If you’re looking to improve your skills in the four-player co-op dungeon crawler, look no further.
Karnage Chronicles is one of the better action RPG-like titles currently out for PC VR systems. What’s most enjoyable about it is having the ability to grab a handful of friends to casually drop in and fight monsters with. But it also has some other neat features that aren’t specific to co-op play, such as arrows that can be grabbed and thrown back at enemies—and daggers that can be spun around for better strikes.
If you’re interested in picking Karnage Chronicles up and giving it a shot, there are some basic gameplay mechanics that you should understand. That said, follow this guide to propel yourself through the learning curve as a beginner.
Gameplay Tips:
Ranger or Warrior? Choose Wisely
There are only two classes in Karnage Chronicles right now, and both are moderately active with two different focuses. The ‘Ranger’ class can use bows and daggers, whereas the ‘Warrior’ class gets swords, shields, and crossbows.
Ultimately the ‘Warrior’ errs on being more versatile with melee combat, whereas the ‘Ranger’ errs on being more versatile with ranged combat. I have to say though, that repeatedly drawing bowstrings can be just as exhausting as repeatedly swinging weapons around.
Be On the Lookout for Coins
In order to upgrade your gear and buy useful things like health potions and town scrolls, you’re going to need some moolah. Unfortunately, gold coins don’t simply appear in your inventory after you’ve killed a goblin of unusually high pedigree. Instead, they sprawl out and float midair until you touch them with any part of your body (including your weapon).
As the game’s environments can be quite dark, it’s easy to pass over the glint of these coins. It’s not a terrible idea to double back after you’ve killed a few enemies or opened a few containers. Coins are also hidden on shelves and surfaces, so keep your eyes peeled as you delve through a dungeon.
Sell Unnecessary Loot
While running around in the dungeons of Karnage Chronicles, you’ll come across many items that simply aren’t useful to you. Besides clearly marked ‘junk’ items that are meant to be sold, you might want to get rid of less powerful weapons and equipment.
When you return to the shop, note the option to sell items that pop up in your inventory. It’s a good idea to go back to town regularly to sell extra baggage and buy things you desperately need such as food, upgraded equipment, and healing supplies.
Remember to Eat Food
Speaking of healing supplies, your best regular source of healing in Karnage Chronicles comes from chowing down on foodstuffs you find around the dungeons and purchase from the shop. Remember to check your health bar often and keep up to speed with healing yourself where necessary.
Drop Items in Your Room to Store Them
There are a lot of notes and books that I don’t enjoy selling because I never know if they’ll be useful later. It’s more of a learned habit from playing other roleplaying games, and a lot of those notes are simple flavor text in this game. However, if you find yourself wanting to store items rather than sell them, for peace of mind (of course), just drop them in your room.
I’ve found that my dropped items are always there when I boot the game back up again, so as far as I know this method of storing items is safe. That said, if you’re concerned about your precious items getting despawned in some sort of memory-related freak accident, the developer has promised a storage chest in an upcoming update that will act as sort of an item bank.
Fitness Tips:
Weighted Gear
By this point, it’s old hat for me to sit and write about using weighted gear in a game like this. But I still say: Do it, and take a gander at Tim Donahey’s guide to implementing weighted gear for all the information you’ll need to do it well.
Locomote in Place
While you might feel awkward running or walking in place while you play a VR game like Karnage Chronicles, it’s a classic strategy to reduce motion sickness and burn calories at the same time. You should alternate between running and walking in place, especially when wearing weighted gear.
Natural Locomotion
If you plan to locomote in place, you should definitely go download Natural Locomotion off of Steam. It’s a simple app that activates in-game locomotion whenever you pump your arms. However, what makes Natural Locomotion amazing is how well it junctions with running and/or walking in place. Your body naturally pumps your arms as you move, and this piece of software translates that into virtual movement within the game.
Sweat Resistance Practices
If you’re worried about getting sweaty in your headset—first of all, I understand where you’re coming from. Second, Ryan DeLuca wrote a comprehensive guide for that. Go read it and absorb the useful information nuggets stored within.
Eat Better (Than Usual, Anyway)
I could sit here and accuse you of committing dietary sacrilege, but frankly, that’d make me a massive hypocrite. Anyhow, if you’re already regimenting your macronutrients and consistently supplying yourself with good sources of micronutrients, good on you. If not, here’s Jason Coles’s nutrition guide.
(As a Warrior) Try to Avoid Using the Crossbow So Often
Besides it being inconvenient to need to wind up a hand-crank before each of your attacks, it’s lazy to rely on your crossbow all the time. Whip out your sword and slash a few goblins. Get your heart pumping. That’s what you wanted when you chose this class, wasn’t it?
(As a Ranger) Try to Use Daggers More Often
It’s exhausting to need to repeatedly draw back the string of a virtual bow again and again in close quarter battles—especially with a weighted vest on. And while that’s technically a good thing, you still need some sort of break in the rhythm to keep the core gameplay loops from feeling monotonous. Daggers aren’t less exerting per se, but they do feel more natural to wield in close quarters.
As far as VR RPGs currently go, Karnage Chronicles is a fun VR ARPG-lite/dungeon crawler with access for up to four players to go delving and looting in a single co-op session together. With this quick guide, you now understand the basic layout of the gameplay systems and how to use them to better fulfill your needs as a player.
Are there any tips you’d add to this list? Let us know in the comments.