to hear that I am not one of *those* users :P
i really happy right now roguelike/lite is one of my favourite genres in videogames and nuclear throne is definitely one of my all time favourites in the genre and im really happy to see a more indeep analysis from one of the youtubers i love
Admittedly he may have done it already, but I would definitely love to see him stream the game again at some point. Plus I'm admittedly really happy that he didn't take the old videos down (like you would kinda expect him to?)
Fire also only does 1 damage if you only get hit for 1 frame, ie the fire salamanders and fire traps in the scrapyard, same with the edge of crystal lasers and i think maybe toxic gas
10:28 man literally put Wungus on Engie, the main character that can actually use Bungus effectively... jokes aside, good video dude! I'd love to see what you have to say about RoR 1 and 2 at some point
Honestly I love Bungus Engie, it's one of my favorite characters but I'm kind of upset that Wungus just doesn't really work with your moving sentries. Really I'm just upset the moving sentries are debatably the biggest downgrade possible and I don't even really know how you'd go about fixing it.
just picked up a copy of nuclear throne because of this video, figured if i was going to watch over an hour of content then i should at least give it a try. anyway another great video davey love you king
amazing video much like the previous one! i've been on the sidelines watching some nuclear throne stuff, but i didn't know it went this deep with loops or bosses and such, it was really cool to learn about! super excited to see what other kind of videos you put out, so far you're on a streak!
Bro I’ve played this game for years and I only ever play as Crystal. I should also mention I’ve only gotten to the throne once, and I died very quickly
I'm really happy you made this video. I've been thinking about getting nuclear throne for a while (I Love ETG) but I don't really love the art style. I'm about to start the video and hopefully by the end it grows on me. interested to see how the gameplay works as well.
I really loved the video and I'm 100% going to get the game but I'm curious about the other characters. on the wiki there's the blacksmith, business hog, panda angel, atom etc. are these actually characters or something different? I assume different or Davey would have mentioned them
I know it has nothing to do with the comment but its the only way i can get help So i downloaded ultra mod and got it working but after that i was like “wait i shouldnt mod it until i finish the game normally” and now i want it removed from my files how do i get rid of the mod
Listen. Nuclear Throne is a gud game. It singlehandedly put Vlambear and Devolver on the map, and without them, we'd have a much weaker indie scene than we do today. BUT... 10:30. You say you picked up the worst item imagineable as Engi in Risk Of Rain 2. I disagree. I am here to preach the word of the Wungus Carbonizer Engineer. That's right. Engineer with Weeping Fungus is a legitimate tactic. "But HOW?!" You might be thinking. Listen. His Carbonizer Turrets? They are an objective improvement. They are always considered sprinting when they move, and simply do more damage over a longer range and slow their victims. Bungus is a meme because stacking a bunch of turrets in one place will out-heal all damage over an insane range. If you're playing multiplayer like someone who has friends and a life, then okay, stick to your Bustling Fungus and be the dedicated driver, but me? Give me a dozen energy drinks and weeping fungi, and we will ZOOM. Hey, crazy idea number two. Fuel Cell. On your souped up Carbonizers. That's right. Kamikaze Turrets. KAMIKAZE. TURRETS. Get a corrupted power cell? Infinitely Halal. THREE TURRETS, INSHALLAH. You wanna know something else? Infusions are great. Chug a few of them. Your Wungussi soaked turrets and you will be invincible, as Wungus goes off total health just like Bungus. What is 100 damage when you heal 200 a second? What is 500 when you heal 1000?
For me, NT ribably has had the most replayabiliy specifically because there is barely any meta-progression unlocks. The game is so solid and immediately engaging that playing it for it's own sake is immensely rewarding. Spelunky and FTL also have that quality.
fish is absolutely the second best meta character following crystal. receiving more ammo in a meta of running through the supply in two shots, getting an SPC shot in two ammo packs instead of three is ludicrously strong. you must consider that you are mostly turtling later loops, where going to grab pickups is a death march depending on your rad economy (pickups also fade faster, but only slightly). gun warrant also makes the first seven seconds of ultra shovel entirely free, which is huge for snowballing into a stage from its beginning. fuck JW for 7 second warrant. the SPC was a mistake. 19438583033303 freaks dead.
I love this game. I have been playing it since 2017 but still have not reached the Nuclear Throne yet :( Still trying though. Great video! Good to know that there are others who like this game too.
former deeplooper that use to play NT somewhat competitively in 2019~2020, game def has charm and made me sink in 600+ hours into it however the biggest issue I have with competitive scene is simply the grind. Meta mutations are p much essential further on in that I simply do not play runs which anything below perfect 7 as eyes and as such having to grind out sets constantly and constantly got to me and eventually made me burn out. only impact I made in the community is being one of the fastest people to reach loop 9 at 250 hours, I only got loop 10 after 450 simply because of how long the grind takes the toll on ya. good game, good mechanics and gameplay, absolutely atrocious rng grind. this point is nonexistent for people who play throne casually but its worth noting for anyone who even plans to go further then L6+
As someone that poured hundreds of hours and enjoyed the crap out of NT, I'm so happy you made a video that the game really deserves. So much love and craftsmanship went into making Nuclear Throne and I'm admittedly somewhat disappointed in how the game finished, with bugs on the console versions and distant developers, but the journey towards the game that we have was an amazing experience.
fun fact: if you want to challenge yourself, and play a character with "no downsides or perks", then play chicken, and just don't ever interact with any of her abilities. No throwing or using her passive (ok maybe throwing is ok).
Still crazy to me how the devs expected nobody to get past loop 4 and the current WR is loop 21 because of the idpd freaks supposed to be ending the game made it infinitely easier. Not complaining since it's one of the best score games if you wanna play it like that. The score community is really cool tho. A couple things were wrong in this part, for instance Ideaots/Jasmine current steroids WR is eyes-less, but it plays completely differently so most people don't go to it (also sparky is known to not like the set lmfao), the ammo mutation thing is mostly in accurate because most of them have another bonus, but lucky shot is just not great.
I put many hours in Gungeon, and it is more slower-paced compared to NT (maybe it's because of my playstyle). These games are similar in terms of movement and consistency.
about the section on portals, they do have a set location, it's the last thing in the level that has died (which can be anything with health, not just enemies, so the portal can open on a radiation canister or a prop if you broke it after killing the last enemy) and the second-to-last enemy in the level makes a loud, washed out thud noise to let you know that the next enemy will spawn the portal you can abuse this, for example, to negate the downside of present chests (they give you ammo that you don't have equipped if you open them regulary, but the portal breaking them will spawn regular mini ammo pickups which *do* give you ammo that you can use)
If you didn't play this pre-release, I can see why you'd think any of this (I am not watching an hour and ten minute video). However it had a terrible final few updates compared to what we had.
